Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Witness explains how he played dead to survive

Jurors in the Zane Floyd murder trial today will take images with them of a camouflage-clad gunman stalking an employee through the produce section as they begin deliberations on whether Floyd is guilty of the bloody rampage last year at a local grocery store.

Closing arguments were expected to be heard this afternoon in the case of the 24-year-old former Marine accused of walking into a store at Valley View Boulevard and Sahara Avenue on June 3, 1999, and shooting just about everyone in his path. Four people died and a fifth, Zachary Emenegger, survived by feigning death.

Emenegger was one of the last witnesses to take the stand Wednesday afternoon. The 22-year-old narrated what happened that morning as jurors watched surveillance videos that showed Floyd playing a game of hide and seek with Emenegger around a bin of fresh produce.

Floyd's first shot went over his head when he ducked, but the second and third shots struck him in the back and forearm, Emenegger said.

"I figured I was going to have to play dead, so I shut my eyes, jerked my whole body and laid there," Emenegger said.

Seconds later, Emenegger said he heard Floyd say, "Yes, Yes, you're dead," and walk away.

Unable to get up, Emenegger said he laid still hoping Floyd didn't come back. He doesn't remember Floyd walking by moments later, doubling back and checking to make sure he was dead.

"I was lying there waiting, and the next thing I knew the paramedics had cut my clothes off me and were putting me on a stretcher," Emenegger said.

Emenegger, who no longer works for the grocery store, said he lost a great deal of muscle and tissue and suffers from nerve damage. He's undergone multiple surgeries and expects more.

Jurors also heard Wednesday from six other employees of the Albertson's store, most of whom have transferred to other stores, which are now owned by Raley's. Defense attorneys Doug Hedger and Curtis Brown, who have said they don't dispute their client's guilt, did little cross-examining.

The defense attorneys have said they hope to save Floyd from the death penalty. If Floyd is convicted of first-degree murder, jurors will decide whether he deserves to die.

Christine Goldsworthy, a 26-year-old bookkeeper, was the first employee to take the stand. She had just gotten to work that morning when she heard a loud bang and looked out of her office's second story window into the store.

"I saw Zane Floyd running through check stand seven and aisle seven blasting his shotgun," Goldsworthy said.

She ran into her manager's office and called 911. She stayed on the phone until Floyd was arrested about 15 minutes later. At least one juror began crying as she heard a breathless Goldsworthy pleading, "Please don't come up here, please don't."

Meat department employee Mark Schmidt got up from the witness stand to imitate Floyd's demeanor while he swept his head and gun back and forth looking for victims.

"He had the most evil look on his face I've ever seen," Schmidt said. "He wanted to kill."

One of his co-workers froze in those moments, Schmidt said.

"She was saying, 'Oh my God, my kids. Who's gonna take care of my kids?' and I told her, 'Sherry, I'm gonna get us out of this,' " Schmidt said.

Schmidt said he, the woman and two others hid from Floyd in a second-floor air-conditioning compressor room. Once inside, he removed the light bulbs in the event Floyd found the room and turned on the lights.

Linda Torres, a bakery manager, and Kelly Pearce, a service deli employee, hid in the bakery's freezer throughout the ordeal.

Pearce was speaking with frozen food manager Chuck Leos, 41, when she saw Floyd walking through a checkout stand. Leos, along with fellow store employees, Dennis Sargent, 31, Thomas Darnell, 40, and Lucy Tarantino, 60, were killed.

Both Torres and Pearce said that while they were hiding, they heard Floyd speaking to his final victim, Tarantino.

Torres said she couldn't make out the words, but Pearce said she did. She said Floyd sounded upbeat.

"I heard him tell Lucy either 'Hi! How are you doing or Hi, what are you doing?' and I heard her scream and a gunshot," Pearce said.

Pearce, too, imitated Floyd's actions that day, saying he looked "purposeful."

"He was hunting. He was looking," Pearce said. "It wouldn't have made a difference who he had seen, whether it was an Albertson's employee or a child."

Jurors were told to disregard Pearce's comment after Brown objected. They also were told to ignore his statement, "I just totally believe he knew what he was doing."

Pearce admitted under cross-examination she twice told police Floyd never said a word throughout the incident.

Jurors heard earlier in the day from Tracie Rose Carter, a 21-year-old outcall service employee whom Floyd allegedly raped repeatedly an hour before the shootings.

The state's final witnesses are expected to be the two Metro officers who took separate confessions from Floyd.

The defense attorneys told jurors during their opening arguments that their focus would be on the penalty portion of the case. They plan to show that Floyd is mentally ill in the hopes the jury will show mercy and sentence him to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.

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