Witness says alleged mass shooter Kori Muhammad had ‘cold’ look during killing
Pacific Gas & Electric worker Juan R. Cavazos testified Tuesday that he knew something wasn’t right when accused killer Kori Ali Muhammad slowly walked past his truck, staring at his fellow PG&E employee Zackary Randalls.
Randalls, 34, a call center employee, was on a routine ride-along on April 18, 2017 to learn how workers, like Cavazos, handle customer service calls in the field.
But when Muhammad approached their truck, parked at Van Ness Avenue near Highway 180, Cavazos became unnerved by the look on Muhammad’s face.
“It was a cold, cold, dark look,” said Cavazos on the second day of Muhammad’s quadruple murder trial.
What neither men knew at the time was that Muhammad, 41, was a suspect in the shooting death of security guard Carl Williams III about a week earlier at a Motel 6 on Blackstone near Ashlan.
And he wasn’t done killing, police allege.
A veteran PG&E worker, Cavazos carefully watched Muhammad as he slowly made his way around the truck. Cavazos said Muhammad stood just inches from his driver’s side window. Cavazos nodded at him, but he didn’t acknowledge.
“As he was walking past my left fender, he stopped and looked into the truck again,” he testified. “And as he proceeds to walk in front of the truck I told Mr. Randalls, ‘something is not right here.’”
Cavazos testified he put the truck in gear, just as Muhammad, wearing all black, lifted his jacket to pull something from his waist. It was a gun.
“He is pointing the gun into the vehicle and he starts firing, three to four times at Mr. Randalls,” said Cavazos, whose nickname is Ray. “All I could hear was the glass shattering as I am trying to get out of there, but it was just going on, one shot after another. “
Cavazos said he managed to drive away, but even as he was moving, Muhammad fired another round at the car, striking the back window and head rest on Randalls’s side.
Confused about where the nearest hospital was, Cavazos called 911 and took off toward the police station on M Street.
“Then I hear him (Randalls) say, ‘Ray I’ve been shot’ as I try and get him to safety as fast as I can,” Cavazos said.
Randalls later died at Community Regional Medical Center.
Muhammad is charged with the murders of Williams, Randalls, Mark James Gassett, and David Martin Jackson.
After his arrest, Muhammad told police he shot the security guard because he disrespected him and Muhammad vowed to shoot as many white men as he could.
If Muhammad is found guilty he could face the death penalty.
His defense attorneys Richard Beshwate and Antonio Alvarez, have said Muhammad was mentally ill during the time of the shooting.
The trial continues Wednesday in Dept. 72, in Judge Jonathan Conklin’s courtroom.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 3:29 PM.
