Community Corner

Apple Store Employee Heard 'Talk To Me, Don't Do This'

Two Apple employees took the stand at the Lululemon trial Friday.

There was dramatic testimony at the Lululemon trial Friday afternoon from two Apple employees who heard screaming, grunting, and a female voice say, "Talk to me. Don't do this," on the night of March 11.

That same evening at the next door, prosecutors say store employee Brittany Norwood from within the store in an attack on co-worker Jayna Murray, who was found dead in a pool of blood the following day with 322 distinct injuries.

Defense attorneys are attempting to prove Norwood "lost it" and killed Murray in a "horrific attack." Prosecutors are attempting to prove the attack was pre-meditated.

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Jana Svrzo, who was at the time a manager at the said she heard noises coming from the back left wall of the Apple sales floor. "It sounded like something thudding, hitting or dragging — grunting, high-pitched squealing, yelping perhaps," Svrzo testified.

She said she stopped to investigate further, and said, "It sounded like something heavy possibly falling or hitting."

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She also said she heard screaming and yelling.

The manager said she then asked Ricardo Rios, another manager, to come down from upstairs and listen.

Rios also took the stand Friday. Svrzo said she also asked a security guard to investigate. A surveillance video inside the Apple Store was played for the court.

Svrzo said she heard two distinct female voices, one lower, and one hysterical. She said she heard a woman say in a low voice, "Oh God, please help me."

The other voice said, "Talk to me. Don't do this. Talk to me. What's going on?"

Neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers asked the two employees why they didn't call 911. When asked on cross-examination whether Rios had told police there was "drama" next door, Rios said yes.

Following is an account of the surveillance video played in court:

  • The video begins around 10:11 p.m. Svrzo walks over to the back left wall to listen to the noises. She asks one of the security guards to investigate, who is seen leaving the sales floor to head up to the second floor.
  • "I believe I'm just standing at the counter finishing some paperwork," Svrzo said when asked to describe what she is doing next.
  • Svrzo leaves to ask Rios to come down. Later, on cross examination, she said she told Rios, "I'm not crazy. Can you come down and listen to this. I think something is going on."
  • Svrzo and Rios are seen on the video walking back to the wall around 10:15 p.m. "We're going to the spot where the noises are loudest," Svrzo said, narrating the video. "This is where we're hearing the hysterical screaming and the two bits of conversation."
  • At 10:16, Svrzo heads back to the main area of the sales floor, while Rios stays behind. "It looks like I'm just going back to do the final closing," she said.
  • Rios leaves the wall just before 10:18 p.m. Svrzo is seen leaving the sales floor at 10:19. She said she still heard noises, but they were faint.
  • She said she returned to work, and left around 11:11 p.m.

On cross examination, when asked to review her interview with police, Svrzo said, "I heard someone say, 'Stop, stop, stop.' And then, 'Oh God, stop.'"

Svrzo would not answer reporters' questions about why she didn't call for help, The Washington Post reports.

When a prosecutor asked Rios, "These security guards were actually fired the next day?", the defense objected.

The prosecutor asked whether the guard had anything in his ears. Rios said, "It was headphones."


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