JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Attorneys for the man accused of killing a restaurant employee outside the Baymeadows Road McDonald's in February claims the victim was his accomplice in a robbery attempt and the shooting was an accident.
Prosecutors said Raynold Orelus, a Haitian immigrant and father of five, was a McDonald's employee trying to help keep his boss from being robbed when he was shot twice by Nesta Walker.
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Police said Walker, 29, was after a bank deposit bag containing $3,000 that restaurant manager Wyonester Fisher and Orelus were taking to Fisher's car.
A man who saw the shooting and rammed the getaway car as it left the parking lot was one of the first witnesses to testify on Tuesday.
Video:Audio:Raynold Orelus Killing 911 Calls
"The gunman raised the gun up and shot him in the chest and killed him," Lewis Walker said. "All I could think is to stop him."
Based on Walker's description and the direction of the getaway car, police caught up with the getaway car on Interstate 95 and pursued it through town. They eventually arrested the defendant after he bailed out of the moving vehicle and ran through a Northwest Jacksonville neighborhood.
Lewis Walker -- no relation to the defendant -- said he doesn't consider himself a hero, just someone who did the right thing.
"They lost their father and husband, and I hate it terribly for them," Walker said.
Among the evidence expected to be presented is the .357 Magnum used to shoot Orelus. Police said the gun was stolen a month earlier during a home burglary.
Walker is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and attempting to elude a police officer. The state is not seeking the death penalty in the case, so if convicted, Walker would face life in prison.