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Bonaparte has been accused of fatally shooting two people on Oct. 4 in an apartment in the 1300 block of Delta Road — Joshua Brown, 26, and Raina Beal, 23, according to investigators.
Brown allegedly told police Bonaparte shot him prior to being transported to Springfield Regional Medical Center, according to court records. He later died at the hospital.
A witness later told police she and the two victims had been inside the apartment most of the day. A man named “Chiraq” knocked on the door and entered the apartment with another man named “Packy,” the court records say.
The men began arguing and Chiraq said, “I don’t have time for the (expletive),” then allegedly pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and shot Brown in the chest, police said in court records.
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Brown then began shooting back and the two allegedly exchanged several rounds of gunfire, court records say. Beal was caught between the two and shot one time in the head, police said.
Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson told potential jurors during open remarks Tuesday that pride lead to the deaths of Brown and Beal.
“Should have just walked out of that house bro. I should’ve just left. Me not putting my pride aside (expletive) everything up,” Wilson said. “Those statements were made on a phone call that (Bonaparte) made to one of his friends, who was Raina’s cousin.”
Bonaparte also expressed no remorse on that call for killing Brown, Wilson said in court.
“As a matter of fact, you will hear him say on that call, ‘I don’t care about JB.’ Now, you’ll also hear on that call he’s upset Raina died and he’s denying that he fired the shots that killed Raina,” Wilson said.
In court Wilson said the defendant and Beal dated in the past.
Defense attorney Shawn Thomas said during his opening remarks that the prosecution was hiding some evidence.
“Maybe the deceased were somehow associated or related to Gangster Disciples possibly. They were. I’ll tell you that now. Everybody involved here is a gang member,” Thomas said. “It’s a drug house. They are selling drugs out of it.”
He also asked the potential jurors to pay attention and look deeper at the details throughout the trial.
The trial is expected to last for the remainder of the week.
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