Two men accused of robbing a North Park dispensary at gunpoint, resulting in the shooting death of an alleged accomplice will stand trial, a judge said Thursday.
Kurese Bell, 18, is charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery in the April incident, and Atiim Smith, 22, is charged with attempted murder and felony robbery.
Smith is suspected to have been the getaway driver after his prints were found inside a vehicle police impounded following the robbery, a latent print examiner testified.
Another defendant, Jonathan Vincent Collins, 21, who avoided police for five months before being found by U.S. Marshals in Texas, pleaded guilty to robbery and gang allegations and is expected to be sentenced to 12 years in state prison on April 2.
According to police, two of the men entered the store in the 3800 block of Ray Street in the middle of the day April 25 and held the people inside at gunpoint.
The men got into a shootout with a security guard, resulting in one of the suspects being shot and killed. The security guard was also shot in the pelvis, according to testimony heard Thursday.
Bell was also charged in a robbery at a smoke shop just four days prior to the dispensary robbery. He was 17 at the time, but charged as an adult for the crimes.
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Both defendants are headed to trial and their next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11.
