Was it a case of mistaken identity or a sucker punch that started melee?

Testimony continues in a trial that could last until May 4, with more than 35 witnesses expected to take the stand.

FLAGSTAFF — Was it a case of mistaken identity that caused the melee on a Flagstaff street that led to the shooting death of one college student and serious wounds to three others?

Or was it a sucker punch?

The young man who said he threw the first punch — admittedly out of drunkenness — took the stand in the Steven Jones murder trial Thursday, the fourth day of testimony.

WATCH: NAU shooting trial of Steven Jones

Jones, a former NAU student, is accused of first-degree murder in the death of student Colin Brough and aggravated assault against Nick Piring and two other students, Nick Prato and Kyle Zientek.

Jones is claiming self-defense.

‘I was drunk, acting stupid’

Austin Conteras, a Northern Arizona University sophomore at the time, was at a party at an apartment complex known as the courtyard in the early morning hours of Oct. 9, 2015, when three young strangers walked uninvited into the patio between apartment buildings.

The NAU shooting

Colin Brough and Nick Piring, two of the students who would be shot moments later, insisted the strangers leave, Contreras told the jury.

He then moved along with a group to the front of the apartment complex where he saw seven to 10 men standing “smack dab” in the middle of the street, exchanging curse words.

Contreras ran up and punched one of the group in the face, scattering the group onto campus.

“I was drunk, acting stupid,” Contreras told the jury.

Contreras heard shots and saw his friend, Brough, bleeding on the ground. He froze, then turned and ran home.

But were the three men confronted in the street the same young men who tried to crash the party?

The next witness, Jacob Mike, who was with defendant Jones that evening, told the jury that he and Jones and another young man, Shay McConnell, never entered into the patio area between buildings.

Instead, they were standing on the sidewalk in front of the apartment complex after knocking on one of the doors, looking for a friend.

A group of five to seven young men approached them, Mike said.

Mike said he didn’t know it was a hostile situation until someone ran up to Jones and punched him in the face.

Jones’ mouth was clearly swollen and bloody in a photo shown earlier in the day during testimony at trial.

‘It’s me. … Don’t shoot!’

Brough’s friends, including Piring, who was also shot that day, testified last week there was no violence. But Mike described a scenario in which he and McConnell were pushed to the ground and his hat was knocked off.

Mike said other punches were thrown his way but didn’t connect.

Mike told the jury Thursday that although he thought it was a hostile situation, at no point did he think his life was at stake.

Mike lost track of where his friends were while he dodged punches.

Then he saw Jones coming from a parking lot, holding a light. Mike didn’t know at first what it was.

“But it didn’t take long to figure out,” he said, noting Jones was holding it with two hands with one foot forward.

He said he saw two or three people who “rushed” toward Jones. He heard shots and saw them fall.

The light panned over him.

Mike called out, “It’s me, Steven, Jake. Don’t shoot!”

Jones told him to call 911.

Mike told the jury on Thursday that he was scared when he saw Jones with a gun.

“Of what?” asked Coconino Deputy County Attorney Ammon Barker.

“Steven, the situation,” Mike said.

As he and Jones were leaning over one of the wounded men — it would turn out to be Brough — trying to put pressure on his wounds, another young man started choking Jones.

Mike said he pulled the man off and continued to tend to the dying Brough until police and paramedics arrived moments later.

McConnell, the third person in Jones’ group, told much the same story as Mike did, with one slight addition: McConnell said Mike might have knocked on an apartment door or rung the doorbell as a prank.

Nonetheless, McConnell “started freaking out” when the apartment door opened and six or seven angry men piled out. McConnell stated unequivocally that the trio had not entered the courtyard where the party was taking place, and instead were on the sidewalk trying to call a fourth friend they lost along the way.

But he said he tried to reason with the “aggressive” partiers, saying they were already leaving and were trying to walk away.

McConnell saw Jones get punched. And he saw Mike get taken to the ground before someone took him down, too.

“I thought I was going to get beat up,” he said. “I realized these people were just trying to hurt us for whatever reason.”

Then he saw Jones standing at the edge of the parking lot with his gun.

“He was pointing it like a trained police,” he said.

Brough “lunged,” he said, taking a big step “like he was going to grab Steven.”

Jones fired, and Brough dropped “like a rock.”

McConnell ran home.

“The gun wasn’t necessary,” he said.

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 or [email protected].

READ MORE:

Opening arguments: Was Jones an ‘assassin’ or defending himself?

NAU shooting victim Nick Piring: ‘I never did see the gun’

Did ‘sucker punch’ start the fight?

Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/2pcmToG