photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Tommy May, left, sits with his defense attorney, Gary Conwell, during trial Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019 in Douglas County District Court.

Story updated at 8:12 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019:

Taking the stand at his own trial, defendant Tommy May said he did shoot two people at his apartment in July 2018 — but that one of those shootings was accidental and the other one was in self-defense.

Tuesday afternoon in Douglas County District Court, May said he accidentally shot his neighbor, Marzetta Yarbrough, in the face after she had tried to rob him of his prescription drugs at gunpoint. He said he then shot her friend Jeremy Jones in the back because he was afraid Jones was going to attack him.

However, May’s version of events contradicts the earlier testimony of Michael J. Jordan, a friend of May’s at the time of the incident.

Jordan said that May admitted to purposely shooting Yarbrough and Jones because he suspected them of theft, but that he changed his story months later.

“He was trying to save (himself); he knows he did wrong,” Jordan said of May.

photo by: Dylan Lysen

Prosecutor David Melton questions a witness during a trial in Douglas County District Court on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019.

May, 60, of Lawrence, is charged with a slew of felonies stemming from incidents prosecutors allege happened within a span of about an hour on the evening of July 2, 2018.

Prosecutors Alice Walker and David Melton presented evidence last week to support allegations that May shot and injured Yarbrough in his apartment, shot and paralyzed Jones outside on the driveway of the fourplex they shared at 713 W. 25th St., then left the scene in his vehicle, a 1996 GMC Jimmy.

The prosecutors allege May then tried to flee from responding Lawrence Police Sgt. Robert Neff, attempted to turn too fast and ended up high-centered on top of a fire hydrant at 21st and Louisiana streets. May allegedly reversed into Neff’s patrol vehicle, then accelerated directly toward Neff, who testified that he fired his gun at May’s vehicle in response. May then allegedly fled on foot, leaving his vehicle about a block south at 22nd and Louisiana streets, before he was caught by another officer near 23rd and Louisiana streets

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On Tuesday, May said Yarbrough had come over several times before the shooting and asked if she could have some of his prescription drugs so she could sell them. On the night of July 2, he said, Yarbrough came over to his apartment to talk to him and eventually asked for drugs again. May said that after he refused to give Yarbrough drugs, she produced a gun from her bag and demanded the drugs, and she shot a hole in his bed while they were sitting on it.

“I thought this woman was fixing to kill me in my own house,” May said.

May said he managed to wrangle the gun away from Yarbrough. He said Yarbrough was flailing her arms at him and trying to hit him, and he repeatedly struck her with the gun to get her to stop.

Then, May said, Yarbrough began screaming for help from Jones and eventually ran to the door to leave the apartment. May said he tried to hold the door shut because he was afraid Jones might have been waiting behind the door to attack him.

When May put his hand up to push the door closed, he said, he was holding the gun in an unorthodox way. He said the gun went off accidentally and the bullet hit Yarbrough in the face.

After Yarbrough left the apartment, May said he went outside to see Jones charging at him with something in his hand — May said he assumed it was another gun. He said that he fired the gun he was holding at Jones’ shoulder in self-defense, but that Jones turned away and was struck in the back instead.

“I better shoot first; that’s what ran through my mind,” May said. “I shot first.”

May did not finish his testimony Tuesday afternoon.

• • •

Jordan, who is currently in custody in the Douglas County Jail on unrelated charges, told the court earlier Tuesday that May admitted to him in December 2018 that he had shot Yarbrough and Jones but changed his story in June 2019.

Jordan, who said he met May in March 2018 and hung out with him on a daily basis, testified that he knew May owned a handgun. Jordan testified that May told him he had fired the gun at his bed about two weeks prior to the July 2 incident because he was seeing things after doing drugs.

Jordan testified that he didn’t see May after the July 2 incident until December 2018, which is when May recounted what occurred that day. Jordan said May told him he had shot Yarbrough because he thought she was stealing drugs from him and then shot Jones because of a past incident where May believed Jones had stolen $200 from him and Jordan. May also told him that he was chased by police after the incident and they eventually shot him.

However, when Jordan saw May again, in jail in June 2019, May gave a different version of events, alleging Yarbrough was the one with the gun and was the one who shot him. Jordan said the second version was “totally different.”

“He spun the whole story,” Jordan said.

May’s trial began Dec. 9 and was originally planned to run through Dec. 13, but it ended up extending into this week. May’s testimony is expected to continue Wednesday morning.