CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
During testimony at his murder trial yesterday, Shane Mark showed how he held a gun to scare off an attacker in an earlier incident. The gun in that incident was the same one used in the shooting death of police officer Glen Gaspar.
Mark says police
offered no IDShane Mark says he
was afraid the men
were out to kill him
A 29-year-old man on trial for killing a plainclothes police officer told jurors yesterday that he never heard officers identify themselves and thought they were out to kill him.
Defendant Shane Mark took the stand on the second day of the defense's presentation of its case.
Mark is charged with first-degree murder for shooting police officer Glen Gaspar on March 4, and second-degree murder for pointing a pistol at officer Calvin Sung. Mark has admitted shooting Gaspar but claims it was in self-defense because he did not know Gaspar or Sung were police officers.
According to Mark's testimony, his former girlfriend, Melissa Sennett, called him early on March 4, and they planned to meet at the Baskin-Robbins store in Kapolei so Mark could see his daughter, Shansy, before she left for the mainland.
Sennett tipped off police about the meeting but told them that Mark would be unarmed.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Defendant Shane Mark showed in court yesterday how he was grabbed from behind by police officers.
Mark said he was happy to be able to see his daughter but was afraid two men were after him because he shot one of them Feb. 1 in a dispute over the sale of a broken video monitor and surveillance camera.
"My plan was to give my daughter a gift and tell her how much I love her," he said, his voice breaking with emotion.
Mark said he told Sennett that he was carrying the gun, and explained that people were trying to kill him "and how come I cannot spend too much time with my daughter," he said.
Mark said he kept visits 10 to 15 minutes long, afraid he might be spotted, and saw his daughter three times during her one-week visit from the mainland.
When he got inside the Baskin-Robbins, Mark said he saw his daughter looking very sick and resting her head on the table. Sennett and her boyfriend, who videotaped the meeting, were also there.
Mark said he patted Shansy on the back, stepped back and brought out a pouch with a necklace and earrings for her.
Mark said he was about to place the necklace on her when "two guys was trying to grab me." He said he did not see them enter the store.
"I was feeling that they was going pull me out of the store, for go someplace and kill me," he said.
The men were officers Gaspar and Sung.
Mark said he heard them say, "Put your hands up, put your hands up."
He tried to get the men off him because he did not know who they were. He said he never heard them identify themselves as police.
"I thought they was robbing the place," he said.
Sung has testified that he and Gaspar showed their badges and identified themselves as they approached Mark.
Mark said he thought the two were trying to move him toward his daughter and out the door, so he tried to move them away from her and backed up toward the ice cream counter.
He testified he could still see his daughter at the table and was afraid she could get hurt.
While he grappled with the two men, Mark said he was able to free his right hand and grabbed his gun in his waistband.
"First thing I did was make sure it wasn't pointing toward my daughter," he said.
He turned to the left and shot to get the men off him, but the grips got tighter, so he shot two more times in quick succession, he said.
Mark said he fell to the ground on his stomach during the struggle and pulled his hand out from under him, extending his arm as one of the men tried to reach his gun.
Mark said he was not pointing the gun at anyone but knew if someone heard the shots, they would come to help.
But under cross-examination from Deputy City Prosecutor Chris Van Marter, Mark said he knew the first shot was to Gaspar's belt area, and subsequent shots were to Gaspar's chest.
Mark also said he fired the gun to stop Gaspar from overpowering him.
Had he known the men were police, Mark said, he would have obeyed them "because I would have known my daughter then would have been safe."
Mark said he did not realize the men were police until after he was handcuffed and being taken away and saw uniformed officers around.
He denied intending to kill Gaspar or Sung.
Also yesterday, criminal defense lawyer Myles Breiner testified that Mark and girlfriend Leslie Martin consulted with him in February to ask for his help in surrendering to police, but Mark "was afraid of police and equally afraid about people after him."
Although Mark did not have the $30,000 to retain him, Breiner offered to go with him to police.
