OAKLAND — One of the girls was reportedly shot in the leg and had to crawl out of a Birch Street apartment as her best friend lay dying from gunshot wounds inside. Another says she stared down the barrel of a gun held by her mom’s boyfriend before he dropped the pistol and ran off.

They allegedly witnessed horrible things inside the Jenkins’ family home on April 23, 2023. Because of that, their testimony is crucial as authorities work to prosecute a double-murder case against 49-year-old Antonio Powell, the man who allegedly killed 44-year-old Rebecca Jenkins, his girlfriend, then turned the gun on 13-year-old Desiree Jenkins, then shot Desiree’s best friend, before fleeing in what the girls described as a maniacal rage.

At a January preliminary hearing, Judge Paul Delucchi held Powell to answer on charges of murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, assaulting the girl with a pistol, and a count of child abuse for each of the four surviving children who were in the apartment that day. He pleaded not guilty on Feb. 3, court records show.

There’s no apparent motive to the shooting, because the girls who witnessed it didn’t hear words. What they heard was Powell’s inaudible screams, which pierced through the walls of their apartment on the 500 block of Birch Street in Oakland, before and after the gunfire, according to their testimony.

“Like rage stuff,” Rebecca Jenkins’ teen daughter described. “No words coming out. Just anger.”

Desiree’s best friend, who was shot in the leg, testified that Powell fled the area after apparently running out of bullets. Police arrested him a short distance away from the apartment.

“He was, like, hopping and skipping around. Screaming like a maniac,” as he ran off, Desiree’s best friend testified.

Both girls said that Jenkins and Powell argued that day, and Powell appeared to be sulking. That was nothing new for the couple, according to Jenkins’ teen daughter, who said she didn’t think much of it. That night, she was in her bedroom talking to an ex-boyfriend on her tablet, when she heard gunshots and ran to investigate.

She went into a hallway of the apartment in time to see Powell shoot Desiree multiple times, she said. Then she said he pointed the gun at her.

“I said, ‘Don’t shoot me,’ and nothing went off,” she testified. Powell walked out of the hallway a few moments later.

Desiree’s best friend had to crawl out of the apartment with a gunshot wound near her ankle. She said her recovery required a weeklong hospital stay and months of physical therapy.

The only eyewitness to Rebecca’s death was the couple’s 1-year-old daughter, family members told this news organization after the shooting. No one who testified could explain what started the fight. Jenkins’ daughter testified the couple had been dating for a few months and occasionally delivered food orders together on DoorDash. They argued throughout their relationship, which had become more “constant” before the shooting, she added.

“I miss (Desiree) every day,” she testified. As for her mother, “She was my light. She was my whole world. She was a family person all the way. Cared about everybody. Loved everything.”