BRADENTON — It has been almost two years since 16-year-old James Holderness died from a gunshot to the head he suffered while playing video games in the living room of a Manatee mobile home.
The murder trial of the man accused of shooting into the mobile home in a drive-by shooting, 23-year-old Michael Heckerman, is set to begin Monday with jury selection.
Heckerman is charged with second-degree murder after authorities say Jan. 15, 2008, he opened fire on the mobile home in the Wilhelm Mobile Home Park, in the 6300 block of 14th Street West.
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office reports say earlier that day, Heckerman had gotten into an argument with an occupant of the mobile home over a previous burglary.
At about 11 p.m., just hours after the argument, bullets peppered the mobile home, one tearing through the wall and hitting Holderness in the head while he played a video game.
Holderness later died at Bayfront Medical Center, in St. Petersburg.
Sheriff’s detectives began investigating the shooting, but no one in the mobile home had seen the shooter or the vehicle. But a witness in the mobile home park did see a Dodge Durango speeding out of the park, according to sheriff’s reports.
Acting on a tip from an occupant of the mobile home about the earlier argument with Heckerman, detectives located a Durango in front of his apartment. Detectives searched his home and found a pistol and sawed-off shotgun.
Heckerman at first pinned the shooting on one of his friends, who was also present during the initial argument at the mobile home park. But detectives found Heckerman’s DNA on the handgun found in his apartment that they believed had been used in the shooting, the sheriff’s report said.
Detectives also charged Heckerman with murder after cell phone records showed he made several calls around the time of the shooting that routed through cell phone towers along the route from the mobile home park to Heckerman’s apartment. A witness also came forward, saying Heckerman spoke of the shooting, saying “he had done the shooting, but he did not mean for anyone to get hurt,” the sheriff’s report said.
Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin Monday, followed by a two-day trial in front of Circuit Judge Diana Moreland.
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