Emotions run high at homicide hearing
BROWNSVILLE – Emotions were high and security was tight Wednesday for a preliminary hearing for homicide suspect Tyrique “Ghetto” Patterson, 23, of 12 South Hills Terrace, before District Justice Herb Mitchell. A large crowd of friends and relatives of Tony Thomas, 25, the victim in the case, gathered outside the magistrate’s office to wait for police to bring Patterson from the Fayette County Prison.
As Patterson got out of the police car, several people shouted out, calling Patterson a murderer.
“I’m out here for my nephew Tony. I’m hoping he gets some kind of justice. It looked like he (Patterson) had no remorse when he got out of the car,” said Shirley Wall. “Tony was a quiet person and a very good person. Everybody liked him. He was planning to go back to college.”
Thomas’s mother, Debra Thomas, who now lives in Philadelphia, said that while she was in Philadelphia, she could keep thinking that her son was still alive back in Brownsville.
“I can’t pretend any more. My son is gone,” Thomas said. “From the beginning, I had to keep telling myself ‘Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.’ Today, I say justice is mine.
“I never wanted to believe there were people who have no good in them. Today, I saw it with my own eyes…I shouldn’t be standing here today. No mother should have to stand here.”
Extra police and constables were called to the scene to help with crowd control and all people entering the courtroom were searched and gone over with a portable metal detector. No weapons were found and there were no incidents.
District Attorney Nancy Vernon called only one witness during the preliminary hearing, Thomas’s friend Jacob Hackett. Hackett testified that he had been at the Dunlap Elks Club around 2 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2002, when a fight broke out between Patterson and Justin Thomas, the victim’s younger brother. The club began to close shortly after the fight and Hackett called Tony Thomas to give his brother a ride home.
Hackett said Tony Thomas and Patterson argued from a distance when Thomas arrived at the club. Justin Thomas wasn’t around, and after Patterson left in a van, Tony Thomas and another man left in Thomas’s car and Hackett followed him home to South Hills Terrace. Hackett said Thomas and Patterson lived across the street from one another.
“Tony was on the sidewalk in front of his house and Ghetto was on the sidewalk in front of his house and they were arguing,” Hackett testified.
Hackett said Patterson’s fianc’, Tamika Withrow, was with him and Thomas’s girlfriend, Mary Tobias, came out of their apartment and tried to talk Thomas into going inside.
“Tamika was in the street waving a gun at both of them. Tyrique pulled out a gun and fired. Tony fell onto the ground in slow motion. That’s when I put the sleeve on his neck. The blood was coming out like your faucet,” Hackett said.
Hackett said he then saw Patterson run down the street and put the gun to a woman’s head as she was pulling into South Hills Terrace. Hackett said Patterson ordered the woman out of the car and took off in it.
On cross-examination by Public Defender Jeff Whiteko, Hackett said he didn’t know of any past problems between Patterson and Thomas.
Vernon also introduced the autopsy reports from Dr. Philip Reilly and Dr. Cyril Wecht, both of whom said Thomas died from a single gunshot wound to the neck, with the manner of death being homicide.
Patterson was ordered held for court on charges of homicide, criminal attempt aggravated assault, robbery of a motor vehicle and criminal trespassing. He was returned to the Fayette County Prison to await trial.
Withrow, 21, of 12 South Hills Terrace, was charged with terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing. She is free on unsecured bond.