Widow of Pasadena Murder Victim Victor McClinton Tearfully Describes Christmas Day Shooting

A Pasadena widow whose husband was killed in a shooting incident on Christmas Day 2012 testified Monday in the trial of two men charged with the murder, recalling how she thought she had heard fireworks outside their home as her husband walked a friend out to his car.

Shelly McClinton told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury she realized those were not fireworks that she heard. When she went out to check, she saw her husband, 49-year-old Victor, at that time an employee of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and a neighborhood athletics coach, lying in a pool of blood, his body shaking.

Victor McClinton had been struck by a stray bullet from a car-to-car shooting that Christmas morning. He was rushed to a hospital, but the doctors could not save him.

During Shelly McClinton’s testimony Monday, she told the jury several of their neighbors came to help as her husband lay on the ground, after she had dialed 911, but they could only hold him and tell him to just keep breathing.

“Hold on. Don’t leave,” was all she could say to her husband, not knowing what to do as they waited for the ambulance.

City News Service reported that McClinton fought back tears after she was shown a photo of her husband and asked to identify the picture in court.

The jury is trying Larry Darnell Bishop Jr. and Jerron Donald Harris who are charged with the murder of Victor McClinton.

The two also face charges of attempted murder involving the intended victim, Damion Taylor, who was wounded and wound up crashing the red Ford Focus he was driving. Additionally, they have been charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling and possession of a firearm by a felon.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Amy Ashvanian called Victor McClinton “an innocent man” who was struck by gunfire while outside his home saying goodbye to a friend who had delivered a Christmas gift.

Ashvanian called the shooting “a gang-related murder,” and said two houses in the neighborhood were struck by the gunfire.

Elena Saris, Bishop’s attorney, said there was no denying that a “very good man was killed” and that the killing was senseless and random. But she said she could not see evidence that says her client was in the car involved in the shooting when the incident happened.

Harris’ attorney, Richard Lasting, also disputed the prosecution’s contention that his client was involved in the crime.

Earlier police testimony said Bishop and Harris were members of the Pasadena Blood Gang, and that the intended victim belonged to a rival group, the Squiggly Lane Gangsters.

Prosecution witness Joseph Biolsi said he went with his grandchildren to exchange Christmas presents at McClinton’s house. Victor McClinton had walked him out to his car.

Biolsi told jurors McClinton was a true gentleman, and that the latter was telling about “how happy he was.”

Biolsi was able to duck behind his car after realizing that he was hearing gunshots. When he looked behind him, he saw McClinton with a bullet hole in his forehead. Biolsi said he tried to put his hand over the head wound to stop its bleeding until McClinton’s family came out.

The trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday.