Latest news with #Seifullah
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Emotional testimony heard in murder trial of man charged in shooting of CCU student
David Roldan-Dimas spent the first day of summer break at Coastal Carolina University working a 13-hour shift at his job. It was June 19, 2023, a Monday, and after work he met his girlfriend and her brother at the Planet Fitness in Carolina Forest. Minutes later, as he drove away from the gym in his black Camaro, the 20-year-old student was gunned down in the Planet Fitness parking lot, where he died. The man accused of killing Roldan-Dimas, Abdullah Seifullah, is on trial nearly two years after the student's death. Seifullah, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, is charged with murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and criminal conspiracy. The prosecution and defense gave opening arguments in the the 45-year-old man's trial. The state also called five witnesses. Branden Huertas, 43, also of Bridgeport, was scheduled to stand trial Tuesday for his role in Roldan-Dimas' killing but pleaded guilty to accessory to murder last week, court officials said. Huertas' sentencing will be set at the end of Seifullah's trial. Horry County Police found the body of Roldan-Dimas with multiple gunshot wounds that evening, according to a police report. Roldan-Dimas, of York, was inside a black Chevrolet Camaro that had crashed into a Nissan SUV in a Planet Fitness parking lot, 1049 Glenforest Road, in the Myrtle Beach area. Roldan-Dimas was studying business administration at CCU and was taking summer classes so he could graduate earlier, The Sun News reported. 'David. Remember that name,' Assistant Solicitor George Henry Martin said to the jury. 'He was in the prime of his life, and unlike many of his peers, woke up at the crack of dawn to work when he wasn't studying at Coastal Carolina University.' Martin continued his opening statement, preparing the jury for the testimonies they were about to hear. 'June 19, 2023 was the day his life ended,' Martin said. 'The day his life ended and changed his family's life, the lives of people all around him. And there's only one way to serve justice, and that is to find Abdullah Seifullah guilty.' County Council Chairperson Johnny Gardner is representing Seifullah in the trial. He said that in his 19 years of working murder trials, he had never heard a prosecution open with an appeal to emotion. 'It's always sad, we feel for the victims,' Gardner said. 'But we're not here to work on emotions, you took an oath and have to make a decision based on the law.' Witnesses included Selda and Berbarin Letaj, who were at the gym when Roldan-Dimas was killed. They called the police, telling the dispatcher they saw a man being shot and killed in a black Camaro. Daryl Detrick, owner of Detrick's Car Wash across the street from the Planet Fitness, walked the jury through security camera footage from his business. The video showed an unidentified Black man run across the field between his car wash and the gym after the two gunshots. Prosecutors also called girlfriend Isabella Lima and her brother, who were with Roldan-Dimas the night he died. They went to the gym together and after they left, Roldan-Dimas was shot and killed, prosecution said. Her brother testified that a silver Dodge Charger swerved around his truck and a Black man with a mask on was chasing after it. He asked the man if he needed help. 'He stole my car!' the man told him. Lima's brother followed the car and reported the make, model and license plate number to police. Lima said she had been dating Roldan-Dimas for around two weeks. 'He was the most incredible man I have ever met,' Lima testified during the trial on Tuesday. On June 19, 2023, Roldan-Dimas had worked a 13-hour shift at his job. Lima said he was excited because he had been promoted from working on a machine outside to working inside — with air-conditioning. The then 22-year-old had plans to go to the gym with her younger brother, and Roldan-Dimas insisted on coming with. The three of them drove separately, with the couple arriving first at about 9 p.m. Lima and Roldan-Dimas finished their workout first and she planned to wait at Planet Fitness until her brother was done. Roldan-Dimas insisted on waiting with her, so the pair sat in her car and chatted. When her brother, who was then 17, finished his workout, Roldan-Dimas left Lima's car and went to his Camaro. '(Roldan-Dimas) kissed my forehead, said 'I love you, I'll see you Friday.' He got out, he hugged my brother, they talked and then he got in his car,' Lima said, her voice breaking as she finished her sentence. Within seconds, Lima and her brother heard a loud popping noise. Neither of them registered it as a gunshot. While her brother was driving home, he saw a silver Charger speed past him, he testified. Shortly after, he said he saw a Black man running in a nearby field. He slowed down and tried to speak to the man, who, he said, appeared agitated and yelled that someone had stolen his car. Lima's brother offered the man a ride, but he declined it. Lima's brother began to follow the silver Charger, called 911 and gave police the car's license plate information. As Lima was driving home, she called Roldan-Dimas three times, but he did not pick up. She found this odd, as he always picked up her calls. Worried about Roldan-Dimas, Lima and her brother, now both in her car, returned to Planet Fitness, where they found a number of police vehicles. Lima said she saw her boyfriend's body on the ground and thought he was asleep. Lima asked police to tell Roldan-Dimas that she was there when he woke up. His family was far away, so she wanted him to know he had someone there. 'I was insisting a lot to the cops to let me get close to him because I didn't want him to be alone,' Lima said. '(An officer) looked at me and was like 'Ma'am he's dead.'' Seifullah's murder trial will continue at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. The trial is expected to take a week.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trial underway for suspect in 2023 killing outside Carolina Forest Planet Fitness gym
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Opening statements started Tuesday in the Horry County murder trial of one of two men accused in the killing of a 20-year-old man outside a Planet Fitness gym in Carolina Forest, according to the 15th Circuit Solicitor's Office. Abdullah Seifullah, 45, is charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and criminal conspiracy in the June 2023 death of David Roldan-Dimas, 20, of York County. Roldan-Dimas was shot and killed while he sat in a black Chevrolet Camaro on Glenforest Road, according to authorities, who said the Camaro had hit a parked Nissan SUV. Seifullah and Branden Huertas, were arrested on unrelated charges in February 2024 in Connecticut. Seifullah was returned to Horry County and booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center last February, according to online records. Huertas was extradited to Horry County in November and charged with murder, criminal conspiracy, accessory before the fact and accessory after the fact. He was scheduled to stand trial in March but has since entered a plea and is waiting to be sentenced, according to Horry County's online public records. Both men remain in the Reuben Long Detention Center. * * * Dennis Bright is the Digital Executive Producer at News13. He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
