SerpApi.Org
SAGINAW, MI — Attorneys delivered their opening statements in the trial of a Saginaw man accused of killing a man outside an Old Town party store on Father’s Day 2024.
Shavar S. Craft Jr., 28, is charged with open murder, assault with intent to murder, carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, and three counts of felony firearm. The charges stem from the killing of Da’Quan L. Mims and wounding of his younger brother Kentella L. Harris in front of West Side Party Store, 119 N. Hamilton St., in the early morning hours of June 16, 2024.
“A brazen and callous execution took place,” Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa J. Hoover told the jury the morning of Wednesday, July 22.
The evidence will show Craft, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt with a distinctive symbol, arrived on Hamilton Street with a group of people and posted up near the party store, Hoover said.
“He waited patiently for approximately four minutes, his gaze fixed on one, single target: 25-year-old Da’Quan Mims,” Hoover said. “He was waiting for the right moment to strike.”
The moment came at 1:44 a.m. Mims walked outside the store, separated himself from the people he was conversing with, and brushed past Craft, leaving his back to him, Hoover said. The store’s lights briefly turned off and Craft seized his opportunity, Hoover said.
Craft raised his right hand, in which he held a .40-caliber Ruger pistol, Hoover said.
“He pulled the trigger not once, not twice, but 11 separate times,” she said.
Each bullet struck Mims, delivering wounds to his back, chest, shoulder, and neck. The shooter continued firing even after Mims fell to the ground, Hoover said.
One bullet passed through Mims and struck his brother, Kentella L. Harris, near his left clavicle. He survived the wound.
The hooded Craft fled the scene in less than a minute in a Chrysler 300, Hoover said. He left a chaotic scene in his wake, with numerous people scattering in various directions.
Crowd control was a major concern for police, who responded almost immediately as they were already patrolling the area, Hoover said.
The prosecutor told jurors they would see the killing themselves, as the night’s events were recorded by several surveillance cameras. At one point, the cameras captured both Mims and Craft inside the party store, having a brief interaction.
“You’ll be able to tell, it wasn’t a friendly one,” Hoover said.
The cameras were not equipped to record audio, so what the two men said remains unknown, Hoover said.
After the brief interaction, Craft went to the Chrysler 300 he arrived in, retrieved a firearm, raised his hood, and returned to the store to wait for Mims to exit, Hoover said.
Police identified Craft as a suspect on reviewing the footage, as they recognized him from prior contacts, Hoover said.
Prosecutors issued a warrant for Craft on June 21, 2024, but he remained at large for months as he fled to Ohio, Hoover said. Police arrested him Dec. 20, 2024, after a tipster alerted them to Craft’s presence at his girlfriend’s residence within Bavarian Village Apartments, 2800 Williamson Road in Bridgeport Township.
The Chrysler 300 was at the complex when police arrested him. It did not have a license plate, Hoover said.
“This is a unique case in that you’ll actually get to see the events of the night unfold,” Hoover told the jury. “It was nothing short of cold-hearted, premeditated murder.”
Defense attorney Robert Hinojosa said the case is all about identification. The evidence will show police arrived to a scene of pandemonium, in which no one could identify Mims’ shooter, Hinojosa said.
Investigators initially focused their attention on a different person of interest who had issues with Mims, eventually releasing him after questioning, Hinojosa said. Harris, Mims’ wounded brother, could not identify the shooter despite being just a few feet from him, Hinojosa said.
Considering this, the jury should find his client not guilty, Hinojosa said.
Saginaw County Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson is presiding over the trial.
Mims fathered seven children, the last of whom was born to his widow following his death on Aug. 29. He worked at Bay Area Forklift and was known as a “gentle giant,” as he stood 6 feet 7 inches tall.
“Quan was a kind and loving person that enjoyed making people laugh with his joking ways,” his obituary states. “He enjoyed fishing, boxing and really enjoyed going to the casino.”
Mims was also a dog lover, affectionately referred to by family as “the dog whisperer.”
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