VIRGINIA BEACH — The boyfriend of a slain Kempsville High School senior testified Wednesday that he tried to sell marijuana to the accused shooter the night his 18-year-old girlfriend was killed.
Freddy Pilataxi, 19, said his girlfriend, Sidea Lashae Griffin, was crying in the front passenger seat of his car as he rushed her to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital on the night of Jan. 14.
“She said she was shot,” he testified in Virginia Beach Juvenile Domestic Relations Court.
“I saw a hole in her back,” he continued. “She just wanted to get to the hospital.”
The couple arrived at the hospital around 9:45 p.m. Griffin died there shortly after, according to the Virginia Beach Police Department.
Accused of her murder is 17-year-old Ethan Torres, who Pilataxi testified used a gun to try to rob the couple of the marijuana minutes before he shot Griffin.
Torres has been charged with second-degree murder, attempted robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. His case is scheduled to be presented to a grand jury on May 22.
Pilataxi testified that he has known Torres for several years, communicating with him mostly through social media. The night Griffin was killed, he and Torres used Instagram to set up the drug deal.
Pilataxi said that he’d sold marijuana to other people, but that night was the first time he tried to sell it to Torres. He also testified that Griffin had looked at his phone and was aware that they were going to meet up with Torres for the drug deal beforehand.
Griffin was at her grandmother’s Green Run home when Pilataxi picked her up around 6:30 p.m. The couple planned to go see the movie “The Bye Bye Man,” stopping to buy tickets at Regal Cinemas
Around 8:30 p.m., the couple drove to an apartment complex on Ruddy Oak Court to sell Torres the marijuana. It was dark outside, and they sat in the car near a median with the lights off and waited for the 17-year-old.
Pilataxi testified that Torres approached the car from the front, getting into the back passenger seat. The guys shook hands and exchanged a “what’s up?” before Torres handed Pilataxi $15.
The amount wasn’t what Torres and Pilataxi had agreed to in the Instagram exchange, the 19-year-old said. He planned to sell Torres 10 grams of marijuana for about $100.
Pilataxi told Torres that the amount of money was short, and the 17-year-old asked for the cash back. When the money was in his hand, Torres demanded Pilataxi give him the marijuana anyway, Pilataxi said.
When he refused to give Torres the drugs, the 17-year-old pulled out a gun and held it up next to the man’s shoulders, Pilataxi said.
“He said, ‘I’ll do it,’ and that I should count my seconds,” Pilataxi testified.
Pilataxi said he pushed Torres’s gun away before the 17-year-old pointed the weapon at Griffin’s head and threatened to kill her.
Pilataxi testified that he told Torres to get out of the car. The 17-year-old did get out of the vehicle, and Pilataxi began to drive away. After he’d driven about 10 feet, Pilataxi looked back and testified he saw Torres shoot the gun through a back window in the car, hitting Griffin in the back.
“I saw a spark of light,” Pilataxi said. “I seen him shoot the gun.”
Pilataxi was stunned when Griffin told him she’d been shot. For a moment he couldn’t find his phone. When he did find it underneath him, he got directions to the hospital and began to drive.
It took him 12 minutes to get there.
“I was in shock,” he testified. “I wasn’t thinking. I was just trying to get her [to a hospital] to get her help.”
Mayfield can be reached at adrienne.m@wydaily.com.
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