NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Jurors in the trial of two people charged in the 2023 shooting death of a woman in a Dunkin’ drive-thru heard from two key witnesses on Tuesday — the victim’s boyfriend, who was at the center of the love triangle that allegedly sparked the shooting, and her son, who was in the back seat when his mother was murdered.
Zakkee Alhakim, 34, and Julie Jean, 35, are both charged with first- and third-degree murder in the killing of 35-year-old Philadelphia school teacher Rachel King, who was shot five times as she waited in the drive-thru line at the Cheltenham Dunkin’ last April. While prosecutors said Alhakim pulled the trigger, they added that Jean orchestrated the murder to get back at William Hayes, after Hayes ended an affair with her and went back to King.
Hayes was called by the prosecution. On direct examination, he testified he and King lived across from each other in their Elkins Park apartment complex. He said he knew King for years, they were both single parents and their kids went to school and played together. Near the end of 2020, he said, their relationship became more serious and went beyond friendship.
Hayes called King his rock, saying she taught him to appreciate the little things and “made me a better man.”
However, he admitted on the stand to having an affair with Jean while he was “courting” King in late 2021. Around the same time, he says he bought King a “promise ring” to show her he planned to someday marry her.
Hayes says he tried to end the affair with Jean in the late summer of 2022, around the time Jean moved into the same apartment complex where he and King lived. In Dec. 2022, Jean called King to alert her to the affair. Not long after, Hayes filed for a restraining order.
On cross examination, Jean’s attorney picked at Hayes’ testimony, noting, “Your children and your concubine’s children all went to the same school.”
Jurors also watched video of King’s 11-year-old son, who was in the car when his mother was shot. The boy was taken to Mission Kids in Montgomery County after the shooting, where he was interviewed later that day.
In the video, the little boy clutched a teddy bear that was given to him by a police officer shortly after the shooting, and spoke in a quiet, monotonous voice. He said while they were waiting in the drive-thru, a man walked up and shot his mother through the window.
The boy said the first shot missed but the second one hit her. He said he got down and hid, then looked to see if the man was gone. When he saw the man had left, the boy said he reached for his mom, shook her and called her name. He recalled she was slumped over and her eyes were open, but she didn’t answer. The boy got his phone and called 911.
According to the medical examiner, King was shot five times, and any one of those shots would have been fatal.
Lawyers for both Alhakim and Jean have said there isn’t enough evidence to link them to the crimes. Prosecutors, however, said they have other evidence linking Jean to the gun used in the shooting, as well as the car the shooter was driving.