Teen shot 3 times in Birmingham shooting that killed a man acted in self-defense, lawyer says

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An 18-year-old charged in a deadly Birmingham shooting that also left the young suspect seriously wounded should not be charged with murder, his lawyer said.

David Hunter is charged in the Feb. 3 shooting death of 42-year-old Christon Deandre Thorn.

The exchange of gunfire between the two men happened at 4:35 p.m. that Monday in the 1500 block of 52nd Street in Ensley in the Central Park neighborhood. Thorn was in an argument with his girlfriend outside of a house where people were hanging out.

Prosecutors contend Hunter escalated the situation when he came outside with a gun to confront Thorn.

Hunter’s attorney, however, said the shooting may have been self-defense.

Hunter, who is in a wheelchair and wearing a sling after being shot three times during the confrontation, appeared before Jefferson County District Judge William Bell Thursday to hear the evidence against him.

Hunter was released from UAB Hospital one week after the shooting and booked into the Jefferson County Jail where he remains held.

Bell, after hearing the testimony, bound the case over to a grand jury for indictment consideration on the murder charge.

Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Charissa Henrich is prosecuting the case. Hunter is represented by Malcolm Head of the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office.

Birmingham homicide Det. Gabriel Lacally was the lone witness in Thursday’s hearing.

Lacally said Thorn was found in the front yard of a house with a gunshot wound to the chest. The bullet, the detective said, had exited through the victim’s back, and Thorn was pronounced dead on the scene at 4:53 p.m.

The detective said police recovered shell casings from two guns – a 9mm and a 40-caliber. One of the guns was on the ground next to Thorn.

Lacally said when he got to the scene, he located two witnesses – Adrian Thorn, the victim’s sister, and Stephanie Johnson, the victim’s girlfriend.

Adrian Thorn told investigators she was in the area and decided to go to the house to see her brother, who she knew was there that day.

There are two houses next to each other – one that is vacant and the other belonging to Hunter’s grandmother.

When Adrian Thorn arrived, her brother was sitting on the porch of the vacant house and he and his girlfriend were in a verbal altercation.

“Ms. Thorn was talking to her brother, trying to calm things down,’’ Lacally said. “She said she noticed Mr. Hunter exit the house holding a firearm.”

Hunter, Adrian Thorn said, said to Thorn, “What’s that shit you were saying? You’re not the only one with a gun.”

Adrian Thorn, the detective said, got between the two men to try to de-escalate the situation, and “the next thing she knows, she heard shots being fired. She was unsure who fired the first shot.”

The detective said Hunter and Thorn were acquaintances, and that Hunter even referred to Thorn as his uncle, though the two weren’t blood related.

Adrian Thorn said her brother did have a gun in his waistband. She said she didn’t see the initial shooting.

“She said everything happened so fast, she could see her brother firing but it looked like he was shooting into the ground,’’ Lacally said. “She could see dirt and stuff coming up.”

Johnson, Lacally said, told police she and Thorn had been arguing. She said Thorn told her that he was going to call his sister to come fight her but later learned that the call had never been made and Adrian Thorn just happened to show up there.

Johnson said she was talking with Adrian Thorn when Hunter came outside and said, “You’re not going to pull a gun on a female,’’ the detective testified.

Neither woman said Thorn had pulled a gun at that point.

Johnson said she also didn’t see the shooting but instead heard shots fired and saw her boyfriend fall to the ground. Hunter ran into another neighbor’s yard.

“She was unsure who fired the first shot as well,’’ Lacally testified.

The detective said he interviewed Hunter at UAB Hospital the following day.

Hunter told him Johnson and Thorn had been arguing that day, and his cousin told him to keep an ear out.

He was inside playing a video game when he heard arguing and looked outside to see Thorn “waiving a gun in (his girlfriend’s) face and pointing it at other people as well,’’ Lacally said. “He went and got his gun and went outside to calm Mr. Thorn down and ask him to leave the location.”

Hunter said he unloaded his gun magazine and just left one round in the chamber before he went outside.

When Hunter approached Thorn, Thorn stood up and said, “What do you want to do?” and Hunter said Thorn then started shooting, striking Hunter first in the foot, then the leg and the shoulder.

“The defendant said he could see Mr. Thorn shooting into the ground,’’ Lacally said, “and that’s when he got hit in the ankle. He felt like if he was to fall at that point, Mr. Thorn would shoot him (again).”

The city’s gunfire detection system – Shot Spotter – recorded 10 rounds fired. The audio showed one round fired, and then several seconds later nine more rounds were fired in quick succession, Lacally said.

The medical examiner, according to the detective, said Thorn’s wound did not cause immediate death, and would have allowed him to fire his gun after he was wounded and before he died.

Under questioning from Hunter’s attorney, Lacally said Adrain Thorn told police that when she tried to get in between Thorn and Hunter to intervene, Hunter pushed her arm.

“He wasn’t shoving her,’’ Lacally said.

Johnson, the detective said, described her boyfriend as being “hyped” that day, which the detective took to mean loud and boisterous.

“She did allude to the fact that they had been drinking,’’ Lacally said. Testimony indicated the alcohol included beer and tequila.

Henrich said Hunter went to the house where Thorn was with a gun in hand, and said the totality of the evidence showed the case should be moved forward in the judicial process.

“Any issues of self-defense would be for a jury trial,’’ the prosecutor said.

Head said issues of self-defense should certainly be raised at trial, but said the case shouldn’t be sent to a grand jury at all because none of the witnesses could say who fired first.

“We know the gentleman who was tragically killed that day, Mr. Christon Thorn, was drinking and acting hype’’ Head said. “My client was willing to speak with police. He told them very clearly that Christon Thorn shot him first and that if he’d gone down after being struck in the foot that he likely would have been shot and killed and he returned fire with the one shot he had.”

He said if the case was to move forward, it should be on a manslaughter charge.

Head also asked that Hunter’s bond be lowered from $100,000 to $60,000 so that he could be released, especially because of his physical needs while healing but Bell left the bond set as is.

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