De'Ondre White murder trial: Opening statements, witness testimony

AUSTIN, Texas - The murder trial of De’Ondre White picked up with opening statements and witness testimony. White was arrested in 2021 following a mass shooting on Sixth Street that injured over a dozen people and killed one person.

White, 21, pleaded not guilty in the courtroom Tuesday, August 29. The family of the man he is accused of killing, Douglas Kantor, sat in the front row all wearing one a button with his photo on it.

"The most important thing that we will ask [the jury] is to find De'ondre White guilty of murder for killing Douglas Kantor on June 12," said Jean Sullivan, state attorney.

On June 12, 2021, investigators say a mass shooting occurred on Sixth Street which resulted in more than a dozen people injured and one person killed. White faces a murder charge and 14 counts of aggravated assault. 

Opening statements for this murder trial began with the state.

"Doug died because of these people that he had never seen or met before in his life that brought guns and used them on sixth street that night," said Sullivan. 

Everything following the opening statements was not allowed to be on camera. This included witness testimony from Kantor’s mother. She took the stand in tears as she told the jury Kantor went to Austin with his childhood friends to celebrate his recent graduation.

"He went out with them that night to celebrate. He had just graduated. He was here for a good time, a good weekend. The reason a lot of people come to Austin and go to Sixth Street," said Sullivan in her opening statement.

The jury was shown police body camera video of Kantor’s final moments. The video was so hard to watch, it had Kantor's family in tears and his father hunched over shielding his eyes.

In the video, Kantor runs over to the officer holding his friend’s hand after he had just been shot twice. As police were treating his wounds, his friend could be heard telling the officers, "please he is my best friend."

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"[His friends] had no idea that night would be the last time that they would be able to celebrate with Douglas Kantor," said Sullivan in her opening statement.

The state claims White was on Sixth Street with a group of friends when they bumped into a different group and things escalated. The state says then White drew out his gun and shot eight times into the crowd.

White’s defense attorney William Browning conducted the opening statement. He told the jury White and his friends were on Sixth Street the weekend of the shooting to hang out.

"That they're going to go to Sixth Street and hang out and wander around like hundreds of people do on Sixth Street every weekend," said Browning.

Browning says White and his friends encountered members of a gang there. He explained to the jury that the reason White shot his weapon was to protect him and his friends from what happened moments before.

"One of them pulled a weapon out of his waistband and Mr. White felt that he had no choice but to defend himself and his friends," said Browning during his opening statement.

The defense claims White used his weapon in self-defense to protect him and his friends from the gang members.

The jury heard from two people shot in the mass shooting. One says he was shot in the arm and was, "just at the wrong place at the wrong time". The other victim says she was celebrating her birthday when she was shot in the neck. She is now paralyzed because of it.

A forensic scientist with APD went through multiple photos taken of the scene. She said eight shell casings were found. She was also asked to swab a gun for DNA, but no fingerprints were found.

A homicide detective with APD walked the jury through multiple camera angles captured from the mass shooting. This included officers body camera, HALO camera, and bar camera footage.

He explains the video shows two groups that night, and one of the groups included White. The actual shooting was not shown in this footage, but it does show both groups fleeing the scene after shots rang out.

During the defense’s cross-examination, the detective says it seems like the group not including White notices White’s friend group first.

The trial picks up Wednesday, August 30.