An Atlantic City man was killed by his former friends to help replenish guns seized by police, the prosecutor told juror Wednesday.
Joshua Cross is on trial for murder and felony murder in the July 29, 2012, killing of Sedrick Lindo.
The 25-year-old man died in a hail of gunfire as he sat on a porch in Atlantic City's Carver Hall talking to a friend with her 3-year-old son.
Six men shared breakfast that morning, planning the killing, Assistant Prosecutor Allison Eiselen said.
They would come together again to share a meal hours later, "after the bloodshed and death of their former friend."
Four men are charged in the killing, including alleged shooter Mujahid Blackwell, who was 16 at the time.
Cross, who is accused of acting as lookout for the then-juvenile, is the first to go on trial.
But the story that had a deadly ending began three months earlier with another co-defendant, Blackwell's cousin Khalil, the state alleges.
Khalil Blackwell was sitting on a stoop smoking pot in the 800 block of North Maryland Avenue on April 26, 2012, according to police reports.
That drew the attention of Officer James Herbert, who then looked inside the home and saw another man quickly stuff a gun into the couch, police said at the time.
Mujahid claimed two other guns found in the home were his.
The loss of those guns led the group to try to get Lindo to turn over his gun, Eiselen said.
Video will show Cross on the phone around the area as he scoped it out, she told jurors.
They will also hear Cross' own words as he talked to detectives after the killing.
That conversation evolved from him not knowing anything to admitting he was at the shooting, to claiming he was afraid of Mujahid Blackwell, jurors were told.
But when jurors hear about Mujahid Blackwell, they may understand that fear, defense attorney Tim Reilly told them.
He cautioned them to listen not just to Cross knew "but also what his intentions were at time."
"There was no robbery," he said. "They're charged with conspiracy. You're not going to hear anything on tape that says there was an agreement, that Mr. Cross agreed with Mr. Mujahid Blackwell to kill Sedrick Lindo."
Trial continues Thursday before Superior Court Judge Patricia Wild.
