2021-09-06

September 6, 2021 Labor Day shooting spree

On Labor Day weekend of 2021, officers with the Amarillo Police Department investigated five shootings in north Amarillo.

12:05 AM, APD officers were called to the 900 block of Heather on a drive by shooting. The 17-year-old male victim was driving his vehicle when the suspect drove by and shot at him, striking him in the upper body. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

12:36 AM, officers were called to the 1300 block of Aster on a separate shooting. The 20-year-old male victim was driving in the 1000 block of Eastern Street and the suspect vehicle came up beside him and started shooting. The victim’s vehicle was struck, but he was uninjured.

September 6th, at 12:41 AM, officers were called to the area of NE 20th Avenue and Iris Street on another shooting. The 48-year-old female victim told officers that she was driving on NE 20th Avenue and the suspect vehicle drove beside her and began firing into the driver’s side of her car. The victim was uninjured.

8:20 PM, officers were called to the 6700 block of NE 19th Avenue on a shooting. The 52-year-old female victim told officers that she was followed by the suspect vehicle to this location when someone in the vehicle fired shots at her, striking her car. The victim was uninjured.

9:21 PM, officers were called to the intersection of NW 15th Avenue and Monroe Street. Officers located a 62-year-old female deceased in her vehicle at this location. The victim had been shot while driving. The female was later identified as Laura Etta Ashley.

A video of the suspect's car was released to the public in an effort to identify the shooter. David Lee Winfield's grandmother, Sharon Fisher, recognized the vehicle in the footage as the one that could possibly be in her garage.

She called police.

Through an investigation, police were able to positively match Winfield's car to the one in the video. The car's passenger side window was shattered from a bullet.

Winfield's grandmother informed police that he was in the Covid ward at Northwest Texas Hospital.

Criminal cases

Timeline

• 09/09/2021 - Arrested for public intoxication
• 09/24/2021 - Committed to the Pavilion at Northwest Texas Hospital
• 09/30/2021 - Complaint filed for aggravated assault
• 10/07/2021 - Second interview with Homicide Detectives
• 10/14/2021 - Complaint filed for murder
• 12/14/2021 - JUDGMENT OF INCOMPETENCE
• 02/17/2022 - INDICTMENT (OCA)
• 09/22/2022 - Second psych eval requested
• 10/28/2022 - JUDGMENT RESTORING COMPETENCY
• 09/18/2024 - Order for sanity/competence eval

September 6 - October 14, 2021

• Sept. 7 & Sept. 27, 2021 - Sergeant Shea Litchie executed three affidavits requesting search warrants.

  • On 09/06/2021, Laura Ashley was found deceased sitting in her green Dodge Journey with a gunshot wound in her head. Upon arriving at the scene, officers could see bullet defects in the car. He foot was on the brake and the brake lights were activated indicating the car was being driven when Ashley was shot and killed…

• Sept. 24, 2021 Winfield is committed to the Pavilion at Northwest Texas Hospital, Amarillo’s mental ward, tested positive for Covid, and was transferred from the Pavilion to the hospital’s Covid Ward.

• On Sept. 30, 2021, Sergeant Lichtie and Sergeant Brent Harlan arrived at the Covid Unit to speak with Mr. Winfield about the shootings. Winfield believed “he was at a fake mental hospital,” so Sergeants Lichtie and Sergeant Brent Harlan had to explain to him the difference between a mental hospital and prison. Sergeant Lichtie further testified that at the very end of the interview Mr. Winfield as “losing focus at that point."

  • Later that day, Sergeant Litchie testified that Winfield was harged with three counts aggravated assault and murder

• October 7, 2021 - Sergeant Litchie and Sergeant Harlan interviewed Winfield again

  • A week later on October 14, 2021 Winfield was charged with felony murder

November 26, 2024 Pre-Trial Hearings

Defense counsel for Winfield sought to keep these recorded interviews from being entered as evidence into the trial.

