Filmmaker and journalist Kevin Epps’ former niece and sister-in-law testified Thursday about a positive familial atmosphere in the time leading up to the day Epps shot and killed Marcus Polk.
That all changed on the day of the shooting, according to Epps’ former niece.
Melina Polk, who was 17 years old on Oct. 24, 2016, when the shooting occurred, is a key witness who was present at the home before and during the incident. She is Marcus Polk’s daughter, and her testimony lasted most of the day.
Later testimony by Starr Gul, Polk’s former wife, who witnessed the shooting, described Polk only as cheerful and good-natured on the weekend before the shooting. Gul, the mother of Melina Polk, will resume testifying on Friday.
While Melina Polk did not witness the shooting, she described hearing a dispute about Polk’s presence among the two former couples in the Glen Park home where she often visited (Epps was engaged at the time to Maryam Jhan, Gul’s sister). Eventually, Melina Polk heard two gunshots coming from upstairs, and hid in a closet.
“And after you heard Mr. Epps tell Mr. Polk he couldn’t be in the house, soon after, you heard a gunshot. Is that right?” asked Epps’ attorney Darlene Comstedt.
“Yes,” Melina Polk replied.
Epps says he shot Polk in self-defense after Polk entered the home that afternoon.
Thursday was an important day in the long-awaited trial: Both District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and the head of the district attorney’s homicide unit, Omid Talai, were present to witness the proceedings.
Kevin Epps’ mother addresses his supporters on the steps of the Hall of Justice on Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan.
During the lunch recess, about 20 people gathered on the steps of the Hall of Justice to share their support for Epps, calling on Jenkins to drop the charges against the 57-year-old editor of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper and filmmaker behind the 2003 film “Straight Outta Hunters Point.” Many were colleagues or fellow parents at his children’s schools.
Epps, meanwhile, was emotional in the hallway after hearing his former niece testify.
“I raised Melina,” he said, shaking his head and wiping tears from his eyes. He said the shooting tore his family apart.
After a brief arrest in 2016 following the shooting, Epps was released without being charged for Polk’s death. He was criminally charged with murder in 2019, three years later, but was allowed out of custody on bail. Just last week, he was awarded the Silver Heart award by the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California.
Attorneys for Epps have described a strained relationship between the family and Polk, who was homeless and would often appear uninvited to the house where Epps lived with Maryam Jhan, his fiancée at the time, and their two young children.
Starr Gul, Marcus Polk’s former wife, leaves a courtroom on Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan.
Melina, who is now 26, remembered Epps sometimes expressing irritation with Polk’s presence at the home. She told investigators in 2016 that was because Epps felt he had to “look out” for the family when Polk — who was convicted for sex charges and domestic violence — came around. While she said her father was generally welcomed at the house, on the day of the shooting she heard both Epps and her mother, Starr Gul, asking Polk to leave.
Jhan, Melina’s aunt, was also upset with Polk just prior to the shooting and crying, she testified.
Comstedt: She was really frustrated with your father, right?
Melina Polk: Yes.
Comstedt: And she had been yelling at him, correct?
Melina Polk: I believe so.
After Melina heard the gunshots, she said her mother came to get her and they began to leave the house. As she left, she saw her father upright and gasping for air, then looked back to see him face down on the ground.
She also remembered hearing Epps, whom she described as “frantic,” saying: “He came at me, he came at me.”
The days prior
Even before the shooting, Melina recalled tensions. The night before, she said her father came to the door late at night and was not permitted inside. Her younger brothers, who have a different father, she said, were “teasing” Polk from inside the house as he was “banging” on the gate outside.
Melina said it was not unusual for Polk to be refused entry into the home.
Gul, Polk’s former wife and Jhan’s sister, was in the room during the shooting and briefly began testifying after Melina left the stand. She said that Jhan, her sister, frequently welcomed and invited Polk into the home.
Gul called into question whether Epps lived at the Glen Park home at the time of the shooting. While he was often present, he had moved out of the house in the months before the shooting, she said.
“They were really good friends,” Gul said of Polk and Jhan. The Saturday evening before the shooting, she described working on a paper for school while Polk was cheerfully cleaning a bathroom. Their five children and Jhan and her two children were all in the home.
That night, they had a party. “It was a good mood.”
Gul sounded incredulous at the questions from prosecutor Jonathan Schmidt about whether Polk was ever violent or threatening. But court filings show that Polk had a history of violent incidents, including with Gul, and was a registered sex offender.
As she testified, jurors listened with rapt attention, heads swiveling back and forth between Gul, on the witness stand, and Schmidt, the prosecutor at the podium.
Gul said Polk was “very happy” during the weekend in question in October 2016, and remembered he would “clown around” with all the children when he visited the Glen Park house.
Gul will continue her testimony tomorrow.