By Michael Copley
Staff Writer

Closing arguments were made today in the case of three Powhatan residents charged in the shooting death of Powhatan High School student Tahliek Taliaferro.
Before closing arguments this afternoon, Ethan Parrish testified that he had been “terrified” when he fired six shots into the car Taliaferro was riding in.

The shooting on Dorset Road followed a verbal altercation between Ethan’s cousin Joey Parrish and Taliaferro’s group at the Sheetz in Flat Rock.

“I was hoping to scare [Taliaferro and his friends] by brandishing a firearm,” said Parrish. “I know it wasn’t the smartest idea. We would have lost in a fist fight hands down.”

It was noted during the court proceedings that Ethan Parrish had no knowledge of Tahliek Taliaferro before the June 24, 2008 shooting, nor was he aware of the ongoing feud between Taliaferro and his younger cousin Joey Parrish.

Stephanie Reynolds, who was with the Parrish cousins that day, cut the confrontation at Sheetz short, driving the cousins out of the parking lot and onto Route 60.

“It was wise to get out of there,” said Ethan Parrish. He also said there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Taliaferro and his friends intended to follow them to fight. Joey Parrish had instructed them to do as much before Reynolds left the parking lot.

Ethan Parrish said he originally intended to drive to a friend’s house in Amelia that he described as safe, and where “reinforcements” might be. But he hesitated. As his Durango turned onto Dorset Road, Joey told Ethan Parrish that the people following them were known to carry guns, and Ethan Parrish said he was uncomfortable taking a situation that could involve firearms to someone else’s house.

So Ethan Parrish said he instructed Reynolds to pull the SUV into a driveway in the hope that the two cars following them would pass. If they stopped, he said he intended to scare them with the gun.

“I chose it because it was the scariest,” said Parrish, when asked why he chose the Mac 90 assault rifle over the other two guns in his car that day.

Parrish said the three guns were in his car because he was moving out of the house he shared with his fiancé and into a friend’s house. He said he was in the process of moving his gun collection to the gun locker at his parent’s house and the three guns in question were the ones he intended to keep with him at his new residence.

Ethan Parrish said he was “terrified” as the first of the two cars crept past the back of his car. He said the driver of that car, Lawrence Harris, leaned back as it rolled by and “pointed a hand gun directly at me, all six shots were fired as fast as I could to keep them from firing at me. I lost control of the gun.”

Authorities found a pistol bb gun at Taliaferro’s feet, on the floor board of Harris’ car.

“The reason for shooting worked,” said Ethan Parrish, “to keep from getting fired at.”

But jurors seemed most impressed by Ethan Parrish’s description of his emotional state after learning he had killed and injured people.

“[Killing someone] is nothing any human being ever wants to do. I was very emotional after and I still am to this day.”

When he learned of the tragic results, he said he wanted to shoot himself. “I didn’t even know these people,” he said.

Reynolds and the Parrish cousins fled to Canada after the shooting, but Stephanie Reynolds turned back and returned to Powhatan to turn herself in. The Parrishes returned four days later after Ethan Parrish spoke to his father on the phone.

“Ethan was arming himself to do some serious damage to those boys,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Beasley during his closing argument. “This was not an issue of protection; this was Ethan Parrish wanting to inflict serious damage.”

But the defense pushed hard for self defense.

“The bb pistol is the turning point, if its not there [in Harris’ car] this is a very difficult case,” said Defense Attorney Ted Bruns. “The bb gun made an appearance when the shots were fired. That gun changes the complexion of this case.”

He added, “They [Taliaferro and five friends] were going there to fight. Those boys were chasing Ethan, Joey, and Stephanie. If you perceive a realistic threat to your safety, you have a right to arm yourself.”

He concluded, “You don’t have to say Tahliek was a bad guy to say Ethan acted in self defense.”

Jury deliberation begins Monday morning at 9 a.m.