Man ran from rampage shooter and got away; his friend was not as fortunate

Mark Greer was one of those who got away, as he managed to flee the gunfire meant for him from a seemingly gleeful Kori Ali Muhammad.

As Greer ran, his friend and roommate, David Martin Jackson wasn’t so lucky.

Jackson died at Community Regional Medical Center after Muhammad allegedly shot him. Jackson had attempted to reason with Muhammad, but Greer took no chance. He saw his friend trip over a curb at the bus stop in front of Catholic Charities on Fulton Street. As Jackson struggled to get up, Muhammad began firing, aiming several bullets into him and leaving Jackson bleeding to death before walking away smiling, Greer said.

The chilling events unfolded from a simple trip to pick up a check, an errand the men had made many times before. They were waiting for the bus, but Greer sensed something was wrong when he first saw Muhammad.

“He didn’t say nothing, he was just shooting at everybody,” Greer said Wednesday on the porch of the southwest Fresno home he shared with Jackson and Jackson’s recently deceased wife.

While Jackson attempted to talk with Muhammad, Greer warned him against it and started running.

“I ran like a cheetah, jumped over everything I could,” said Greer. “He tried to shoot at me, but I was too fast for him.”

When Jackson tried to run, “he tripped over the parking lot curb,” Greer said. “The guy pointed the (gun) at him and then he killed him and then he was laughing about it.”

Moments earlier, Greer watched Muhammad shoot Mark Gassett a couple hundred feet up the street.

“First I thought it was a car backfiring or firecrackers, but then this guy came toward us,” Greer said. “He put four rounds in him and he was looking like he was enjoying it.”

Greer, 62, described Jackson and his deceased wife, Jeannette, as his step-parents.

Both he and Jackson received disability payments, but he said Jackson was always generous with the little he had.

Jackson told Greer of a premonition in the days before he was shot.

“He said he thought he was going to die soon,” Greer said. “I told him, ‘Nah, don’t think like that’… now he’s dead.”

This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Man ran from rampage shooter and got away; his friend was not as fortunate."