Accused of gunning down a man holding his one-year-old daughter, the trial of Beaumont man Antonio Jones commenced this week in Judge John Stevens’ Jefferson County Criminal District Court.
“They shot my dad,” the victim’s 6-year-old son told 911 operators three years ago, the day he came home from McDonald’s with his dad and baby sister and his whole world changed forever. After disconnecting with emergency personnel, the 6 year old returned to the scene of active gunfire with an A&W Root Beer to give some comfort to his critically injured father while waiting for help to arrive.
The victim, who had walked into his home holding his 1-year-old daughter that morning after a quick trip through the McDonald’s drive-thru for breakfast, was wheeled into court on March 7 to testify against the man he said shot him several times in his own home and left him paralyzed.
According to the victim, he and his children entered the home to find an ill-fitted masked man in the master bedroom; a gun was put to the father’s head shortly thereafter.
“Please don’t kill me in front of my kids,” he pleaded with the intruder, who he recognized as an acquaintance known as “Blade.”
Request denied, the first shot rang out; the victim dodged the bullet, which was later recovered from a bedroom in a neighboring home. The second shot hit the victim as he tossed his infant to safety, covered in blood and banged up from the melee. The shots kept coming.
A third shot. A fourth. By that time, the victim said, he couldn’t feel his legs and things were getting fuzzy.
“It all happened really, really quick,” he said.
The 6 year old, who had been there the whole time, ran for help. He returned with soda. At the trial of alleged gunman Jones, Prosecutor Mike Laird showed jurors photographs of the bloody beverage container that the child brought to alleviate at least some of his father’s suffering, what could have been the last sustenance the victim would ever receive but for skillful surgeons.
The victim survived – barely, the prosecutor described. After 10 surgeries, doctors have advised the young father of two has that he still will never walk again.
Jones has pleaded not guilty. Through defense attorney James Makin, the argument is made that “a whole invasion happened.” According to Makin, three men were involved in the incident that resulted in the victim’s injuries, and it is unproven who was the actual shooter.
Earlier this year, a federal judge referred a case back to Beaumont filed by Jones against the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. According to the petition for relief, Jones, “a prisoner confined at the LaSalle Unit located in Beaumont,” is seeking a writ of habeas corpus, and “complains he is being unlawfully confined after being illegally arrested pursuant to a fraudulent and defective indictment.”
At press time, the state’s case against Jones had yet to conclude. Visit www.theeexaminer.com for updates as they become available.
— Jennifer Johnson, Managing Editor