Jam Master Jay’s business partner said when he saw the Run-DMC star had been shot in his recording studio, he grabbed a gun and went to look for whoever had done it.
Randy Allen told the murder trial over the DJ’s October 2002 death he was in the studio’s control room and heard two shots in the adjacent lounge area, but did not see the attacker or attackers.
Mr Allen added Jam Master Jay, real name Jason Mizell, had been keeping that gun by his side which he grabbed “for protection” before running out to look for anyone who might be running away.
Karl Jordan Jr and Ronald Washington have pleaded not guilty to the murder.
Defence attorneys pointed to a signed statement that Mr Allen gave to police hours after the shooting, which said he heard three to six shots and saw a heavyset man in a dark jacket going down the building’s stairs after the shooting.
Mr Allen said he did not recall saying any of that, but he said in the following days, wounded witness Uriel Rincon told him Jordan fired the gun and Washington was there.
Mr Allen added that Lydia High, his sister and the business manager at Mr Mizell’s record label, told him Washington ordered her at gunpoint to hit the floor and a man with a tattooed neck fired the shots. Jordan has such a tattoo.
Mr Rincon and Ms High testified earlier in the trial, but neither told investigators for years that they could identify either man.
Mr Allen said he had wanted to leave it up to those two to tell since he had not seen the shooting himself.
He was the last to testify among five prosecution witnesses who said they were in various parts of the studio when the turntable titan was killed.
Other witnesses are yet to come in the case surrounding one of the hip-hop world’s most high-profile and tough-to-solve killings.
Prosecutors allege Mr Mizell was killed out of “greed and revenge.”
Under their theory, Mr Mizell — known for his anti-drug advocacy with Run-DMC — was arranging to sell a sizable amount of cocaine in Baltimore, and Washington and Jordan were about to lose out on a piece of the profits.
The defence has not yet had its turn to present evidence.
Lawyers for Washington, 59, have said prosecutors brought a thin and illogical case against a down-and-out drinker who was anything but angry toward the famous friend who supported him.
Jordan, 40, who was Mizell’s godson, said through his lawyers he was elsewhere when the shooting happened and has alibis.
