Neil Harris murder trial

One of the two accused of the 2016 murder of Barber Neil Harris took the stand in his own defence today. Erick Reid told the jury he didn’t kill Harris, he knows who did, but he won’t tell the jury who it is.

27 year old Erick Reid says he was with a man he didn’t know very well when he went to Neil Harris’s barbershop to buy enough marijuana for his own drug dealing business. Walking in to the shop with the killer, he said he had no weapon and no idea what would happen next.

He says he was wiping his feet at the door when he heard an explosion and he covered his face. Then Neil Harris crashed into him on his way out the door. The barber fell to the sidewalk outside and died of a gunshot wound. Today Erick Reid told the jury he couldn’t say who the shooter was. It’s a code where he grew up, you don’t talk to police. “I’m afraid I might be killed,” Reid told the jury he thought his family might also be targeted.

Reid’s co-accused Odain Gardner did not testify and his lawyer did not ask Reid any questions. He has not been directly asked if Odain Gardner was the shooter. The crown continues to cross examine the accused May 10th.