Audio Recording of Sept. 30, 2021 interview

The audio for his Sept. 30 interview with Sergeant Litchie and Sergeant Harlan was played at his pretrial suppression hearing

0:00:00 to 0:00:08 - One of the sergeants identifies himself and says the date and time
0:00:09 to 0:03:15 - Static and indistinct voices can be heard
0:03:16 to 0:03:20 - The sergeants speak with a nurse in the room
0:03:20 to 0:03:35 - they introduce themselves to Mr. Winfield and ask if he feels up to being interviewed – and an unintelligible noise is heard which the sergeants evidently take as “yes.”
0:03:35 to 0:04:25 - They ask his full name and date of birth, which Mr. Winfield is faintly heard to give them.
0:04:26 to 0:05:03 - Winfield seems to say “I can’t pull myself up.”
0:05:04 to 0:06:04 - Further pleasantries are exchanged, some are incomprehensible.
0:06:05 to 0:07:31 - Winfield says he is in a “fake mental hospital,”
0:07:32 to 0:10:29 - Told he has Covid, which surprises him
0:10:29 to 0:11:30 - Sergeants read Winfield his rights. Initial interrogation begins
0:11:31 to 0:15:40 - Winfield admits he has a gun, a Glock 41.
0:15:41 to 0:21:30 - They talk about Winfield selling marijuana and being paid with a fake $100 bill
0:21:31 to 0:21:46 - One of the sergeants asks Winfield, “Do you know anything about these shootings?”
0:21:47 to 0:21:49 - Winfield’s reply seems to be “Yes, sir,” and seems to end with the word “Me,” to which the sergeant says, “It was you?”
0:21:50 to 0:23:10 - Mostly unintelligible answer, but includes something about that he “got mad,” or his mother did, and seems to end with “I knew it was me.” Then a sergeant asks him, “Can you tell us a little bit about these shootings, where it kicked off at, where it happened?”
0:23:11 to 0:23:23 - Nothing can be heard for a few seconds until Winfield yawns and asks the sergeant to repeat the question
0:23:23 to 0:23:28 - The sergeant obliges and adds, “Or what you did before the shootings?”
0:23:29 to 0:23:47 - Winfield’s reply is incomprehensible but ends with “I just stuck my hoodie on.” The sergeant then asks, “So what made you pick the people out, that you shot at?”
0:23:48 to 0:23:51 - Winfield’s answer sounds like, “I don’t know. It’s just how I was feeling at the time … mask on … and my hoodie … Uncle ?Jerryman … and Aunt ?Jeniece, she was so pissed off at me” followed by more unintelligible rambling
0:23:52 to 0:25:30 - When asked where the shootings happened, Winfield says something like “Eastridge in Palo Duro district.”
0:25:31 to 0:25:35 - Then Winfield says, “I don’t know where I’m at, in this hospital?” which the sergeants confirm.
0:25:36 to 0:25:50 - When asked if he remembers any of the cars, Winfield finally says, “uh … one was a black car, one was a white car.”
0:25:51 to 0:26:10 - Then Winfield says something about jogging.”
0:26:11 to 0:26:20 - After one of the sergeants prompted him, he then says he shot through the driver’s side window of his vehicle.
0:26:21 to 0:26:35 - When asked how many times he shot through the window, Winfield says something about “going home,” where he was staying with his Nana, and that a car was chasing him; he says he does not know how many times he shot out of the car window.
0:26:36 to 0:27:15 - He says he thinks he killed three people “in the car.” .
0:27:16 to 0:27:34 - He had no idea where his gun was; he last saw it on “my Nana’s couch.”
0:27:35 to 0:29:55 - He also admits chasing the cars, “swooping up on them,” pulling up next to them and shooting.
0:29:56 to 0:33:55 - He says he told his Nana about the shootings, but the details he gives are unintelligible.
0:33:56 to 0:35:00 - He did the shootings because he was upset with his girlfriend
0:35:01 to 0:36:40 - incomprehensible other than that she had cut her hair off.
0:36:41 to 0:39:20 - The passenger side window on Winfield’s car was broken because he had to shoot out of it.
0:39:21 to 0:40:10 - When asked how many people he shot at, he seems to say “a good four, if not me” or “if not many.”
0:40:11 to 0:40:50 - And he thinks he shot a baby, which makes him weep
0:40:51 to 0:51:15 - the sergeants assure him no baby was killed. Further questions lead to rambling.
0:51:16 to 0:52:47 - When finally asks why he did this, Mr. Winfield’s incomprehensible reply is
interpreted by a sergeant as “heart-broken.”.

