Alleged killing spree gunman claimed the devil made him do it
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Trevor Hall-Gray, fatally shot July 5, 2015, in Allentown, is seen with family and friends. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)
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Sarah Cassi | For lehighvalleylive.com By Sarah Cassi | For lehighvalleylive.com
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on October 20, 2015 at 5:38 PM, updated October 20, 2015 at 9:05 PM
UPDATE: Crime spree gunman 'wanted to keep killing,' detective testifies
The alleged gunman in a shooting spree that left three people dead in the Lehigh Valley told investigators a voice told him not to be so "picky" with his victims, a detective testified Tuesday.
Todd West cropped.jpgTodd West is charged in three killings in the Lehigh Valley and four in New Jersey. (Courtesy photo)
"The voice was telling (Todd West), 'Just eat, eat, stop being so picky,'" Allentown police Detective John Brixius III testified.
When West was asked if police had the getaway car used in his crime wave, West told them he knew police had the car, "because he told him, referring to the devil," Brixius said.
The detective's account is one of an estimated 15 witnesses who are expected at a preliminary hearing, which started Tuesday afternoon and is continuing into the evening.
West, 23, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, is charged with seven killings in all -- three in the Lehigh Valley and four before that in New Jersey. Authorities have agreed to try him in the Pennsylvania cases first.
Kareem Mitchell, the accused driver during the Lehigh Valley rampage, told investigators he was giving co-defendant Robert Jourdain a ride with his 2-year-old son to Easton, and West, whom he had never met before, came with them.
Mitchell said West displayed a gun as the SUV traveled from New Jersey into Pennsylvania.
After dropping off Jourdain's son with the boy's mother in Easton, the trio went to Allentown, where West got a haircut the night of July 4, Brixius said.
The three then went to an after-hours club -- they weren't sure where -- and then drove to the Wal-Mart at Northampton Crossings in Lower Nazareth Township in the early morning of July 5, where Jourdain bought bullets, Brixius testified.
RELATED: Elizabeth, New Jersey, man allegedly killed 4 in N.J., 3 in Pa.
West said the trio were driving in Easton, when he saw a man who looked tired walking along Lehigh Street; the man was Kory Ketrow.
West told investigators he was going to "help" Ketrow, then West got out of the SUV, said "See ya later" and fired a Smith and Wesson .38-caliber pistol "until it was empty" -- a total of six rounds, Brixius said.
I said, 'Oh my God they're going to shoot us!'"
Asked if West knew the victim, West identified him as, "Just a guy in Easton," Brixius said.
West then described traveling to Allentown and shooting Francine E. Ramos and Trevor D. Gray, both of Allentown, in a burgundy Honda a little before 4 a.m. near North Sixth and Greenleaf streets, Brixius testified.
West saw Ramos stiffen as he opened fire and knew she was dead, but told police that Gray tried to duck behind a car, "but he believed he got him," Brixius said.
The killings in the two cities happened about 45 minutes apart.
When investigators asked West about opening fire on a couple in Easton after Ketrow's killing but before going to Allentown, West "couldn't believe he forgot," Brixius said, and described the demands from the voice he was hearing.
Helene Barone didn't forget. The Palmer Township woman was driving the car that police say West shot.
Barone testified she was at a traffic light at Third and Spring Garden streets about 3:20 a.m. July 5 when she looked in her rear-view mirror. She saw an SUV stopped about 20 feet behind her car with its lights off.
Barone said she saw a man get out of the rear passenger seat and raise his arm. That's when she said she saw a gun.
"I said, 'Oh my God they're going to shoot us!'" Barone testified. She hit the gas as she heard three shots, she said.
"I was out of there," she said.
Barone drove through two red lights, got on Route 22 West and got off at the 25th Street exit to go to the Palmer Township Police Department, she said.
Barone said she noticed a tire was losing air. The next day when the tire was taken off the car, someone shook the tire and could hear something inside. When Barone took the car to a tire shop on July 6, a bullet was found in the tire well, she said.
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