Brayan Cruz, one of the men charged in the 2019 murder of Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Blane Dixon, gave his testimony today in court. Cruz had his case severed from the other three suspects and said he took to the stand with the aim of telling the truth.
Assistant District Attorney Harold Buckler questioned Cruz throughout the afternoon and Cruz recounted the details of what unfolded on July 7, 2019.
Cruz said he met up with Hector Garcia-Solis, Eric Velazquez and London Clements to commit a robbery.
After a police chase, the car that the four were in crashed into a pole and they took off on foot. Cruz said he saw a flashlight approaching, so he hid under a shed. He was still hiding when he heard Dixon tell Hector Garcia-Solis, the accused gunman, to put his hands up.
"It got quiet for a few seconds, and all I heard was boom, boom, boom," Cruz said.
Later, Garcia-Solis's Defense Attorney Robert McNeill cross-examined Cruz, who said that he would not have gotten involved if he knew a shooting would take place.
Earlier in the day, prosecutors continued to outline details of burglaries and thefts that were allegedly committed by the men. One of the crimes was a theft involving items from a Dekalb County Crime Scene Van.
Holly Lester, a crime scene investigator who works for Dekalb County, said she was running an errand in the van and noticed that someone had broken in.
"While I was driving, I just noticed everything in the back of my van," Lester said. "It just sounded like everything was all over the place."
Lester said she later found out her bulletproof vest was missing from the vehicle. The vest would later show up in surveillance footage, being worn by one of the men accused of stealing firearms from Double Deuce Pawn Shop on Shallowford Road in Gainesville.