Audio recording of October 7, 2021 interview:

An audio-recording of the October 7, 2021 interview on was introduced at the same pretrial hearing as State’s Exhibit 1. On it a sergeant tells Mr. Winfield that “We have already discussed a couple of things and we are not going to talk about those, ok? We have got another case that we would like to speak with you about”

0:08:50 - Winfield states he fired shots out of both windows of his vehicle (presumably both the front ones).
0:010:44 - When asked precisely what happened, Mr. Winfield rambles something about anticipating a physical fight with the man over the counterfeit bill he received and that he smoked marijuana.

Later in the October 7 interrogation Mr. Winfield says he went with his friend Paco on September 5, 2021, to his girlfriend’s mother’s house between four and five p.m. His girlfriend was not there, so he went back to his Nana’s house.

0:010:45 - When asked how he felt about his girlfriend not calling or texting her that day,
0:051:10 - Winfield's reply is mostly unintelligible, but later he admitted that his girlfriend’s failure to respond enraged him - he intended to tell her about the shooting.
0:018:35 - a sergeant tells him the police have a video-recording of him pulling up beside the decedent’s car and then chasing her down the street and shooting her.
0:019:10 - Asked if he remembers that, Winfield clearly says “Yes sir. Yes sir,” but is not sure how many shots he fired at her.
0:019:25 - Then he is asked whether he went back to check on her, and clearly replies, “No, sir.”
0:019:40 - He also is not sure when he found out she had died.
0:020:00 - He drove himself back to his house and admitted to his mother and grandfather he had done this.
0:021:25 - A sergeant then asks what Mr. Winfield did with the gun.
0:028:05 - Winfield replies that he took it back to his Nana’s house where he put the car in the garage,
0:022:20 - at some point he poured alcohol on himself. He clearly admits that what he did was wrong.
0:023:45 - He did not know the decedent.
0:025:25 - “Shooting the gun was a release,” Mr. Winfield stated.
0:026:36 - When the sergeants found him he had his clothes off and was “sticking stickers up his nose,” but Mr. Winfield said that he didn’t know why he was doing that.
0:052:30 - Sergeant Lichtie told Mr. Winfield that they had been in touch with the decedent’s family and asked Mr. Winfield if there was anything he would like to tell them. Mr. Winfield replied that he would like to tell them he was sorry. He repeated this several times.

Sgt Litchie's Testimony

At the suppression hearing Sergeant Lichtie testified that shell casings were found at the scenes of the shootings; Winfield was alleged, to have collected these casings inside his car and either thrown them away or put them in socks he then threw into the “clothes bin.”

Winfield also stated that he was trying to “take his tattoos off,” which came out of nowhere – his arms had no evidence of cuts or burns. Sergeant Lichtie had testified at the suppression hearing that at least one member of Mr. Winfield’s family is schizophrenic.

Of the September 30 interview, trial counsel noted that on the recording “there was about a minute there that seems somewhat unintelligible,” and Sergeant Lichtie agreed that he himself was having just as much trouble understanding Mr. Winfield at that time, which concerned him.

Sergeant Lichtie agreed that to some extent he himself was shocked to see Mr. Winfield’s surprise at learning he had Covid again.

Both sergeants testified they had heard that Mr. Winfield was found incompetent to stand trial in late 2021 and was to be sent to the state hospital in Vernon. This did not surprise Sergeant Lichtie “at all,” who agreed that at the October 7 interrogation Mr. Winfield was “veering off and losing his place.”

The sergeants conceded, though, that before speaking with Mr. Winfield the police did not have enough evidence to charge him with the shootings nor even probable cause for an affidavit. Both sergeants believed Mr. Winfield understood everything that occurred on September 30.

Sergeant Lichtie also agreed, though, that Mr. Winfield “was in a weakened COVID state,” but believed Mr. Winfield was not so affected by Covid that he did not understand.

