Woman testifies she had ‘sick feeling’ before ex-boyfriend fired shots

CEDAR RAPIDS — A woman testified Wednesday that Isaiah Martin III, her ex-boyfriend and father of her 5-year-old son, was already angry when he showed up at the boy’s basketball practice July 18, 2022.

Rachel Richardson said Martin, 30, of Hiawatha — on trial this week for attempted murder and other charges — started threatening her before he showed up at the Northwest Recreation Center that day. The two had broken up in May 2022, but he kept trying to reconcile.

Before practice started, Richardson said Martin was sending texts, calling her disparaging names because she rejected him. She was only interested in being co-parents with him, she said. She finally had to block his number but he continued to call 40 to 50 times.

When Martin showed up at the center, Richardson was at a vending machine outside the gym. Martin, in a low tone, told her ‘You know when something happens it’s going to be bad,’ she testified.

Inside the gym, Martin sat by Richardson’s mother and started staring at her. She felt threatened by his demeanor and because of the earlier comments.

Richardson said she had a “sick feeling” in her stomach after the practice as Martin was holding the boy and she told him to say goodbye to his father.

Martin was angry and called Richardson a disparaging name again. She just wanted to get her son into the car to leave, she said.

During her testimony, Assistant Linn County Attorney Jordan Schier played a surveillance video of what happened next in the parking lot.

As Richardson started leaving in her SUV, Martin, on foot, stepped out in front of her as if to block her. She then stopped in the parking lot and told her mom, who was in another car, to pull in front of her.

By then, Martin was sitting on a bench near the front of the building, but he started walking into the driveway area. Richardson said that’s when she saw he had a gun. He walked toward her SUV and she said she had to swerve to drive around her mother’s car in an attempt to escape.

But Martin, staring directly at her, raised up his arm and fired the gun. She didn’t recall how many shots he fired, only that she heard glass breaking and her son screaming.

As soon as Martin pointed the gun at her, Richardson said she feared for her life. She didn’t know if she was injured in that moment because her main concern was her son, Richardson, tearing up, said.

She called 911 as she drove away.

In the 911 call, which was played for the jury, Richardson is heard screaming and crying. The dispatcher attempted to calm her down to get the information and encouraged her to pull over and stop, so she could check her son for any possible injuries.

The vehicle’s front and back windshield were hit by a bullet and the back seat passenger side window, next to where her son was sitting, also was shot. Richardson’s son didn’t have any injuries, but he was crying and shaking. She had a small cut on her arm from the broken glass.

Schier asked if there were any bullet holes to the lower half of the SUV or to the tires, but Richardson said only to the windows and windshields, where bullets could have struck her and her son.

Richardson said her back windshield had been previously damaged by Martin in March 2022, when he punched it because she wouldn’t let him get in the vehicle. He also took her phone from her in that incident.

Her son, now 6, is in therapy as a result of the shooting. He has had “ups and downs” in school and wants to play basketball but doesn’t want to go back to the recreation center.

Richardson said she has had nightmares and is easily startled by loud noises. She also has some “paranoia.” She hasn’t had much time to process the trauma because “I still have to be a mom.”

Martin is charged with attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, domestic abuse assault with a dangerous weapon, abandonment of dependent person, going armed with intent, child endangerment, use of a dangerous weapon in the commission of a crime and fifth-degree criminal mischief.

The trial is expected to wrap up Friday.

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