A woman who shot and killed an employee of a Middleton used car dealership last year felt threatened by the man, who was trying to get her to leave the business after she had been there for four hours arguing over the condition of a car that had been sold to her a week earlier, one of her attorneys told a jury.
State assistant public defender Tracey Lencioni said Jakira T. Anderson, 24, of Fitchburg, won’t contest much of the evidence in the case presented during Anderson’s trial for first-degree intentional homicide, which began Tuesday.
Anderson agrees, Lencioni said, that on March 20, 2023, she shot and killed Kawsu Samba, 34. The shooting was captured on security cameras at MSI Auto Sales, 3012 Parmenter St., and on audio through Anderson’s phone, while she was on the line with a vehicle loan lender and with a Dane County 911 dispatcher.
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Lencioni said Anderson contends she shot Samba in self-defense because Samba had pushed and grabbed her as he tried to get her to leave MSI after an increasingly contentious discussion about the car, a 2006 BMW Anderson had bought a week earlier.
Anderson feared that Samba was going to harm her, so she shot him, Lencioni said. That belief, she said, was “fueled by what had happened to her over a four-year period of time as an adolescent by a man who sexually abused her.”
Jakira T. Anderson, charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the shooting death last year of Middleton car dealership employee Kawsu Samba, kept her head lowered through early testimony at her trial, which began Tuesday before Circuit Judge Nicholas McNamara. Next to Anderson are state assistant public defenders Adam Welch and Tracey Lencioni.
Assistant District Attorney Annie Jay is expected to finish presenting evidence on Wednesday, when Anderson could testify.
Under Wisconsin’s self-defense jury instruction, to find that Anderson acted in self-defense the jury would have to agree that Anderson believed there was an actual or imminent “unlawful interference” with her person; that Anderson believed the force she used was necessary to prevent or stop that interference; and that her beliefs were reasonable. The instruction states the belief may be reasonable even if mistaken.
Jay said Tuesday that assembling the jury instructions in this case may not be easy, with self-defense and lesser included charges to be considered for inclusion.
In her opening statement, Jay told jurors that the argument between Anderson and Samba was about “buyer’s remorse,” when Anderson complained of problems with the car and demanded her money back.
Anderson had arrived at MSI around 9:20 a.m. that day. The shooting occurred about 1:30 p.m. After hours of discussion that escalated into an argument, Samba forcefully told Anderson she had to leave.
In the video, which begins about 15 minutes before the shooting, Anderson called Westlake Financial, which financed the car, and complained bitterly about it. The first portion of audio, synced to the MSI security video, was recorded by Westlake customer service. Middleton police Detective Daniel Jones testified that Westlake at first refused to provide the recording.
The remaining audio, also synced to the security video, was a 911 call Anderson made as Samba tried to direct her to the door.
Anderson
In the video the jury was shown:
A Westlake representative, after listening for several minutes to Anderson’s emphatic and sometimes profane complaints about the car, told Anderson that to get her down payment back, she would have to contact the dealership.
Within minutes of that, Samba told Anderson, “No, I’m not gonna write a check.”
She objected when he tried to physically direct her toward the door. He responded, “If you don’t want me to touch you, you get out of my office.”
Samba, with one hand, moved Anderson toward the door. Standing behind her, he partially opened it. But Anderson squeezed back around him into the room. As she did that, she manipulated the slide on a semi-automatic handgun she had pulled out.
Samba let go of the door and took two steps toward Anderson, as she backed up two steps. She then raised the gun and fired it into his chest from a distance of around 5 feet.
At this point, Anderson was on the phone with 911, and the sound of the shot was heard on the audio.
Samba turned and ran out the door into the parking lot with Anderson running behind him. Samba then collapsed, and Anderson stopped and stood over him.
Still on the phone with 911, Anderson never mentioned that anyone had been shot and continued telling the dispatcher that a man at a car dealership had gotten aggressive with her.
Anderson went to her car and drove off, still talking to the 911 dispatcher, who asked if the man Anderson was talking about had a weapon. She said she didn’t know. Moments later, she told the dispatcher, “I left, bro. He’s still there, but I left, bro.”
