Witness speaks out

By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item

May 11, 2008 07:47 am

— SUNBURY -- It's been four months since two people were gunned down in a city apartment and the only known witness and the victims' family members are frustrated as they anxiously wait for the killer to be brought to justice.
"I'm concerned, but I've got faith the suspect will be charged," Amy Baney-Banks said Wednesday, never referring to suspect Michael Harrell by name. "I hope he is charged."
In a telephone interview, Baney-Banks said she, along with boyfriend David Moore, 25, of Sunbury, and her cousin, Crystal Scholl-Gordon, 24, of Selinsgrove, were in her 226 N. Fourth St., apartment on Jan. 18 when Harrell showed up around midnight.
Baney-Banks said after an argument, Harrell "flipped out" and fatally shot Moore and Scholl-Gordon.
She's convinced she would have been a third victim if she hadn't escaped the apartment that morning, but recalled the grisly slayings in a detached tone.
The 24-year-old said she knows some in the community believe she's somehow involved in the killings, but said she's coping with more difficult issues.
"I had no part in it," Baney-Banks said. "The hardest part has been losing two people at once."
After the killings, she was held for two weeks in Northumberland County Prison on a probation violation. She now leads what she describes as a quiet life in Selinsgrove as she waits for charges to be brought against Harrell, 39, of Sunbury. Homicide charges against Harrell, who's been held in the county prison on a parole violation since the slayings, are expected to be filed any day.
Baney-Banks bluntly describes meeting Harrell last summer and how they occasionally had sex.
She kept the sexual relationship hidden at first from Moore, a former boyfriend who came back into her life about a month before the homicide when he returned to the Valley following a second failed marriage.
Even after learning of the affair, she said, Moore remained on friendly terms with Harrell.
"David was a loving and trusting guy and he hung out with him at his house a few times," Baney Banks said.
She said she never saw Harrell with a weapon, and though he often joked around, he'd also say "hateful things" and call her names.
Harrell sought romantic relationships with all of her friends, but Scholl-Gordon was not interested.
Baney-Banks said both her and Scholl-Gordon's rebuffing of his affections may have set him off the night of the shootings.
"He flipped out in anger," she said.
According to the criminal complaint, Baney-Banks said she and Harrell argued just before the shootings.
Harrell was asked to leave the apartment, but he returned a short time later wearing dark clothing and carrying a black and brown firearm in his coat sleeve.
He allegedly hit Scholl-Gordon in the face with the barrel of the gun.
In an interview with The Daily Item, Baney-Banks said Moore tried to calm Harrell, telling him, "Let's sit down and talk. We're all friends."
Instead, she said she watched as Harrell shot Moore and raced after Scholl-Gordon, who ran to the second floor.
Moore's bullet-riddled body was found on the kitchen floor and Scholl-Gordon was in an upstairs bedroom, the criminal complaint said.
During the rampage, Baney-Banks said, Harrell was boasting, "I'm from New York. I don't play with my hands. I play with weapons."
"I was just in shock. I was unable to move," she said of her reaction to the tragedy unfolding before her eyes.
She survived by fleeing the apartment and running to a neighbor before Harrell had time to turn the gun on her.
"I would have been killed," Baney-Banks said.
In the weeks and months following the shootings, Baney-Banks said she's suffered nightmares that a brief time in counseling failed to dampen.
"I watch a lot of TV," she said. "I don't hang out on the street. I don't have any friends. My best friend was Crystal."
Baney-Banks said she's left wondering why the killings happened. "I would like answers," she said.
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So too would Charles Scholl, of Sunbury, who is frustrated with the lack of information he's getting about his daughter's killing.
"I've been up to talk to the district attorney (Anthony Rosini) and he says they're limited in what they can say," Scholl said. "I know that's probably true, but with me being her father. ... If I had more money, I'd hire a lawyer."
His daughter lived next door to him for a time last year. She'd struggled with emotional issues for the past two years since the death of a child in infancy and her mother soon after.
Scholl said he hadn't spoken to Crystal for a few weeks when he heard about a shooting at his niece's apartment early Jan. 18.
He rushed to the scene, but was kept away by police.
"I was told to go home and wait for an officer to stop at my house," Scholl said. "We're still waiting."
Police aren't returning his calls and have told him they'll be in touch when charges against the suspect are imminent.
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Kim Potter said the lack of charges in her eldest son's death is not only causing her emotional distress, but has had a financial effect on her family in Gaithersburg, Md.
"I'm waiting on the police to submit a report before I can get help paying to bring David home, for his cremation and for grief counseling," she said of the more than $5,000 in expenses she's incurred so far.
Potter has been working with the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) to obtain help in paying the expenses through the victims compensation assistance program.
She's been told the money can't be turned over until more information is available, including a police report.
PCCD spokeswoman Tara Mead was unable to comment on Potter's specific claim, but said certain information is needed, including a death certificate, police report and funeral bill, before the state will release funds to victims.
Claims for expenses incurred because of a crime in Pennsylvania, including loss of support, medical, funeral, counseling and transportation costs, must be filed within two years of the crime and can take from three to four months or longer to process.
The state receives more than 7,000 claims a year, Mead said.
"Bottom line, everything needs to be verified and documented" by the state agency, she said.
Emotionally, Potter and her youngest son, Julian, 15, have struggled to come to grips with Moore's slaying and are in counseling as they await word from Sunbury, 150 miles north.
"We're all just hanging in there," she said. "Not knowing what's going on is hard and sometimes I panic that (Harrell) will get out before he's charged."
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Public defender Michael Suders said homicide charges could be brought against Harrell in the next few weeks.
"The DA said charges would be brought before the revocation hearing" set for June 5, Suders said. Harrell has been in custody on a parole violation since he was nabbed within hours of the double slayings Jan. 18.
Police said they tracked Harrell from the shooting scene at 226 N. Fourth St., six blocks to his home at 19 Fairmount Ave. by following his footprints in the snow and with the aid of a K-9 unit.
At his home, according to the criminal complaint filed by Sunbury police to obtain a search warrant, they found blood-stained sweat pants soaking inside a tub filled with hot water.
Police said Baney-Banks identified Harrell as the man who shot Moore and Scholl-Gordon.
At the time of the slayings, Harrell was on parole for a 2006 simple assault.
In a petition seeking to revoke parole and keep him in custody through late September, Rosini cited Harrell's involvement in the shootings.
A revocation hearing was set for early March, but was postponed until June 5 by Suders' request for a continuance.
"We were prepared to go ahead with the revocation, but the defense asked for a delay," Rosini said, dismissing the notion that Harrell is being unfairly treated.
Suders said he has the benefit of evidence provided during a hearing regarding Harrell's alleged parole violation. The hearing was held at the prison soon after Harrell was arrested to determine whether he violated conditions of parole.
At the hearing, he said, the prosecution presented some evidence against Harrell and "certain weaknesses were exposed."
Suders would not comment further.
In the meantime, Harrell has been confined to a two-man cell for up to 23 hours a day for most of the time he's been in custody.
He was moved briefly to restricted housing last week when he acted up, but is now back in a regular cell, prison officials said.
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Scholl-Gordon left a young family behind, including an estranged husband and two young sons.
Charles Scholl said he's unable to make sense of his daughter's death but wants the community to remember she had a life and future.
He's planning a memorial service in Sunbury for June 18.
Potter recently received a box of her son's clothing in the mail that Baney-Banks' sister, Jen, retrieved from the apartment after it was cleaned.
"There really wasn't anything, but there are a few more boxes of his clothes that she's going to send," Potter said. "It's not much, but we want it."
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