Assistant District Attorney Amy McGowan questions witnesses Wednesday, July 25, 2018, during the first-degree murder trial of Danny Queen, who is accused of killing Bo Hopson outside a Eudora bar in 2017.

A string of witnesses provided testimony Wednesday about the events that led to a deadly shooting outside a Eudora bar last year, with all of them identifying Danny Queen as the one who instigated the disturbance.

The jury also saw body camera video shot by Eudora police officer Brandon Sharp, the first responder on the scene, depicting the pandemonium taking place outside D-Dubs Bar and Grill, 10 West Ninth St., in the moments after the shooting.

Queen, 37, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 32-year-old Bo Hopson, who was working at the bar the evening of June 23, 2017, checking IDs and providing general security. Queen also faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder for allegedly attempting to shoot two other people.

The witnesses described D-Dubs as a place mainly frequented by a core group of regular customers. But on that night, which coincided with Eudora’s annual CPA Picnic, the crowd was larger than usual, with a number of people whom the regular customers didn’t know, including Queen.

Heather Elmer said she had been sitting at the bar, chatting with Brandie Garrett, the lead bartender that night, when Queen stepped up to the bar and began hurling vulgarities at her. Elmer said she objected and told Queen not to speak to her in that kind of language.

Garrett testified that she was surprised by Queen’s behavior. She said Queen had been there since about 11 p.m. and seemed normal and polite at first. He had mentioned that he was celebrating his birthday.

But Garrett said at some point over the next hour to 90 minutes his personality changed abruptly, as though someone had flipped a switch inside him, saying he was “a different person than he was when he walked through the door.”

photo by: Mike Yoder

Defendant Danny Queen is pictured Tuesday, July 24, 2018, during his first-degree murder trial in Douglas County District Court. Queen is accused in a fatal shooting that took place in June 2017 outside a Eudora bar.

Hearing the argument between Queen and Elmer, Garrett said she told Queen that he could not drink any more and that he needed to leave. But she said Queen did not respond and instead placed two cans of beer on the bar, beers that Garrett said she had not served him, opened one and began drinking.

Several witnesses said Queen eventually fell over backward off his bar stool and hit the ground. Garrett then asked someone to call Hopson to help him out. A number of people helped pick Queen up off the ground and escort him out through a side door that led to an outside deck attached to the bar.

Elmer said she too went out to the deck to find her husband, John Elmer, to tell him what had happened inside. John Elmer testified that he was offended by the lewd remarks. As Queen was being escorted down a handicapped-accessible ramp to the parking lot, John Elmer said he confronted Queen, reached over a railing and tried to punch him, but his wife intervened to prevent his punch from landing.

“We don’t sucker-punch,” Heather Elmer said she told her husband. “When we fight, we do it head-on.”

John Elmer then went down a set of steps to confront Queen on the ground. Witnesses said words were exchanged, punches were thrown and eventually the two men were wrestling on the ground as a crowd of people gathered around and tried to break up the fight.

Among the people in the brawl were Tyler Crowe, who testified that he was so intoxicated that he remembered only a few details of the incident. Another was Eric Rogers, who testified that he and Crowe were both punching and being punched by Queen.

When the fight broke up, witnesses testified, John Elmer returned to the bar while Crowe and Rogers pulled Queen over to a flatbed trailer in the parking lot, which had served as a stage for a live band earlier in the day.

Rogers said he and Crowe hoisted Queen up onto the trailer, but Queen, apparently thinking he was still being attacked, swung at Crowe. Rogers said he then swung back and struck Queen, who eventually lay down on his back with his feet dangling over the edge.

Bo M. Hopson

Witnesses said Hopson and a few others also remained in the parking lot while other customers went back to the bar to close out their tabs.

Then, shortly after 1 a.m., people inside the bar heard two gunshots. Some went outside and found Hopson on the ground with bullet wounds to his chest and arm. They also saw Tyler Crowe’s brother, Dustin Crowe, wrestling and fighting with Queen, while Tyler Crowe fought to get the gun out of Queen’s hands.

People inside the bar called 911, and when Officer Sharp arrived a few minutes later, his body camera video indicates, people immediately identified Queen as the shooter.

Sharp said Queen appeared to be unconscious, but he handcuffed him anyway and told others not to let him up. He then retrieved the gun, two spent cartridges and one live round of ammunition that he found on the ground. Once the scene was secure, Sharp called for paramedics.

Hopson was taken by helicopter to the University of Kansas hospital, where he died the following day, June 25.

Queen is expected to testify later in the trial that he was the victim of an attack by multiple people and that he fired his gun in self-defense.

The trial will resume Thursday when defense attorneys will cross-examine Rogers. It is expected to continue through Friday.