Case Acquitted: ‘I Was Scared,’ of Victim says Homicide Trial Defendant

By Audrey Staudacher - March 19, 2024
Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting |

Tierra Posey was acquitted of all charges on March 20, 2024.

On March 18, a defendant on trial for homicide took the stand in DC Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo’s courtroom.  

Tierra Posey, 24, is charged with second-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license outside of a home or business for her alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Tia Carey on Jan. 6, 2020, at a gas station on the 3700 block of Minnesota Avenue, NE. 

According to court documents, a physical altercation allegedly occurred between Posey and Carey at the scene. The confrontation escalated into a shooting, in which Posey allegedly produced a firearm and fired two shots. Carey was severely injured and, despite quick medical intervention, succumbed to her injuries. 

Posey’s defense attorneys, Quiana Harris and Kevann Gardner, called Posey to testify. Before she testified about the current case, Posey recounted a shooting in which she was involved in 2019. The incident left her with a gunshot wound to the neck. 

Her injury was previously corroborated by a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective, who testified he toke pictures of Posey following her arrest for this case. 

Regarding the 2019 shooting, Posey testified that she and her daughter were at a crowded park when “gunshots started to ring out, and everybody started running.”

According to Posey, she grabbed her daughter and began to run, but fell and stayed on the ground until the gunfire stopped, attempting to shield her daughter.

When Gardner asked her why she fell, Posey tearfully said, “I fell because I was shot in the neck.”

According to Posey, the incident left her with trauma along with the physical injury.

“I used to like going outside with my friends,” she said, but testified that she struggled to leave her house while recovering. “I didn’t know if gunshots would ring out again. I would be paranoid, nervous, jumpy, scared … I didn’t want to be outside. I didn’t want to be around anyone.”

Posey testified that she had only just begun to recover when she started “hanging out” with Carey’s boyfriend. She claimed that she was not in a relationship with him, and only knew him by his nickname. On the day of the incident, they were at a gas station when Carey approached him while Posey was sitting in his car.

“She looked mad and angry, like she was confronting him about something,” said Posey. “I didn’t know who she was.”

Then, according to Posey, Carey approached Posey and threatened her with physical violence.

“She said, ‘B***h, get out of the car, I’m gonna f**k you up,’” said Posey. “It was aggressive. It was angry, aggressive. I was scared.”

Posey stayed in the car despite her fear, even when Carey got in the backseat and allegedly spit in her face. “I was too scared to react. I just sat there,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do. I was in fear.”

According to Posey, despite the boyfriend’s multiple attempts to intervene, Carey kept returning to confront her. 

“She’s not going to stop,” said Posey when asked what was going through her mind. “She’s gonna keep coming, keep coming, keep coming.”

Due to time constraints, Posey was unable to conclude her testimony. 

However, prior to her testifying, the defense called an eyewitness who testified to trying to break up the fight between two women at the gas station. The incident came as a surprise despite one woman’s aggressive confrontation.

“She was moving fast, she was angry,” the eyewitness said of Carey. “It looked like it was about to go down.”

When asked what he thought had upset Carey, he replied that he tried not to pay attention because “that was their business.”

However, when the confrontation escalated into a physical altercation, the eyewitness felt obliged to step in because Carey’s boyfriend appeared intoxicated. According to the eyewitness, it was Carey’s aggressive behavior that initiated the fight.

“I heard a lot of angry threats … [Posey] started defending herself against the other girl,” he said. “I would too!”

The eyewitness testified he and several other individuals tried to pull Posey and Carey apart while telling them to, “Break it up, break it up!” But the group scattered when gunshots rang out. “I didn’t see no weapon at all … I heard one shot, I blacked out and ran.”

On cross examination, the prosecution asked if the eyewitness or any other individuals participated in the fight, or tried to reinstigate the altercation after the women had been separated.

“I was just trying to alleviate the situation, period,” said the eyewitness, and testified that the fight was over when he heard the gunshots.

Gardner and Harris then called multiple Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers to the stand, who individually testified to Carey’s three previous arrests for domestic violence disputes. Harris played officers’ body cam footage of Carey’s arrest for the jury, which depicted her shouting threats at the father of her children after allegedly slashing his tires. 

Posey’s testimony will continue March 19.