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Cross-examination begins in teacher killing trial

Brazill says that he was just carrying the gun that killed his teacher and "didn't have any plan of using it."

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- Cross-examination began Wednesday in the murder trial of Nathaniel Brazill, the teenager charged in the shooting death of a middle school teacher.

Brazill is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death last year of Lake Worth Community Middle School teacher Barry Grunow.

Assistant State's Attorney Marc Shiner placed the handgun used in the shooting in front of Brazill, 14, before he started his questioning. He asked Brazill to show the jury how he held the gun when it went off.

VIDEO CNN's Mark Potter reports on the testimony of 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill (May 8) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) See highlights of 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill's testimony (May 8) Part 1 | Part 2 (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Mark Potter reports on the alleged shooting captured on this security video taken at a Florida school (May 4) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Mark Potter has more on the first degree murder trial of Nathaniel Brazill in West Palm Beach, Florida (May 2) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)  DOCUMENTS • Read the complaint against the gun maker (FindLaw) (PDF) • Read the indictment and probable cause affidavit in the Brazill case (FindLaw) (PDF) • Read the Florida law on juveniles being tried as adults Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.  MESSAGE BOARD School safety

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Shiner also had Brazill show the jury how he moved the slide on the gun, cocking it and putting a bullet in the chamber.

"You wanted to make sure there was a live round in the gun," Shiner asked.

"Yes, sir."

Shiner then told Brazill to show the jury how he pulled the trigger.

"I didn't intentionally pull the trigger," Brazill said. "My hand was on the trigger."

"Who pulled the trigger?"

"I did."

Shiner later grilled Brazill about why he ran away after the gun went off, shooting Grunow.

"You did nothing to help him."

"I was scared."

"Yes or no."

"No sir."

"You just let him die."

Shiner continued his questioning.

"You were trying to scare Mr. Grunow?"

"Yes."

"Having a gun made you feel like a big man?"

"Yes."

CNN has learned that Brazill's family asked the defense Tuesday to explore the possibility of a plea deal in the shooting death of his language arts teacher. But Brazill's attorney Robert Udell said the prosecution promptly rejected the idea and said the trial would continue.

Last month, Brazill's parents turned down a plea deal of 25-years in prison offered by the prosecution, clearing the way for trial. If convicted of first-degree murder, the 14-year-old boy faces life in prison without parole.

During Tuesday's testimony, Brazill said had no plans to kill Grunow, his favorite teacher. He described pulling out a handgun on the last day of classes last May when Grunow wouldn't let him talk to two friends in private.

He had returned to the campus after being sent home earlier in the day for getting in a water balloon fight. Pulling out the gun, Brazill said, was a way to get Grunow to concede to his demands.

The young teen said Grunow didn't appear to be "taking him seriously" and so he cocked the gun to let him know it was real. He said Grunow told him to "get that out of my face."

"Immediately after that, that's when the gun went off," he said.

Brazill, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, said he didn't recall pulling the trigger and he believed the gun's safety was on. He said he remembers clutching the gun with two hands and trembling with tears in his eyes when he was pointing the gun at Grunow.

Why did he have tears, asked his attorney Robert Udell.

"You're standing there thinking about what's going on and that makes you sad," Brazill said.

"You realized what you're doing is ridiculous?"

"Yes," the boy responded.

He said he took off running after the gun fired and pointed the gun at another teacher who was moving toward him. "I told him, 'Don't bother me,'" Brazill said.

With teachers, students and at least two officers in pursuit, he ran toward a nearby park to call the police to turn himself in, he said. But before he did that, he saw an officer he knew from a recreation center, told him what he had done and turned himself in peacefully, Brazill said.

Why didn't he just stop after the gun went off?

"I was scared ... scared of what was going on," he said.

Brazill described Grunow, a father of two, as a "nice guy" and a "good teacher" who "made his class fun."

Grunow had given him an "F" on a progress report about a week before the shooting, but Brazill said he had no ill-will toward his favorite teacher and that he had completed the necessary work to pass the class.

He said he hoped to enter law enforcement one day and said he once wrote the White House about his hopes of becoming a Secret Service agent protecting the president.

About a week before the shooting, he said, he found a gun and bullets inside a cookie tin in his grandfather's room. He was looking for a telephone at the time, he said, and thought he was going to get a cookie out of the tin. Instead he saw the gun.

Brazill said he thought, "Oh, wow, a gun." He said he then hid it in a bag with five bullets, hoping that his uncle would show him how to shoot it during a coming trip to South Carolina. Two days later, he said, he showed the gun to two friends.

On May 26, the day of the shooting, Brazill was suspended and sent home early because of a water balloon fight. He said was extremely bothered by the suspension and wanted his grandmother's and aunt's help to try to clear it up.

But, he said, he never asked them for their help because his grandmother's car was being worked on and he couldn't find his aunt. He went home and got the gun.

"Why'd you take the gun?" Udell asked.

"I was just carrying it. I didn't have any plan of using it," he said.

14-year-old boy denies he planned to kill teacher
May 8, 2001
Jury told teen's gun couldn't have fired by itself
May 7, 2001
Teen admits he fired gun that killed teacher
May 7, 2001
Classmate: Teen made death threat before shooting
May 4, 2001
Jury in teen's trial sees videotape of shooting
May 3, 2001
Friend says she saw teen-ager pull trigger
May 2, 2001
Florida teen offered plea in teacher shooting
April 17, 2001
Grand jury weighs charging 13-year-old as adult in teacher shooting
June 12, 2000

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