Man convicted in 'brazen, intentional, deliberate' shooting that left 1 dead, 1 injured in Lansing

LANSING — Feb. 11, 2017, seemed to be a normal day at Kutt II barbershop on the east side of Lansing. 

Then shots rang out, 17 all together. 

When the dust cleared, Dominique Simmons, 29, was lying on the floor, dead.

A trail of blood led to where 17-year-old Isaiah Naranjo-Gale lay in the back room,  "bleeding, sweating profusely" and in visible pain, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Bill Crino said in opening statements at the trial for Simmons' murder

It was a challenging case for police to solve, Crino said. Their investigation led them to Shawn Pickens, a then-22-year-old from Detroit. He and Simmons had a violent history, one that had been briefly put on hold when Simmons moved out of state in 2012, according to court records. 

A jury convicted Pickens Monday of first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, carrying a concealed weapon and a felony firearms enhancement after a seven-day trial. The murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole. 

Simmons' killing was "brazen, intentional, deliberate and premeditated," Crino said. Pickens fired eight shots into the crowded barbershop that was filled with men, women and kids. 

Simmons had been there with his young son. After Pickens pulled out his gun and shot him, Crino said, Simmons fired back. He fired nine shots at Pickens, hitting him once. 

Simmons was shot twice — once in the right torso and once in his right buttocks. By the time police arrived at the barbershop, he was already dead. 

Naranjo-Gale was more fortunate. Although he was bleeding heavily, he lived through the shooting. He had been sitting on a window ledge at the front of the barbershop, right next to Simmons. 

Isaac El-Amin dragged Naranjo-Gale into the back room. El-Amin testified that Naranjo-Gale kept saying "I'm not gonna make it." El-Amin said he was screaming and yelling at the boy to keep him awake. 

"You stay with me, you're not going to die today," El-Amin said he told the teen. 

El-Amin had been asleep in one of the chairs as he got his hair cut when the shots rang out. He initially thought it was fireworks, he testified. He jumped out of the chair so fast that he pulled a groin muscle. At the time, though, he thought he had gotten shot because he couldn't feel his legs. 

He started crawling to the back of the shop, calling out his son's name. He glanced back, making sure the gun wasn't pointed at him, as shots rang back and forth. His son was not injured in the incident.

Once the gunfire stopped, Pickens fled the barbershop to a house a few blocks away. A woman dropped him off at the emergency room at Sparrow Hospital just 10 minutes after the 911 call came in about the shooting. Police said he was hostile and wouldn't give them information about the shooting, according to court records. 

Soon after his surgery for a bullet wound in his abdomen, Pickens left the hospital, against the doctors' advice. 

Pickens was charged with Simmons' death three days after the shooting. He's set to be sentenced Jan. 16 in Ingham County Circuit Court. 

Contact Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.