A North Little Rock driver on trial Wednesday for the fatal shooting of a fellow motorist told police he only opened fire when the man ignored his gun and refused to back down after an angry confrontation between them.
Prosecutors call the May 2013 slaying of 45-year-old Arista Lee "AJ" Aldridge Jr. first-degree murder.
Defendant Chris Aaron Schnarr decided to "shoot first and ask questions later," deputy prosecutor Robbie Jones told a Pulaski County jury on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old could have made better decisions rather than prolonging what started as a profane shouting match between angry motorists, Jones said.
"Mr. Schnarr could have driven away. He could have rolled up his window," the prosecutor said. "He didn't have to pull over."
Schnarr's lawyer told jurors that the college student and advertising agency employee shot the older man only because he feared for his life and that he should be acquitted for acting in self-defense.
Aldridge, in a beige GMC Jimmy, had chased Schnarr down on East Sixth Street in Little Rock and cut off his white Jeep Grand Cherokee in the 600 block, defense attorney Jeff Rosenzweig said, describing the older man as "enraged."
"[Schnarr] wasn't looking for trouble," Rosenzweig told jurors. "He was chased down and blocked in."
The men's paths had crossed minutes earlier when Schnarr, exiting southbound Interstate 30, had to swerve to avoid Aldridge, who was driving on the frontage road, after Aldridge had failed to observe a yield sign, Rosenzweig said.
They exchanged profanities but that wasn't enough for Aldridge, the attorney said.
Aldridge confronted Schnarr as the younger man sat in his SUV, poking him in the face while yelling at him, Rosenzweig said, telling jurors Schnarr has a heart condition that required surgery as a child and requires him to avoid most physical contact.
Rosenzweig told jurors Schnarr will testify, but prosecutors on Wednesday played for the six women and six men a 21-minute police interview conducted about two hours after the shooting but before police and Schnarr knew Aldridge had died.
Schnarr, a concealed-carry permit holder, told detectives Tommy Hudson and Brad Silas that he'd had his .45-caliber Glock with a laser sight in his lap while Aldridge was poking him, but did not point it at the man because he was "frozen" with fear.
It was only when Aldridge, who had turned and walked away from Schnarr, turned back again toward him that he leveled the pistol, Schnarr said. He told Aldridge to leave at gunpoint, then fired three shots when the man kept coming.
"That's when I pointed my gun at him. I'm scared," Schnarr said, saying Aldridge was unarmed and hadn't made any threats. "I was like, 'Man, go on.' I don't know why he was walking towards me like that."
Aldridge was struck twice, with the fatal shot to the lower stomach. But three eyewitnesses who testified Wednesday said Aldridge never seemed aggressive.
Megabus driver Opprice Reed of Houston, the witness with the clearest view of the shooting, started crying as he described seeing Aldridge, a complete stranger, shot in the street in front of his bus. Reed said he had stopped his double-decker bus behind the men's cars because they were blocking the street.
He told jurors he saw "no rage" as Aldridge walked up to the Jeep and put his hands on the door frame for a few seconds.
Aldridge then raised both hands and started backing away from the vehicle, Reed said. Reaching the middle of the street, Aldridge dropped his hands, turned away from the Jeep and a shot rang out, Reed told jurors.
Aldridge turned back toward the Jeep, a second shot was fired, and Aldridge started bleeding, Reed testified. The bleeding intensified with the third shot, and Aldridge collapsed, Reed said.
"I was seeing the blood run out of him," he told jurors. "I seen him stagger and collapse."
Prosecutors are expected to call their fourth eyewitness, Aldridge's passenger and fiancee, 41-year-old Alice Bryant, today when proceedings before Circuit Judge Leon Johnson resume at 9:30 a.m.
Metro on 09/25/2014