Testimony reveals chaos, heroic attempts to save a life, following Coral Ridge Mall shooting

NEVADA – Dorian Potter was cleaning at the restaurant he managed at the Coral Ridge Mall when he heard three loud noises.

He thought at first it came from kids slamming trays.

'You don't think of anything bad happening at the mall,' he said.

But then he saw chaos as people ran from the noises, which proved to be gunshots. He ran the other way — toward the noises and a gruesome discovery.

'I saw a girl lying in a puddle of blood and ran over to her,' Potter testified Friday in the first-degree murder trial of former mall security guard Alexander Kozak.

Potter didn't know at the time the woman was Andrea Farrington, 20, and hadn't seen the gunman. But Potter, a former Army combat medic, knew he had to help.

He said his medical training kicked in. He asked someone for a shirt to wipe off the blood. He needed to close the wounds with an airtight bandage, so he improvised with trash bags and tape. 

'She was breathing at that time … she was fighting,' Potter said. 'She had blood in her mouth and I put my hand in her mouth and pulled it out,' he said, as he started to cry on the witness stand.

The second day of testimony in the trial — which was moved out of Johnson County on a change of venue — revealed more of what witnesses saw on June 12, 2012, how they tried to help and how they helped identify Kozak as the gunman.

Investigators say Kozak, 23, shot Farrington in the back three times as she was working the Coralville mall's welcome center. The defense does not dispute that he shot her, but argues he suffers from a mental condition and should be convicted of a lesser charge.

Candida Heaton of Coralville said she joined Potter in trying to save Farrington. Heaton, a nurse's assistant in Iowa and certified nurse in Tennessee, testified she was working at the Mellow Mushroom, which is near the welcome center, when she heard screams.

She saw a woman collapsed on the floor. Heaton knew Farrington, but didn't realize the victim was her.

Heaton grabbed the woman's arm to feel for a pulse — she had one at that point. Then she helped Potter cover the wounds and they started CPR.

Heaton, tearful on the witness stand, said she felt like she hadn't done enough.

It wasn't until the paramedics took the woman out that she learned it was the same Andrea she knew.

Heaton said she had trained with Farrington at the Mellow Mushroom. Farrington left the job there, but Heaton would still see her at the mall, since Farrington worked there at the Iowa Children's Museum.

Coralville police Officer Michael Barney said Potter and Heaton did a 'brilliant' job to help Farrington. He testified as the prosecution played a video taken from his body camera when he responded to the mall.

The video mostly pointed toward the ceiling, but it showed how chaotic the scene was after the shooting.

The video shows Barney learning that Kozak is the possible shooter and how he abruptly quit his job that day.

Barney testified about searching Kozak's car after he was arrested and finding 9 mm ammunition, his black fedora hat and several hatchets and knives.

Taha Taha of Iowa City, a friend of Farrington's who worked at the Verizon kiosk, testified he saw Kozak walk up behind Farrington and shoot her. He recognized Kozak as a mall security guard.

Taha said he was dressed in black and wearing a fedora. He had seen Kozak in that outfit a day or two before.

Rudy Rodriguez of Iowa City, who was working at Trade Home Shoes that day, testified he saw Kozak, who he recognized, with the gun and yelled, 'Bro, what are you doing?' as he started backing away from him.

Rodriguez was visibly upset during his testimony.

Rodriguez said he made eye contact with Kozak before he saw him run down the hallway to an exit. He said Kozak had a blank stare.

Johnson County sheriff's Deputy Kevin Elliott was off duty that day and with his family at the mall.

He said he saw Kozak afterward with a gun and followed him through the mall, but lost sight of him as he reached the outside.

He testified he was unable to take a shot at the fleeing gunman without endangering bystanders.

Witnesses reported hearing something being thrown in a trash bin outside the mall just after the shooting.

There, authorities found the Glock, Johnson County sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Gingerich testified. Kozak was arrested later that night as he drove along Interstate 80 and has been held in jail since.

The prosecution continues at 9 a.m. Monday.

Timeline by John McGlothlen / The Gazette