What did men accused in shooting death of 7-year-old girl tell cops?

Abrion Price, Trevonte Phoenix, Stanley Harris III charged in shootout

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Video released this week by the State Attorney's Office provides a glimpse of the interrogation of three men charged in a shootout that led to the death of a 7-year-old girl at a Westside shopping plaza last year.

Heidy Rivas-Villanueva was caught in the crossfire while sitting in a car in the plaza parking lot with her father, waiting for her mother to finish grocery shopping, her father said. Heidy was shot in the head and died in her father's arms at the hospital.

Abrion Price, 22; Trevonte Phoenix, 18; and Stanley Harris III, 19, are facing charges in the shootout.

Price and Phoenix are each charged with felony murder, armed robbery and armed burglary. Harris is charged with third-degree murder, shooting from a vehicle and shooting or throwing a deadly missile.

Police told Harris that his bullet ended Heidy's life.

All three men are also facing gun possession charges. The three have pleaded not guilty to all of their charges.

Police said 13 shots were fired as a result of what was apparently a planned robbery in the parking lot of an IHOP restaurant next to the plaza where Heidy was shot. Phoenix and Price arranged the setup over social media under the pretense of a gun sale, police said.

Harris, a friend of the buyer, served as a lookout in another car as the deal went down, police said. When guns were drawn, he exchanged shots with Phoenix and Price as they ran away, and Heidy was hit in the shootout.

Edward Garcia and his mother, Kezia Holmes, are accused of helping to cover up Phoenix's and Price's involvement in the shootout.

'That's a pretty little girl'

Interviews with each of the men after they were arrested were captured on video and prosecutors released the videos this week.

The hours and hours of videos show the men being questioned by police about the shooting. 

WATCH: Interrogation videos released after 7-year-old's death

Through the first 40 minutes of his video, Price (right) maintains he never had a gun because he is a convicted felon, recently released from prison after serving time on cocaine charges.

"What the (expletive) do I look like?" Price is heard saying. "I'm fresh out of prison and I've been out three months."

He admitted to being near the IHOP but insisted he had no role in Heidy's killing or the robbery.

“You got to listen to me, sir. I’m not telling you no lies, sir. I’m not going to prison for life for nobody, for the murder of nobody, period,” Price said.

Phoenix (left) told detectives he was in the area to go to IHOP and recalled seeing a car pull up with the window down and then shots being fired. The detective said video evidence said otherwise -- that the window was already down and a gun wasn't pointed at him.

Detectives said what led up to the incident wasn't on the video and asked if Phoenix wanted to help them fill in the blanks.

Phoenix asked for a lawyer.

Detectives were the hardest on Harris, telling him they have his girlfriend's car in evidence and that ballistics show that the bullet that killed the little girl came from his gun.

UNCUT: Portion of Stanley Harris III interrogation
(WARNING: Includes explicit language)

Harris: “That’s a pretty little girl." (looking at picture detectives brought of Heidy)
Detective: “It is. That is a pretty little girl. She was a happy, pretty little girl until you shot her in the head."


Harris: “I didn’t do s***.”
Detective: “Yeah, you did. And sit right there in the IHOP parking lot. You was parked over about two or three spots.”
Harris: “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don’t even eat mother******* IHOP."
Detective: You don’t eat mother******* IHOP because you didn’t go there to eat.”

Harris (right) repeatedly denied being involved.

Harris: "I don't want to be here no more than you want me to be here, especially for something like this."
Detective: "Well, I don't mind being here, because I would do anything for this child."
Harris: "Especially for something I had nothing to do with."
Detective: "You know what else I would do for this child? If it was my ... carelessness, or mistakes, I would admit to it, because she don't deserve this." 
Harris: "You're right. She don't."

At one point, when Harris is left alone during the interview, he gets up and walks around the room, talking to himself. At one point, he picks up the picture of Heidy that detectives had left in the room, and then sets it back down on the table, mumbling "this is crazy."

Near the end of Harris' interrogation, he was asked what he would say to Heidy's family.

"Sorry for their loss, I guess."


About the Authors:

Award-winning broadcast and multimedia journalist with 20 years experience.

Ashley Harding joined the Channel 4 news team in March 2013. She reports for and anchors The Morning Show.