6 people tried to help a man stuck in an Oxford ditch on Christmas Eve; 3 got shot
Rochester Hills — Of the six Good Samaritans who stopped to help a man whose car was in a ditch on a foggy Christmas Eve in Oxford, three ended up with gunshot wounds.
A fourth was shot at as she ran away from the man but was not hit.
The man, later identified to be Malik Webb, allegedly pointed his gun at six people Dec. 24, 2024: Kimberly Abner and Gypsy Irelan in a rideshare parking lot after Webb ran his car into a pole and Abner asked if he was all right; Kira Wolf and her mother, Barbara Wolf, when they stopped to help him after he ran his car into the ditch; Ashley Venneste, when she pulled over to see why two cars were stopped on the side of the road; and Lon Parker, when he pulled over because he thought he saw the remains of a car crash.
Webb allegedly shot 38-year-old Kira Wolf, 71-year-old Barbara Wolf and 56-year-old Parker, and shot in Venneste's direction. Barbara Wolf later died from her injuries.
Police later found 27 fired shell casings around the Oxford scene, Oakland County Sheriff's Office Deputy Sean Burney said.
Webb is charged with open murder, three counts of attempted murder, three counts of carjacking, two counts of felonious assault, possession of a firearm by a person not allowed to have one and 10 counts of felony firearm. He was ordered Friday to stand trial in Oakland County Circuit Court after Rochester District Court Judge Nancy Carniak found there was probable cause in the case. He is being held in the Oakland County Jail.
Webb's attorney, Stephen Lynch, said "the reality is as it relates to most counts is it's probably a question of fact" for the jury to determine at a later stage.
Carniak agreed that many of the issues were a question of fact for the jury.
First drivers stop to help Webb
Testimony on Friday described an evening that began with a minor fender-bender and escalated quickly to violence.
Abner testified that around 6:15 p.m. on Christmas Eve, she was in a rideshare parking lot near the corner of M-24 and Oakwood in Oxford to drop off her grandson to his mother, Irelan. They were talking and Abner was giving Irelan Christmas presents for her children when a man later identified to be Webb struck a post in the lot, then backed up and tried to squeeze between two posts, Abner said.
Abner asked the driver if he was OK. Then she said she saw the gun pointing at her and Irelan from inside the car. The two women backed away, Irelan said, and the man drove off.
Minutes later, the Wolfs stopped to offer assistance to a driver police and prosecutors said was Webb, who had driven into a ditch on North Oxford Road.
Barbara Wolf, who was driving, rolled down her window and yelled to see if everyone was OK. Then Webb appeared in their window, reaching his hand in to try to get into the car, Kira Wolf testified Friday. The women were panicked and began to drive away.
That’s when the man started shooting into the car, Kira Wolf said, striking both women.
Barbara Wolf was killed after being struck by multiple bullets. Kira Wolf, who testified from a wheelchair and said she now has severe vision issues, said she was shot in the side multiple times and twice in the arm.
“What I was told is a piece of my mom’s skull hit the side of my face and went into my nose,” Kira Wolf said. “So I have broken orbital bones in the left side of my face (which impacts my vision).”
More victims stop to help driver on Oxford Road
A short time after Webb allegedly shot the Wolfs, Venneste, 39, testified that she saw two cars stopped on the side of the road and got out of her vehicle to look around to make sure everyone was OK.
“Out of the corner of my eye, a silhouette approached me. At that moment, I had a gun to my temple,” Venneste said. “It happened really fast. It wasn’t a lot of aggression with it. I do know my head was kind of bounced off my van."
Webb ultimately got into Venneste's van but couldn’t get it driving, Venneste said. She saw another person, Mackenzie Rivera, pull up to the scene and get out of her truck and Venneste yelled to her, “call 911, he has a gun.”
As Rivera got back into her pickup, Webb got out of Venneste’s van and started shooting at her, she said. Venneste ran. A short time later, she heard another vehicle pulling up somewhere behind her.
“Out of nowhere I heard shooting, then screaming and more shooting," Venneste said. "Then I heard silence."
Webb asks for a ride to Flint
The other vehicle Venneste heard turned out to be a white pickup truck driven by Lon Parker. Parker said he pulled up to the area and saw two vehicles — Webb’s in the ditch and one with two people who looked injured. He told his wife to call 911.
Parker said he heard a woman — Venneste — yell that someone had a gun, and when he looked back toward his window, Webb was standing on the running board of his vehicle, his arm wrapped around the window, holding a gun. Webb told him to call 911 because people were hurt, Parker said. He said he checked to make sure his wife was calling 911 and when he again turned back to Webb, he had a gun in his face.
“I knew he was drinking because I could smell the booze,” Parker said. “I could smell it pretty heavy on his breath. That’s when it dawned on me he’d probably shot those people because I have a gun in my face.”
Webb told Parker to take him to Flint, and Parker said he could do that. He started to drive slowly, Webb hanging off the side of the car.
“All I can think is he’s going to hurt my wife,” Parker said. “When somebody’s got a gun to your head, how do you get them off your vehicle without him shooting you first?”
Webb asked to get in the truck, Parker said. Parker's wife said they would drop him off at Meijer. Parker said he was scared Webb was going to snap. He told him he’d stop at the upcoming stop sign. Parker said he heard Webb trying to get the locked back door open and he stepped on the gas pedal, hoping Webb would fall off the truck.
He didn’t, and got mad instead, Parker said.
“He said, ‘I told you I didn’t want to have to f-----g kill you,” Parker said.
Parker said he told Webb he was sorry and asked him not to hurt him or his wife. Webb told him to stop the car, but Parker instead grabbed Webb’s fingers to pry them off the car and slammed on the gas. Webb fired multiple shots, one of which struck Parker in the forearm, and fell off the truck, allowing Parker to drive off.
Parker had two gunshot wounds in his right forearm, an entry and exit wound, Parker said. The bullet went through his arm and the steering wheel, then into the dashboard.
Oakland County deputies arrived shortly after Parker was shot, around 6:30 p.m. Though Webb originally did not listen to Deputy Timothy Ellis' commands, Ellis testified, he became compliant when a second officer arrived on the scene. He was arrested without incident.
Webb allegedly told Ellis that he had wrestled an Arabic person for a pistol and that someone had tried to steal his rental car.
Webb also told Ellis that someone else had shot him, and that “they killed me, I didn’t even do nothing.”
kberg@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: 6 people tried to help a man stuck in an Oxford ditch on Christmas Eve; 3 got shot