A Little Rock teenager on Monday testified to being the clown-masked, shotgun-wielding and hooded robber who wounded a bank manager during a January holdup.
Tyrone Eugene Randolph Jr. apologized for the shooting at the Bank of America branch on Cantrell Road but couldn't persuade Circuit Judge Herb Wright that he should be prosecuted in juvenile court.
Charged with aggravated robbery, theft and first-degree battery, he faces a potential life sentence at trial in November.
His former girlfriend, 19-year-old Jasha Howard, faces the same charges because police say she bought the gun for Randolph the day before the robbery and drove the getaway car, which belonged to Randolph's mother, Biankaa Joyner. Howard is scheduled to stand trial separately in November.
Randolph rejected a plea deal from prosecutors on Monday, even after being asked three times by the judge whether he wanted to accept it. The terms of the arrangement were not revealed, and prosecutors said it expired at the end of the two-hour hearing.
Wright -- after hearing testimony from the teen, his mother, friends and relatives -- described Randolph as an "immature" person who had an "abysmal" home life.
But the judge, who also heard from the wounded victim and the two tellers who were accosted during the holdup, said the evidence that Randolph, 17, should be prosecuted as an adult was "clear and convincing."
Detective Bobby Martin told the judge that Randolph had confessed to police, telling detectives that he believed his girlfriend was pregnant and, since he didn't have a job, wanted to use the money they could get from a bank robbery to provide for her and their child.
The robbery netted $2,947, with all but $100 of that recovered from the car and Randolph's home, the detective said. Howard was not pregnant.
"This was the way he was going to get started ... as a family man," Martin said.
On cross-examination Monday, deputy prosecutor Scott Duncan walked Randolph through the bank surveillance video that shows the masked robber storming into the bank, brandishing the gun and yelling his demands at tellers.
Questioned by the prosecutor, Randolph admitted he could have used a BB gun and that he didn't have to bring a loaded gun if he wanted to scare people like he said.
Randolph denied any intent to shoot anyone, but he did say he had planned to fire the gun into the ceiling to frighten tellers and bank customers.
"My intentions were to shoot up," he said.
But with proof that the gun and ammunition had been purchased the day before the holdup, Duncan sounded skeptical.
"You bought ammo and a shotgun with the intention of shooting that gun," he accused the defendant.
"Not to hurt anyone ... to get attention," Randolph replied.
Focusing on the moment of the shooting, in which the masked robber appears to aim directly at the victim, Duncan asked Randolph why he shot the man.
"No one did anything to get in your way. You have it [the gun] turned to him," the prosecutor said. "You agree his hands were up and he was not a threat to you?"
"I was afraid and I was scared. It was an accident," Randolph replied. "I didn't mean to hurt that man. The gun accidentally went off."
Bank manager Sam Lewis, 43, described for the judge how his eyes met the robber's just before the gunman shot him.
The shot nearly severed his right index finger and went though his right shoulder, he told the judge. Police say the slug was found lodged in a fence outside the bank.
Trained to comply without question to a robber's demands, Lewis testified that he had his hands in the air as he watched the gunman walking toward the door with a bag full of money. He said he never spoke to the man or tried to get his attention.
He said he was feeling relieved to watch the man go until the robber stopped and pointed the gun at him.
"I'm like OK, OK, he's leaving," Lewis testified. "We made eye contact and something told me to turn to the left ... and I turned and if I hadn't I'd be dead."
Lewis, who is right-handed, said he has to keep his right hand immobilized in a splint and showed the judge his injured finger, crooked at the second knuckle.
He had emergency surgery on both finger and shoulder, and expects to have two more surgeries on his finger, he told the judge. He still has painful physical therapy ahead of him once he's had his third surgery, he told the judge.
He spent 4½ months recuperating before returning to work in May, and said that the experience has left him hypercautious about his surroundings and who is around him.
Questioned by his lawyer, Sara Merritt, Randolph said he was sorry for what happened but he did not remember the shooting and never intended to hurt anyone. He said his nine months in jail had changed him, with the self-described "class clown" testifying that his time behind bars has taught him the importance of an education so he can find a good job.
Randolph and his family had moved to Arkansas after someone shot up their home in Kansas City, Mo., and the teen has witnessed his mother being abused by her husband, the judge was told. The teen was subjected to a nomadic lifestyle after moving to Arkansas that saw him attend numerous schools, sometimes for only a semester, according to testimony.
Metro on 10/04/2016