Andre Higgs is on trial for murder in the shooting death of his child's mother.
NEWARK -- An Essex County jury on Thursday heard from a police supervisor about officers' response the night Andre Higgs is alleged to have fatally shot Latrena May on the steps of her East Orange apartment building, where Higgs himself was shot by a police officer.
Recounting the events of May 1, 2015, Capt. Berkely Jest of the East Orange Police Department told an assistant prosecutor that despite repeated requests from police over a public address system, Higgs -- wounded by the officer's gunfire -- refused to come out of the building where his 4-year-old daughter was sheltered by tenants upstairs.
"If the suspect continued not to comply, at some point we were going to make the decision to go in and get him," Jest said.
Higgs, 45, of Watchung, is on trial before Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler on charges of murder and other offenses in the May 1, 2015 killing of May, the mother of Higgs' daughter and a teacher at Pride Academy Charter School.
Assistant Prosecutor Justin Edwab has said Higgs shot 27-year-old May three times around 10 p.m. after she flagged down the passing officer, Detective Kemon Lee, who subsequently shot Higgs.
Higgs' attorneys, Remi Spencer and Joseph P. Rem Jr., are attempting to show Lee shot first and caused Higgs to inadvertently fire his own weapon into May.
A dashcam in Lee's patrol vehicle captured him arriving on scene, and later firing at Higgs, but does not show May being shot. The officer's shooting was later reviewed by the state Attorney General's Office, which ruled Lee's use of force was justified.
In a recording of police radio traffic played in the courtroom, Jest and other officers could be heard discussing tactical plans to evacuate neighbors and to arrest Higgs.
The captain also called for the department's Professional Standards Unit, which he said is standard protocol when an officer fires his or her weapon on duty.
Jest told Edwab that, as the on-scene incident commander, he was concerned about possible crossfire between officers if shooting started, and worried that Higgs' standoff could become a hostage situation involving his daughter and May's upstairs neighbors.
Officers later saw blinds in one of the windows move, and the building's front door open and close, he said.
Dashcam footage played for the jury shows officers clad in body armor and carrying ballistic shields making entry into the home, after police learned from tenants that a wounded Higgs was in the downstairs hallway and his daughter was safely upstairs.
"When they brought (Higgs) outside, he appeared to be seriously injured," Jest said.
Joseph Householder, a University Hospital paramedic who treated both May and Higgs, testified that his unit arrived on scene at 10:24 p.m. After emergency personnel were unable to find any signs of life, May was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.
"There was no potential positive outcome," Householder said. "That's why we performed the pronouncement."
Householder said that by the time he was made aware of the second patient, Higgs had already been loaded into an ambulance. Higgs had been shot multiple times in his lower extremities, but his vital signs were within a normal range, he said.
Higgs was transported to University Hospital for treatment, and later transferred to the Essex County Correctional Facility.
Neighbors describe scene of teacher's killing
On cross-examination, Jest told Spencer that at the time of the incident, he didn't know the extent of Higgs' injuries, or that his gun was empty.
When Spencer questioned his description of Higgs as a "barricaded" suspect, the police captain said the man was hiding in the building to avoid arrest.
"So he should have thrown a gun out with numerous police officers standing in front of the house," she asked.
"Ma'am, I would've," Jest said.
Higgs has been jailed at the Essex County Correctional Facility since January 2016, when Wigler changed the conditions of his $1 million bail to cash-only following an arrest on drunk-driving charges.
The trial is expected to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.