Christian Ketchup (L), (R) Rachel DeRise (Escambia County Sheriff’s Office); Tierra Binion (middle) via WEAR-TV screengrab.
Court documents have shed more light on how a night out drinking with friends at a Florida bar ended with the alleged murder of a 25-year-old mom of twins last week.
Citing a witness account of the chaotic scene, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said that Tierra Binion and another woman told off a bar patron for “talking about their bodies” and harassing them before a fight erupted, spilled outside, and an allegedly intoxicated Christian Ketchup, 25, “unloaded” the magazine of his firearm, killing Binion.
Ketchup, who was at Mugs n’ Jugs on Scenic Highway in Pensacola with his 23-year-old co-defendant girlfriend Rachel DeRise, allegedly responded to being told off by further instigating the confrontation and ultimately shooting Tierra Binion seven times. Authorities said Ketchup opened fire around 1 a.m. on Aug. 23 after he knocked Binion out with a sucker-punch and after DeRise hit the victim while she was on the ground.
A witness told investigators she “walked up during the middle of a ‘brawl”” and saw DeRise and Ketchup, “both of whom she has known for years, walking.”
The witness said a woman “started popping off to them” and then “swung at” DeRise. The two women fought. Suddenly, Ketchup got involved, knocked Binion to the ground and opened fire, according to this witness account.
Another witness identified DeRise and Ketchup as her friends. She claimed she saw DeRise “on the ground being dragged by a female.”
The witness said Ketchup saw DeRise in a fight and “went over and started punching at the female.”
Authorities said that video surveillance cameras at the bar showed Ketchup “pull out a firearm from his waistband several times and wave it around.”
“A short time later, I observed [Ketchup] strike [Villarente/Binion] and knock her to the ground,” the affidavit said.
DeRise then “jumps on top of” Binion and “begins striking her,” authorities said.
Evidence showed Ketchup almost immediately fired multiple rounds “while practically standing over” Binion, court documents said.
Ketchup helped DeRise up and they fled, deputies said.
A third witness was identified as a male who “stated that he isn’t friends with any of the parties involved, but is an acquaintance” of the victim’s from “seeing her around at the bars.”
The witness said that he saw Binion “holding back a guy from fighting” when DeRise, in the witness’ words, “comes out of left field and just pushes the victim, falls to the ground, and they started fighting on the ground.”
“Then not 5 seconds later here comes the shooter. He comes and grabs the white girl [DeRise] because the white girl was the one that was the aggressor, going onto the victim,” the witness said, according to deputies.
A fourth witness said he saw Ketchup pull out a gun and holster it before going over to DeRise and yelling “who touched you.”
That witness said he saw DeRise hit Binion while she wasn’t looking, that the victim fell to the ground, and that Ketchup opened fire. The witness assigned blame to DeRise for starting the incident.
“[The witness] stated that he visually remembers [Binion] just standing there when [DeRise] hit her,” documents said. “[The Witness] stated that [Binion] turned and slung [DeRise] to the ground after being hit.”
According to the affidavit, DeRise “stated she was too drunk to remember anything that happened.”
A deputy said her knees had scrapes on them “as if she had fallen to the ground.”
The affidavit filed in Ketchup’s case went into even more detail.
A female witness said in a sworn statement that she and Binion were at the bar minding their own business when an “unknown black male wearing a black shirt and grey shorts approached” them and started “talking about their bodies.”
The witness “stated they told him to stop and keep walking, but he kept harassing them,” the affidavit said.
It’s not entirely clear from the documents if the alleged harasser was Ketchup, since he was described as “a black male wearing a ball cap and a blue shirt.” Given that it was late at night and there was a fight, it’s possible a blue shirt was confused for a black shirt, but again — it’s unclear if the alleged shooter was the one who approached Binion and her friend.
What is clear, according to the rest of the investigative account, is that Ketchup escalated the incident to deadly violence outside of the bar.
An Uber driver who happened to be at the scene dropping off a passenger told deputies he saw that Ketchup knocked Binion out, pulled out a gun, and “unloaded it” into Binion, killing her.
“Obviously there’s no reason to do that. You could have easily walked away,” Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons previously said of DeRise allegedly punching Binion while she was unconscious. “That’s not a mutually combatant type situation.”
Responding deputies found Binion dead in the parking with “numerous shell casings” around her body, as well as Ketchup’s wallet and ID.
A witness at the scene who knew the alleged gunman for several years told investigators that she was there when the shooting occurred and initially left in a car with Ketchup and several others.
The witness said she heard Ketchup in the backseat of the car making “a comment about shooting all of his bullets.” That was when the occupants of the vehicle told him to get out, the affidavit said.’
Ketchup later called 911 to turn himself in, authorities said.
He didn’t want to make a statement “but was very emotional and appeared intoxicated,” authorities said.
While Ketchup faces a murder case and remains behind bars without bond, DeRise was charged with misdemeanor battery and released on a $15,000 bond.
Court records indicate both defendants waived arraignments this week and entered not guilty pleas through their attorneys.
Law&Crime reached out to DeRise’s attorney Robert Dees and Ketchup’s attorney Thomas F. McGuire III for comment.
An obituary said that Tierra Binion was survived by her twin boys, parents, and four siblings (two brothers and two sisters). Her funeral was held on Aug. 26.
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