OLATHE, Kan. –The woman who almost became the fourth victim during a tragic shooting last year took the witness stand Tuesday during day two of the death penalty trial of Frazier Cross, Jr.
Cross is the man who has admitted to killing three people in April 2014 outside two Jewish centers in Johnson County.
The victims in the shooting are Reat Underwood, 14, Reat’s grandfather Dr. William Corporon, 69. Both were killed outside the Jewish Community Center as Underwood was there to audition for the KC Superstar contest. Terri LaManno, 43, was gunned down outside Village Shalom, a retirement complex, where she was visiting her mother.
Maggie Hunker says her life was spared the day Cross allegedly shot at random people he assumed were Jewish because he was at Jewish facilities.
Hunker told the court room that she was standing next to where, Terri LaManno was killed. She described how LaManno begged for her life as Cross pointed a shotgun at her, pulled the trigger and killed her. Hunker says shortly after, Cross turned around and pointed his gun at her.
“Then he lowered the gun from his shoulder to this waist, and he pointed it at me and he said,’are you a Jew?’,” Hunker said. “I said, ‘no.’ He put that gun in the trunk of his car, and he got in his car and drove to the west.”
Hunker said she immediately fled from the scene.
“I ran and got into my car and was very scared that he would come back and shoot me,” Hunker said.
During his cross-examination, Cross told Hunker that he is glad he did not kill her.
FOX 4’s Shannon O’Brien reports that Cross asked most of the witnesses, “do you think that shooting someone in the head will cause a quick death?”
On day one of the trial Cross’ opening statements focused on his belief in genocide.
Two foundations have been named after Reat Underwood. Click here to learn more. A scholarship has also been created in memory of Terri LaManno. The scholarship will be awarded to two individuals on Wed. August 26 and will help provide occupational therapy for CCVI students.
Click here to read more from Tuesday’s trial.