MANASSAS, Va. — Just hours after Christmas ended in 2019, a 14-year-old girl was grabbing a late night/early morning breakfast with two of her cousins and a friend at a Denny's in Manassas when two masked men with guns ran into the restaurant shouting at everyone to get on the ground. While the teen and her family members would leave the restaurant alive -- albeit very shaken -- a DoorDash driver walking into the Denny's at the time of the robbery would not.
On Wednesday, the now 17-year-old girl testified that one of the men charged in 56-year-old Yusuf Ozgur's death said "I want to shoot someone before I leave." According to prosecutors, Jordan Anderson did just that, shooting one of the customers in the stomach before running out of the restaurant with his co-conspirator. Ozgur, a father of two who was heading into the restaurant just before 2:30 a.m. to grab a delivery order for a customer, unknowingly held the door open for the two men who would end up shooting him to death.
Throughout day three of Anderson's trial, jurors were shown multiple clips of the shooting and robbery. The videos showed two masked men, dressed in what appears to be all black, enter the Denny's before one pulled out a gun. They are also seen collecting all the cellphones of the 23 people they held hostage. The videos detail the horrific moment when the gunman shoots the customer, Bradley Sheetz, in the stomach.
"I prayed out loud," the teen witness said of the moment she saw the gunmen, one of whom she says told her, "don't look at me."
The girl's 18-year-old cousin, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, recalled that Anderson seemed angrier than the other man with him, who repeatedly told Anderson it was time to go. Anderson had a gun, and the other man had a baton.
Both girls said they hid under a table in an attempt to shield themselves from what they described as the "growing anger" of the man with the gun.
The older cousin/brother of the two girls, now 29, described being stunned and shocked by the two men who stormed into the Denny's. He testified how he had his phone taken, the case of which also held his identification card and his debit card. His best friend who was also dining with them, said she laid face down near the entryway of the restaurant and attempted to pay close attention during the whole ordeal. She recalled the brands of shoes the two men were wearing and noticed a cuff in the pants one suspect was wearing.
After a long pause, that witness described the moments after Ozgur was shot and the two men had run away. The surveillance videos show a woman locking the restaurant doors. The witness said it was her instinct to attempt to help the man who was dying in the doorway. She testified how she helped get his body inside and kept trying to talk to him to keep him awake, all while noticing how his eyes began to dilate.
Prosecutors asked all the witnesses at some point, did they ever feel like they could leave the restaurant. Every witness said, "no."
Trial is expected to resume Thursday morning. Anderson's alleged accomplice, Ryan Walker, is set to stand trial in April. He is also charged with one count of murder, one count of malicious wounding and one count of robbery.