Sergeant Harlan's testimony

Sergeant Harlan also testified at the suppression hearing. Mr. Winfield’s family, he said, had told him Mr. Winfield was hospitalized. Sergeant Harlan remembered Mr. Winfield saying he was in a fake Pavilion. But Sergeant Harlan did not see any red flags in Mr. Winfield’s ability to comprehend what was said that day.

Argument to suppress

At the suppression hearing Mr. Winfield’s counsel gave a closing argument asking the district court to suppress the October 7, 2021, interrogation because Mr. Winfield had invoked his right to counsel on October 1

Result

The trial court judge denied the motion to suppress on both interrogations.

December 17, 2024 Trial

Jury selection began in the trial of David Winfield on December 17, 2024.^[1]

Victims provided similar descriptions of the shooter's car, which was also captured on a surveillance camera. Winfield's car matched that description, leading to his arrest later that month on four charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The murder charge was added subsequently.

At trial the State put Sergeant Lichtie on the stand and asked him whether at the September 30 interview, Mr. Winfield provided “much information about Ms. Ashley's homicide?” Sergeant Lichtie responded, “No, sir, he did not.”
The State then asked him if Mr Winfield provided “some information” of Ms. Ashley’s murder at the September 30 interview. Sergeant Lichtie answered affirmatively that at that particular interview Mr. Winfield provided “some information,” of that matter, specifically

THE STATE: Was he able to provide any information regarding the general area or the surroundings of where Ms. Ashley ultimately was located?
SERGEANT LICHTIE: Yes, sir.
Q. Did that match up with the investigation of Ms. Ashley?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was that specific information, to your knowledge, ever released in the media?
A. No, sir.

At that point, said Sergeant Lichtie, “Sergeant Harlan contacted ADA Herring to draft arrest warrants for Mr. Winfield on the ag assaults.”

When the State asked “Why just the four shootings and not the homicide?”

Sergeant Lichtie replied, “At that point we didn't feel like we had enough evidence to support an arrest warrant for the homicide,” but the investigation continued.

At its initial closing the State again – several times – reiterated its plea at opening that the jury consider the admissions at each interrogation:

I anticipate the Defense is going to argue to y'all that those
statements should be kept out for some reason. But again, you heard
the interviews, you heard the officers talk to him. They had
conversations with David. There was nothing there that forced David
into those interviews with the officers both at Northwest Texas or at
Potter County. They are what they are. They're David talking to the
officers.

So again, David's statements tie together with everything,
ladies and gentlemen. David's statements about, "I was in this area. I
came across a car. I killed a baby. I shot into it."

But you heard from David himself in the interview. "What
happened to the shell casings?" He collected them. He got rid of
them.

…

So you have abandonment. David felt abandoned. He talked
about that on the Potter County [jail] interview.
…

You're going to be asked to believe that David was led into
falsely confessing to all of this. You're going to be asked to believe
that even though David spoke to the officers in some form or fashion,
it was involuntary.

…

Again, one thing might be a coincidence, but several things, it's
not a coincidence, ladies and gentlemen. There's no coincidence that
David confessed. There's no coincidence that he gave you the
information that he did.

The State raised the subject again – several more times – at its final closing:

And again, ask yourself this question based upon what the
Defense is saying: Why would David confess if he didn't do it? What
did he have to gain?

You heard the interviews. Did the detectives -- did the
detectives feed him so much information that he was overwhelmed
that he just caved in and said, "Okay, yeah, I did it"? No.
But again, there's a problem in math. If the detectives
supposedly gave him so much information that he caved in and just
said, "I did it," what about the details that David was able to provide
that he himself said he would have no knowledge about? Specifically,
being chased by the vehicle. David's own words, in David's own
conversation with the detective was, "I've been in the hospital. I
haven't seen anything about anything."

The jury deliberated and returned a verdict of guilty on all five counts.

Winfield was sentenced to 9 years on the aggravated assault causing bodily injury, two years on the three aggravated assault by threat of a deadly weapon, and 40 years on the count of murder. All to run concurrently.

Winfield was 18 at the time of the crime.