116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Defendant says he shot up van in self-defense
May. 20, 2010 11:23 am
Derrick Roberts testified today Lovie Allen spit in his face and told him “I should pop your b--ch a--” and lifted his shirt to show his gun after Roberts got into an argument with Mildred Allen in the parking lot of the Mission of Hope April 29, 2009.
Roberts, 25, of Cedar Rapids, said he was walking through the parking lot with three girls that day and was hit by a powered sugar donut. The donut was thrown by Mildred Allen, a woman he usually referred to as “crazy.” He said he knew Mildred because she lived downstairs from his brother's girlfriend's apartment, where Roberts was recently staying.
Roberts, formerly of Chicago, is on trial in Linn County District Court for attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon and willful injury causing serious injury. He is accused of shooting Delores Smith, 50, of Cedar Rapids, while she was in a parked van outside of Mildred Allen's home in the 1200 block of Third Avenue SE. Smith was seriously injured in the shooting.
Roberts said he asked Mildred Allen to apologize and she wouldn't. Lovie Allen, his brother Reuben and their father Albert got out of the van during the confrontation. When Lovie threatened him, Albert Allen stepped up and held his sons back.
“He was telling them ‘Be cool, be cool,” Roberts said. “Lovie spit in my face and said ‘I should kill you.'”
Roberts said he was scared when he saw Lovie's gun. People had told him not to mess with the Allens, he said.
Roberts said at this point he started walking away and then got a call from his wife, who told him to leave. He was afraid for his life and when he got to his friend Maria's house, he called a friend, DeShaun Hall, to get a gun for protection. Hall brought him the gun and told him how to use it because he didn't have experience with guns.
His brother Andre told him to change his shirt so the Allens wouldn't recognize him, Roberts said. Maria then drove him and Andre to get his clothes that were at Andre's girlfriend's apartment. She lived a floor above Mildred Allen. They parked in a back alley because Andre had a no-contact order against him from the girlfriend.
Roberts said as he came up in front of the apartment building, he saw Lovie Allen was standing outside a parked van. When Roberts got to the curb, across the street from the van, Lovie Allen reached down in the van and Roberts thought he was going for a gun.
Roberts said he hollered “No, mother f…. – like saying you're not going to shoot me.” He started shooting at the van. He thought he only shot two or three times but after he walked away he noticed the gun was emptied.
The gun was actually fired nine times, according to earlier testimony.
“My intentions was just to protect myself,” he said. “Not to hurt nobody. The only reason I shot the gun is when I saw him reaching for the gun.”
Roberts said he didn't know Delores Smith was in the van. He didn't know he shot her.
Roberts said he found out after the shooting that Lovie and other members of the Allen family were members of a gang, Black Disciples out of Chicago.
He broke down and started crying when he was asked why his family wasn't at the trial. Roberts said they were scared.
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