Michael Keetley trial: Survivor recalls Thanksgiving Day ambush that killed 2, injured 4
TAMPA, Fla. - Ramon Galan, Junior, recalls drinking beer with buddies 12 years ago when gunfire abruptly ended the fun.
"It came through my arm and went through the side of my stomach and through the left side," he remembered while testifying Wednesday.
Galan was the first of six men to be shot while hanging out on the front porch of a Ruskin home on Thanksgiving Day in 2010. On Wednesday, he took the witness stand in the murder trial of the accused shooter, Michael Keetley.
Prosecutors say Keetley ambushed the men, killing two brothers, Juan and Sergio Geitron, and severely injuring four others, including Galan. This is the second trial for Keetley after the first one ended in a mistrial three years ago, because the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict.
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Now, the prosecution is presenting their case to a new jury. On Wednesday, Galan told the jury he was enjoying a gathering on a friend’s porch and feeling good after having a few beers.
Prosecutor Lindsey Hodges asked him, "Could you feel the effects of the beer?"
"A little bit," he replied.
But the suds and celebration were suddenly interrupted by a male voice with an alarming demand.
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"I just heard 'everybody lay down! Give me your ID's,'" Galan testified. "As I turned around, I heard a gunshot, and I was the first one to get hit," he recalled.
Prosecutors say the man who pulled the trigger was former ice cream man Michael Keetley. They say he was out for revenge after he was a crime victim himself. Eleven months before the shooting, he had been shot and robbed during his ice cream route. His hand and leg were injured during the robbery.
But prosecutors say Keetley grew impatient with the police investigation and started his own search, learning a man nicknamed "Creeper" may have been the one who robbed and shot him.
Other eyewitnesses that day, remember the shooter asking for "Creeper," but Galan doesn't remember much. He said after he was shot, he blacked out, Galan can’t even describe the gunman.
"By the time I turned around, I got shot – I see, like, a silhouette. I see somebody coming from a side of the house, but I could not make out anything," Galan told the jury.
The testimony of the three other survivors will be presented to the jury this week.
Keetley’s attorneys say he was physically unable to shoot anyone that day. They say he was disabled by the shooting that left him injured and was unable to grip a gun with his right hand.
Keetley is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors say none of the six me who were shot that day were involved in the robbery and shooting of Keetley.