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'Don't Move Or I'm Squeezing,' Witness Describes Armed Robbery In Craigslist Murder Trial

By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Prosecution testimony resumes today in the case of a man accused of using a classified ads website to lure victims into armed robberies in 2013, one of which resulted in murder.

Prosecutors allege that 25-year-old Thomas Coffee of Willow Grove participated in four armed robberies, including one in which he returned to his old West Oak Lane neighborhood, gunning down a man who had responded to a Craigslist ad for an All Terrain Vehicle.

Prosecutors say cell phone records link Coffee to the ATV ad.

Assistant District Attorney Guy D'Andrea told jurors they would only hear from three of the alleged victims, because the defendant, "like a coward, shot 27-year-old Daniel Cook through the back," which proved "immediately fatal."

craigslist ad hanson
(Officials say this Craigslist ad was used to lure Daniel Cooke to his death. Photo by Tony Hanson)

An Upper Darby man, Ben Booker described how he was robbed at gunpoint by Coffee and others along Stenton Avenue, when he was about to trade three legal firearms for a motorcycle. He says Coffee brandished two handguns, saying "don't move or I'm squeezing."

Jurors also heard the frantic 9-1-1 call made by Cook's fiance following the incident. When Cook went to make the transaction around the corner just off Walnut Lane, Jessica Davis and another friend waited by their car.

On the witness stand, Davis, trembling and sobbing, testified they were afraid the shooter would come back to get them so they drove away until they saw responding police. She had the money for the ATV.

Davis is heard screaming to the 9-1-1 dispatcher "they just shot my husband...please help, they could be coming to get me, too."

Crime Scene Unit police officer Lamont Fox described to jurors how they processed the scene. He found three fired cartridge casings from a .40 caliber semi-automatic, and he described how their groupings, a blood trail, and when the victim collapsed depicted what happened.

Investigators say a stolen .40 caliber handgun from that robbery was used in the Cook murder.

Defense lawyer Evan Hughes is challenging witnesses' identifications of Coffee as the man who robbed them, adding none of the witnesses saw who pulled the trigger.

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