OGDEN — Several witnesses testified in a murder trial Tuesday that they saw a man shot to death in a parking lot and watched the shooter jump into a car and flee, but none later could identify defendant Keshaun Puente in a police photo lineup.

Attorneys offered opening arguments and testimony got under way in the trial of Puente, 24, who is charged with first-degree murder and three firearm discharge counts in the June 13, 2018, death of Denero Lamar Snider, 23. Prosecutors said Puente shot Snider four times after an argument in a parking lot at an apartment building in the 600 block of 23rd Street.

Colbie Bedford, an Ogden emergency medical technician who was working that day for a tree-cutting company, testified that he and other workers were finishing their day’s work when two men nearby began arguing. Bedford said he saw one of the men go back to a car and got into the car’s driver’s side, then got back out as Snider approached him.

“The driver stood back up and fired approximately six times,” Bedford said. After initially taking cover, Bedford and others went to Snider, who was calling for help, after the car with the shooter and a woman in it had sped away.

Bedford and another worker, Paul Pontius, testified that they took off their shirts to help stop blood flowing from Snider’s body. Bedford said he saw several bullet wounds in Snider’s torso and saw exit wounds in his back. They began CPR and another tree cutter called 911.

Three other tree workers gave similar testimony, although they were from different vantage points and not all saw the actual shooting, or all of it. Most said they saw the shooter. Under questioning by attorneys, the men said they were unable to identify the shooter in a police lineup, but they said they were certain the shooter got into a silver Hyundai Veloster. Two people testified they saw the car was missing its front bumper.

Steven Gailey testified he was going into the parking lot to smoke a cigarette when he heard shots and looked up. He said he saw a man holding a gun with smoke coming from the barrel, and a woman in the car was screaming at the shooter. Gailey said the shooter “was already in the vehicle when I heard the last shot.”

Prosecutors said two women and a teenager were in a car passing by and saw some of the incident and then chased the car, getting a partial license plate number to give to police. An Ogden police detective read from a transcript of an interview he conducted with the 15-year-old boy. “The guy ran back to his car and lit off a couple more shots,” the teen said.

In his opening argument, Deputy Weber County Attorney Thomas Pedersen said the Hyundai was found a week later in North Las Vegas, Nevada. He said the woman who was in the car at the time of the shooting would testify that she saw Puente talking to Snider, she heard gunshots and Puente jumped into the car and said, “Let’s go.”

Puente was arrested six months later in the Las Vegas area.

Defense attorney Gage Crowther told the jury the defense team would show that Puente “was not that person” who shot Snider. He said witnesses have given widely different descriptions of the shooter’s approximate height, weight and clothing, and most were not very close to the shooting.

Newsletter