Issue date: 9/10/08 Section: News

Tekle Sebhatu, father of Kebret Tekle, stands outside the courthouse during a pretrial hearing for David Allen Falls. [Click to enlarge]

Tekle Sebhatu with his extended family outside the courthouse.Sebhatu said his immediate family was not present because, "It is too hard for them, they could not bear it emotionally." [Click to enlarge]

The second pretrial hearing of a man arrested in connection to the fatal shooting of a Sacramento State student took place Friday at the Sacramento County Superior Courthouse.

Sophomore journalism student Kebret Tekle was hit by a stray bullet on May 3, 2007, as she sat in her car in the parking lot of the Library Eats and Drinks bar on Folsom Boulevard behind the Sac State campus. She died later that day from her wounds.

The shooting was the result of an alleged gang fight that began inside the bar and spilled out into the parking lot.

David Allen Falls, 23, of Sacramento was arrested in connection with the shooting and charged with one felony count of homicide later that month. He has pled not guilty to the charge. Falls, if convicted, could face 50 years to life for homicide using a gun.

Falls sat quietly as witnesses described the night Tekle was shot. As witness after witness recounted their memories of the night, family and friends of Tekle sat stone-faced in the courtroom listening to the testimony.

An unidentified witness, shaking with her voice cracking, told attorneys she remembered a fight among three men inside the bar the night of the shooting. As security at the bar broke up the fight, the witness said people headed toward windows to see what was happening with the men outside.

The witness said she ran out of the bar and saw a black man crouching by the car. However, she could not identify Falls, sitting at the front of the courtroom Friday in an orange jumpsuit, as the person she saw by the car.

Police said after a shot was fired, hitting Tekle, the group fled the scene in a car heading west on Folsom Boulevard. But the witness could not identify which way the car carrying the man she said was kneeling by the car went as it left the scene.

After realizing someone had been shot by a stray bullet, the witness said she and a few other girls went to Tekle's car and tried to help her.

It was something Tekle would have done too, had she been a bystander and not the victim, Tekle Sebhatu, the victim's father, said. Known by her father and family as a wonderful, goal-oriented student and daughter, Tekle was always involved in helping others in some way or another, he said. Sebhatu said his daughter was a loving and devoted friend and sister.

After her death, Tekle's organs were donated and helped save the lives of four people. Tekle had arranged to be an organ donor before she was shot. Sebhatu said this gesture helped demonstrate his daughter's involvement in the community and passion for people.

This is the first time anyone from the Tekle family has agreed to speak with media since the shooting occurred.

Sebhatu said his family is still in pain.

"This has been traumatic on our entire family and we hope that no family will have to go through this," Sebhatu said.

Sebhatu also raised a point about student safety after they leave campus. He said even though The Library was not on campus, students and university administrators need to be aware of the dangers students can get in to.

"Even though this happened adjacent to the Sac State campus and not inside the fence, we hope that the university and concerned authorities … will help inform students about the danger they face around the campus," Sebhatu said.

At the first pretrial hearing on Aug. 14, Sebhatu said security personnel from the bar testified as to what happened that night, but he could not go into any more detail about the case.

On campus, Tekle, 20, was a member of the Eta Lamda chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and committee chair for the National PanHellenic Council.

The Library Eats and Drinks closed down in August 2007 after losing its liquor license.

Natalie Flynn can be reached at nflynn@statehornet.com

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