By Michael Copley
Staff Writer

Ethan Parrish fought back tears in Circuit Court Thursday afternoon as Stephanie Reynolds recounted the minutes that followed the shooting of Tahliek Taliaferro.

Reynolds, Ethan and Joey Parrish drove to a friend’s house on Howard Road in Amelia after the shooting on Dorset Road in Powhatan that left one dead and another critically injured. There the three were instructed by friends to wipe down their arms with gasoline. The same was done to the inside of Ethan Parrish’s white Dodge Durango and Reynolds and the Parrish cousins stripped off their clothes, put them in a trash bag and showered.

Reynolds said when they arrived at the house in Amelia, Ethan Parrish asked, “What just happened? God what did we do?” She described him as scared and that he expressed regret as news of the victims’ conditions filtered back to them.

She said he talked about his daughter and of taking his own life, and she remembers him saying, “I never intended to hurt anybody. I shot that boy and I didn’t even know him.”

“I’ve never seen a man cry like that,” Reynolds said in court.

The shooting on Dorset Road followed what witnesses described as a nice summer day spent swimming and socializing with friends.

According to testimony, Ethan Parrish bought a bottle of rum on June 24 and the three went to a house in Cumberland where they smoked marijuana. Reynolds said they left to get food and then went and bought LSD from a friend.

The afternoon of the 24 was spent at Watkins Landing in Powhatan swimming and, according to Reynolds, the Parrish cousins continued to drink.

Ashton Bradbury was there that day and told the court Ethan Parrish was visibly intoxicated.

At some point the group returned to the Sheetz on Route 60 where Bradbury’s car was parked. There, Joey Parrish got into a verbal altercation with Taliaferro and a group of his friends.

The verbal altercation turned deadly after Taliaferro and his friends traveled down Dorset Road in the same direction Ethan Parrish’s Durango had gone.

Joey Parrish allegedly told Taliaferro and his friends, “If you want to fight follow us.”

It was noted in court that Joey Parrish and Taliaferro had long standing issues with one another stemming from a girl.

There was conflicting testimony as to the reason why Taliaferro and his friends went down Dorset Road. One witness said he heard Taliaferro say “Let’s go fight them,” but others denied hearing anything like that.

Parrish’s Durango was pulled off on Dorset Road when Taliaferro and his friends approached in their two vehicles. The approaching cars slowed and one witness said words were exchanged.

According to Reynolds, Ethan Parrish was in the back seat with a Mac 90 assault rifle hanging out the window. After the confrontation at Sheetz, Ethan Parrish said, “We just need to take care of this. I’m tired of everyone picking on Joey.” According to Reynolds, Ethan Parrish said he was going to scare Taliaferro and his friends and shoot out their tires.

As the first of the two approaching vehicles passed behind the Durango, Taliaferro looked at Ethan Parrish and laughed.

“It was a devilish laugh,” said Reynolds, “like only an evil person would laugh with a gun pointed at them.”

Ethan Parrish squeezed off six shots and Reynolds said she only remembers seeing shell casing fly into the yard and glass breaking.

As to the claim of self defense on behalf the Parrishs, Reynolds said it looked like Lawrence Harris, the man driving Taliaferro, “might have had a gun.” But, she said, “If he did, it wasn’t pointed back towards us.”

One juror and a member of the defendants’ family were brought to tears as Dr. Kevin Whaley, Assistant Chief Medical Examiner, described Taliaferro’s fatal wound. He said the bullet entered just above the left ear and exited through the top of the head, indicating he was bent over ducking, “in a sort of fetal position.”

Guns were found in a well at the house in Amelia where the cousins and Reynolds fled after the shooting. From there, friends helped the three make their way to the Canadian border where they left the Parrish cousins. Reynolds traveled back to Powhatan to turn herself in.

“I thought it was important to tell the truth, to tell the story,” said Reynolds.

Stephanie Reynolds is charged with first degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, and the two associated firearms charges.

The Commonwealth rested its case this evening and the trial will resume tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.