Norwich -- Sheila Harris waited seven years for the trial of her son's accused killer, so she wasn't going to let a snowstorm stop her Monday from driving a limousine bus full of family members and friends to Superior Court in Norwich.

"It's been a long time," she said. "I've been waiting for this."

The murder trial of Jose E. Ramos, 32, who is charged with the Oct. 10, 2008, shooting death of 29-year-old Tynel Hardwick, began with testimony from first responders and a state medical examiner. Ramos is accused of retrieving a rifle and lying in wait for Hardwick after an encounter at Rumors Bar and Grill on Boswell Avenue in Norwich. Hardwick had stepped out the front door of the bar to smoke when he was shot in the head from a distance of 143 feet, according to police. Ramos allegedly bragged later that it had taken only one shot to kill Hardwick.

Harris, a 57-year-old school bus driver from East Hartford, said she asked her employer, Ambassador Transportation, to use the bus because she wanted support at the trial and wanted to send a message that her son's life mattered.

"He was a gentle giant," she said of her son. "He was 6 foot 4 inches. He couldn't hurt a fly."

With 20 people on board the white limousine bus Monday morning, Harris said she took Route 2, which was not yet plowed, to Norwich. It was a long, slow ride, but the group arrived by 10 a.m., shook the snow off their hair and clothing and filed into the courthouse. The victim's father, Melvin Hardwick, was there, as was Tynel Hardwick's sister, Tanithia Thompson, and his daughter, 13-year-old Meajae Hardwick.

Ramos, who has been incarcerated since he was charged with murder in 2012, wore a gray dress shirt at the defense table and occasionally leaned toward his attorney, Bruce B. McIntyre, to whisper something. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and opted for a jury trial rather than accept the state's offer to plead guilty in exchange for a 35-year prison sentence

As brave as Harris was behind the wheel of the bus, she crumbled quickly when the details of only son's death started to air in the courtroom. Prosecutor Thomas M. Delillo called the state's first witness, Norwich police dispatcher Robert Jackson, to the witness stand and was preparing to play the 911 call Jackson received on the night of Hardwick's death when Harris, sitting in the front row of the gallery, rushed out of the room, sobbing.

"It's just so graphic," she said in the hallway, later. "The details are just something I never wanted to know."

Harris, whose mother died recently, said she was feeling emotional, and that the court testimony brought back her son's death "like it was the first day." She ventured back into the courtroom briefly, but left again when she heard the next witness, retired Norwich patrolman Edwin Hill, testify that, "the first thing I saw was the victim, a black man lying face up on the sidewalk."

"He was definitely suffering from a gunshot wound to his head, bleeding profusely," Hill testified.

Paramedic Jeffrey Poitras testified that Hardwick was not breathing but had a pulse from his carotid artery when Poitras got to the scene shortly before midnight. He said Hardwick was taken to The William W. Backus Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

After seeing a photograph of the bloodstain that was left behind after her son was removed from the scene, Harris decided she was done for the day. In any case, she said, she didn't want the children to hear the graphic details, especially when the medical examiner testified.

Assistant Medical Examiner Frank Evangelista testified that an X-ray showed a projectile in Hardwick's head. He said an external examination of the bullet entry wound, which was above Hardwick's right ear, showed no soot or stippling, an indication that Hardwick was shot from more than 3 feet away. He said that based on the path of the bullet - which went through the "brainstem basal ganglia," he was of the opinion that Hardwick died instantly.

Judge Arthur C. Hadden adjourned court at lunchtime due to the weather and said testimony would resume Tuesday morning. The trial is being heard by a jury of 12 regular members and three alternates and is expected to last two to three weeks.

DeLillo is trying the case with Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Lawrence J. Tytla and Inspector Thomas Pedersen.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter:@KFLORIN