A Mississippi man told jurors Wednesday he accidentally shot and killed an Odessa mother of four while defending himself from another man who had earlier threatened him with a gun.
Shemar Harrington, 22, is facing a murder charge in the death of Erika Peña and an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge in the wounding of LaPaul Scaggs.
According to the testimony of several witnesses, Peña was shot around 1:30 a.m. May 29, 2022, outside the Southwest Oak apartments, where she and several friends and acquaintances lived and often gathered to listen to music, drink and eat. That night, Peña was making chicken for the group.
Harrington took the stand in the 70th Ector County District Court Wednesday afternoon.
The oilfield worker told jurors that on the night of the shooting, he and a friend decided to seek some female companionship. They spent some time with two women at the Southwest Oak apartments on Oakwood Drive before deciding to go back to his apartment to see two other women. Harrington said he was sitting in his truck getting ready to leave when Peña knocked on his window.
Harrington testified Peña spent several minutes in his truck telling him about her relationship problems with her boyfriend, Deruan Nichols. Nichols was one of several men he grew up with in Philadelphia, Mississippi who had moved to Odessa, he said.
Eventually, Harrington said he told Peña he had to go, but he’d continue their conversation later. He and his friend went back to his apartment, but the women there became upset he wouldn’t allow them to smoke marijuana in his apartment so he and his friend decided to return to the Southwest Oak apartments to see the first two women.
Upon their arrival, Harrington testified he ran into Jatarrius Kelly, another friend from Mississippi, outside Peña’s apartment. He’d met Peña through Nichols before and he asked her if he could use her restroom, which required him to pass through her bedroom, he said.
On the way out of the bathroom, Harrington said he turned on the flashlight on his cell phone because it was very dark. He came to realize Scaggs was in the bedroom with Aquanasia Kirkwood and Peña.
Scaggs had a “negative” reaction to the light and wanted to know what he was doing, Harrington said.
Scaggs accused him of recording him, but remained upset even after he and Peña showed him his deleted files, his photo files and his Snapchat account, Harrington said.
Harrington told the jurors Scaggs was very intoxicated and left the apartment stating he was going to get a gun, Harrington said. He, too, decided to leave the apartment because he didn’t want to see any harm done to Peña or her children, he said.
As he was explaining what happened to a group in the parking lot, Harrington said Scaggs appeared on the landing of a staircase brandishing a weapon, threatening him and telling people to get out of the way. He described Scaggs as “taking cover” behind a railing.
Moments later, Scaggs came down the stairs and continued to threaten him, Harrington said. By this point, Harrington said he had his own weapon out, pointed at the ground.
Peña and another friend from Mississippi, Montreal Jordan, stood between the two of them trying to de-escalate the situation, he said.
Scaggs ended up reaching over Peña to punch him in the face, causing him to stumble back, Harrington said. When Scaggs tried to come around Peña again roughly five seconds later, Harrington said he fired a single shot because he thought Scaggs was getting ready to shoot him.
“I raised my arm real fast to try to beat him to the punch,” Harrington said. “I heard him scream and her moan and I saw her pull him down.”
He took that opportunity to leave, Harrington said. He spent about 20 minutes at his brother’s apartment at a nearby complex before heading to the apartment of an acquaintance.
Harrington said he called Peña’s boyfriend to tell him about the “accident” and he intended to turn himself in after speaking with an attorney. The defendant said around 10 a.m. that day he saw police cars drive by the apartment, so he lit up a cigarette and waited to be arrested.
Harrington told his defense attorney, Phillip Wildman, that in the moment he thought it was going to be him or Scaggs and he never intended for Peña to get hurt.
Under cross-examination from Assistant Ector County District Attorney Elizabeth Howard, Harrington denied “snooping” in Peña’s room that night, but he did admit he was curious who was in Peña’s bed as her boyfriend, Nichols, was in California. He further admitted it was none of his business and Peña was welcome to have friends lay down in her home.
Harrington further admitted he could have gone home when Scaggs became upset with him or he could have gone to the apartment of the two girls he had spent time with earlier in the evening.
Howard also pointed out several inconsistencies in Harrington’s own testimony and between his testimony and that of other witnesses.
Jasmine Kelly testified she and Jordan tried to de-escalate the situation when Scaggs was on the apartment stairs landing and Harrington was at the foot of the stairs.
However, Harrington insisted Kelly and Jordan weren’t near the stairs to de-escalate the situation and he was on the sidewalk, not at the foot of the stairs while Scaggs was brandishing the gun.
Under questioning from Howard, Harrington at one point said he fired the gun while Scaggs was trying to get around Peña, but at another point he said he fired after Scaggs got around her.
Harrington acknowledged Scaggs did not have a gun in his hand when he came down the stairs, Scaggs is roughly the same size as him and his jail booking photo shows no bruises or other injuries. He also admitted that despite the fact he claims he fired the weapon in self-defense, he didn’t call 911 or turn himself in.
Under further questioning from Howard, Harrington said Peña’s boyfriend bought the weapon that killed Peña for him when he was underage. He further acknowledged Nichols visits him at the jail.
When Howard asked Harrington if he intended to use all of the money he had on him at the time of his arrest to leave Odessa, Harrington replied, “Yes, ma’am,” before correcting himself several seconds later and saying, “Oh. Well, no.”
Under re-direct, Harrington explained he was earning close to $28 an hour and a $125 per diem at the time of his arrest and was planning to go back to Mississippi to obtain his commercial driver’s license.
Howard told jurors at the beginning of the trial Scaggs has been uncooperative with authorities. He is currently awaiting trial on a sexual assault of a child charge. He was arrested the night of the shooting and remain in custody in the Ector County jail.
The trial is expected to continue at 9 a.m. Thursday. Judge Denn Whalen is presiding.
