By james art 
The attorney for an 18-year-old man charged with murder in a deadly August shooting at an after-hours club south of Lubbock said his client had no choice but to shoot into a crowd of people to defend himself.
Dazaun Jones, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since his Aug. 27 arrest, was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury on one count of murder and seven counts of aggravated assault in the mass shooting.
Both crimes are first-degree felonies that carry a sentence of five years to life in prison.
He is accused of shooting and killing 17-year-old Delaquavion York on Aug. 25 at an unsanctioned after-hours club in Absolute Office Park in the 9200 block of US 87.
Jones and four others were initially indicted on a charge of deadly conduct — discharging a firearm in connection with the shooting.
Dazaun Jones, 18, Kristen Nelson, 23, Lavarius Scott, 19, and Joshua Price, 27, also face new charges of aggravated assault-mass shooting.
The mass shooting charge alleges the men intentionally and knowingly threatened seven people, including York, by shooting them as part of a mass shooting.
This is the first time the charge has been filed in Lubbock since it became law in September 2023.
The charges stem from the Metropolitan Lubbock Special Crimes Unit, which began Aug. 25 after Lubbock County Sheriff’s deputies responding to a report of shots fired found York dead from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to a probable cause affidavit. reason.
Five other people, including Nelson, were injured. Three were taken by ambulance to UMBAL, and two were taken to the hospital by private car.
Witnesses at the crime scene identified Jones, Nelson, Scott, Price and York as the shooters.
The affidavit states that statements obtained by crime scene investigators were corroborated by video from security cameras at the property.
The video shows Hawkins, Scott and Jones arriving in a Chevrolet passenger car registered to Hawkins’ mother.
The trio could be seen looking into a crowd of people before splitting up.
Moments later, Jones, who was wearing a black Looney Tunes hoodie, and Scott, who was wearing a black floral patterned shirt, could be seen firing a gun into a crowd of people, but appeared to be targeting Nelson and York , who could be seen standing side by side.
Nelson and York could be seen returning fire, the warrant states.
The documents show that Nelson may have been using a gun with a machine gun modification.
“These shots were fired into a crowd of people with a disregard for the safety of anyone,” the documents state.
Moments later, York could be seen falling as he tried to run.
Nelson suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg. At the hospital, he told investigators the man who shot him was wearing a black hoodie.
He was arrested that day on an unrelated aggravated assault warrant and served with the deadly conduct warrant on Sept. 6.
Meanwhile, Scott, Jones and Hawkins could be seen returning to their vehicle and driving off.
Meanwhile, witnesses at the scene told investigators another shooter, identified as Price, drove away in a 2012 Chevrolet Tahoe.
The video later shows Price carrying an AK-style rifle with a drum magazine, the documents state.
Investigators spoke with Price later that day, and he reportedly admitted to investigators that he also fired two other firearms — a 12-gauge drum-loaded shotgun and an AR-15 pistol — into the air after he was at the scene shooting broke out.
He said he fired his guns to scare people off the scene.
However, a probable cause affidavit states that security camera video shows him “pointing a rifle at a crowd of people and firing it in their direction without regard for anyone’s safety.”
Jail records show Jones was arrested two days later on an unrelated aggravated assault warrant in connection with a June 7 shooting at an occupied vehicle in Burns Park in the 2700 block of Avenue K.
An indictment alleges Jones fired at a vehicle occupied by five people.
The warrants did not say what prompted the shooting at the after-hours club.
Testimony during Jones’ Oct. 17 bond reduction hearing in 364ht District Court, however, indicated that York had been threatening Jones for weeks over the June 7 shooting. At the time, Jones’ bail was set at a combined $500,000 – $300,000 for the June 7 shooting and $200,000 for the Aug. 25 shooting.
According to a police report, a witness to this previous shooting told the responding officer that she and her friends had taken a child to the park to play. However, once there they were confronted by a group of people, including another person with whom the witness had an ongoing feud.
The witness, who was not named as a victim in the indictment, said she was challenged to a fight. But despite refusing to fight, the other man pounced on her and they began to fight.
She said that during the fight, a shot rang out and everyone scattered.
One of the listed victims reportedly told the officer that Jones, whom she knew from school, ran up to their vehicle and fired at them.
During the hearing, Jones’ attorney, Keltin Von Gonten, argued in court that his client acted in self-defense in the after-hours club shooting and in defense of another person in the earlier shooting.
Jones’ aunt, Keyonia Fountain, testified about her nephew’s involvement in both shootings.
Fountain told the court that she went to the park on June 7 after picking up her children from school because her cousin had called with the news that some of her family members were going to the park to watch two girls who have arranged to fight in the park.
“She just tells me, ‘There’s something going on in the park, you need to get here real quick,'” she said.
Fountain said she went to make sure her family members were safe.
She said Jones and his stepbrother were already at the scene.
However, during the fight, Fountain said a red vehicle driven by one of the alleged victims appeared to approach the fighting girls.
Fountain said there were only two people in the vehicle and she saw the driver pull out a gun and stab him.
Fountain said Jones then drew his firearm and told the woman to put down her weapon, which she said was pointed at her.
“Then (Jones) fired that one round,” she said.
A video of the violent episode recorded by Fountain’s daughter’s boyfriend was played in court and appeared to corroborate her testimony.
She said one of the people involved in the fight was a close friend of York’s who she said began threatening Jones online.
“It was very public, posting threats on Instagram, Facebook,” she said.
Fountain also testified that she spoke with someone she said was York’s ex-girlfriend who witnessed the Aug. 25 shooting at the after-hours club.
The woman was summoned to appear at the hearing, but she never showed up.
Fountain recorded her conversation with the witness, which was played during the hearing.
The witness, who was reportedly close to York and Nelson at the club, can be heard telling Fontaine that York and Nelson confronted Jones before the shooting.
She said she saw Nelson walk to her car to get a firearm, but said York started shooting first and Nelson followed.
“Everybody started running everywhere, started running everywhere,” she said.
During the hearing, VonGonten argued that his client had no choice that night but to return fire at York and Nelsen, who fired first.
“What you see on the video is (Jones) going back to the car he got in and then these guys start shooting at him and he returns fire,” he said after the hearing. “And they’re saying (Jones) is wrong because they decide to shoot a crowd of people where we don’t really have a choice when we have to exercise our Second Amendment right.”
After the hearing, District Judge William Eichmann reduced Jones’ bonds from $300,000 to $125,000 and $200,000 to $175,000.
VonGonten said the new charge does not change his defense.
“I think they should have waited until they got everything before they decided to press charges … but that doesn’t change our position that it’s still self-defense,” he said.