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Steven Jones, on trial for first-degree murder and aggravated assault for the NAU shooting in October 2015, describes the shooting while testifying on April 20, 2017.
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Nick Prato took the witness stand on April 19, 2017, in the trial of Steven Jones, the former Northern Arizona University student who shot four young men during a melee that spilled onto campus in October 2015.
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The murder trial of former Northern Arizona University student Steven Jones began April 5, 2017, in Coconino County Superior Court in Flagstaff. Jones is accused of fatally shooting one student and wounding three others. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com
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The prosecution makes its opening statement April 5, 2017, in Steven Jones’ trial in the NAU shooting.
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The defense’s opening statement April 5, 2017, in Steven Jones’ trial in the NAU shooting.
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Coconino County Superior Court Judge Dan Slayton hears arguments from the prosecution and defense on evidence in the Northern Arizona University shooting case.
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Steven Jones weeps as he is granted conditional release until trial.
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NAU Shooting Suspect In Court. Steven Jones, 19, appears in court in February 2016 in the Oct. 9, 2015 shooting on the NAU campus.
Tom Tingle/The Republic
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NAU police video showing the moment Steven Jones was handcuffed and detained. NAU student Colin Brough, 20, died at the scene. Three other students, Nick Piring, Nick Prato, and Kyle Zientek, all 20, were wounded.
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This 911 call was made by Jake Mike, a friend of accused NAU shooter Steven Jones. The two were together in the early morning hours of Oct. 9 when the shooting began on the Flagstaff campus.
Wochit
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This call to Northern Arizona University Police Department was made from inside a residence hall near the scene of the shooting.
Wochit
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911 calls into NAU Police after shootings
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Doug Brough, Colin Brough’s father, talks about his son, October 10, 2015, outside NAU’s Mountain View Hall, the site of the shooting Flagstaff, Arizona
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Candlelight vigil Friday evening for Colin Brough at Northern Arizona University.
Mark Henle/The Republic
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NAU students and the surrounding community held a prayer vigil Friday night.
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Students react to finding out the suspect in the shooting, Steven Jones, lived in their dorm on Northern Arizona University campus.
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Witness Dion Harris at Flagstaff Shooting
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Arizona Republic Reporter Dennis Wagner reports from the scene of a shooting at Northern Arizona University that left one dead and three others injured.
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NAU freshman held in shooting that left 1 student dead, 3 wounded
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A shooter opened fire on Friday at Northern Arizona University’s Flagstaff campus, the school said. One person was killed and three people were injured.
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According to Everytown For Gun Safety, there have been nearly 100 school shootings since the tragedy at Sandy Hook.
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NAU shooting defendant Steven Jones describes the shooting
NAU shooting victim describes moment he was shot
Steven Jones’ NAU murder trial begins
Steven Jones’ trial in NAU shooting: Prosecution’s opening statement
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Steven Jones’ trial in NAU shooting: Defense’s opening statement
Judge rules on evidence in NAU shooting case
Steven Jones weeps as he is granted conditional release until trial
NAU Shooting Suspect In Court
Body camera video from scene of NAU shooting
A haunting 911 call received the night of the NAU shooting
A 911 call received the night of the NAU shooting
911 calls into NAU Police after shootings
Victim’s father: “We got to stop this throughout the country”
Candlelight for Colin Brough
Prayer vigil for NAU shooting victims
Close to home: Students react to NAU shooting
Witness Dion Harris at Flagstaff Shooting
Reporter Dennis Wagner at the scene of the NAU shooting
NAU freshman held in shooting that left 1 student dead, 3 wounded
Fatal shooting reported at Northern Arizona University
Why more school shootings happen in the US than anywhere else
Friday’s questions showed jurors had been paying attention, offering insights into areas where lawyers didn’t go.
FLAGSTAFF— The lawyers were done asking the questions, and it was the jury’s turn.
Steven Jones sat nervously in the witness box Friday morning as his trial on murder and assault charges raced to a close with jurors posing their own queries to him.
Sometimes jury questions can show which way a jury is leaning. Friday morning’s questions showed mostly that jurors had been paying attention. And they offered insights into areas where the lawyers didn’t go: Jones’ extensive gun training, for example, and his knowledge of first aid.
Jones, a former Northern Arizona University student, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the Oct. 9, 2015, shootings on the Flagstaff campus that left one student dead and three others wounded. He claims the shootings were in self-defense.
The jury will soon be called on to decide whether he is innocent or guilty of those, or lesser, charges. Unlike in many jurisdictions, jurors in Arizona state courts are encouraged to ask questions in criminal trials.
The judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys first review the written questions before they are asked in open court. They allow only those questions that are relevant and do not contradict earlier rulings made on what evidence and testimony is admissible.
The first question out of the box asked about gun safety and who taught Jones to how to shoot. Jones said he first learned from a 4-H Club at age 8 or 9, but that he had extensive tutelage from his father, who trains law-enforcement officers and is certified by the National Rifle Association.
The second and several subsequent questions quizzed Jones about his vision. His glasses were knocked off at the beginning of the fray that led to the shootings, and he claimed to have bad vision but still asserted he could see at a distance his friends being menaced by a crowd of five to 10 people.
The NAU shooting
Jones said his vision without his glasses is 20/80 in the right eye and 20/60 in the left. But on the night of the shooting, he said he could see silhouettes and bright clothing colors, and could see a cluster of people in the middle of which he assumed his friends were.
The judge allowed 19 juror questions. Some verged on confrontational: Why did he say he shot the first two students intentionally? Why did he tell police that no one else did anything wrong? And why did he walk toward the young men after he retrieved his gun from the car?
His answers were consistent: That he felt he was faced with an immediate threat, and he believed his friends were still in danger.
A juror asked, “Why didn’t you aim for the legs?” To which he responded that gun training — whether law enforcement, military or civilians — teaches to aim for center body mass.
Jones has claimed that after he shot the first two students, he knelt over the more seriously injured student, Colin Brough, with the intention of rendering first aid.
He claims he was then jumped by a mob that tried to take his gun from him.
That led to the expected question of how much first-aid training he had. The answer was a significant amount, including CPR, the Heimlich maneuver and basic first aid for gunshot and knife wounds.
One juror asked if Jones thought that he was the only person who could help when Jones claimed a group piled onto him and tried to take his gun after the first two students were wounded.
During his testimony Thursday, Jones said he was convinced that if the mob had gotten his gun, they would have killed him with it.
“I felt like no one was going to come and help me,” he told jurors. “And I couldn’t overpower all those guys.”
Two other defense witnesses briefly took the stand Friday afternoon, after which the defense and prosecution teams rested their cases.
Closing arguments will begin Tuesday.
READ MORE:
Opening arguments: Was Jones an ‘assassin’ or defending himself?
NAU shooting victim Nick Piring: ‘I never did see the gun’
‘Most intense pain you’ve ever felt,’ gunshot victim testifies
Jones takes stand, says he feared for his life
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