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Classmate: Teen made death threat before shooting

A picture of the surveillance tape shows Brazill pointing a gun at another teacher after fatally shooting Barry Grunow in May 2000.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- Two classmates of Nathaniel Brazill testified Friday that the 13-year-old had made a death threat against a counselor and displayed a gun in the days before fatally shooting a teacher outside a middle school classroom last year.

The testimony was meant to support the prosecution's contention that Brazill, now 14 and on trial for first-degree murder, intentionally shot Barry Grunow. The defense contends the shooting was an accident. Brazill could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors on Monday are expected to show a videotaped statement that Brazill gave after the shooting that they believe will sustain their argument.

VIDEO CNN's Mark Potter reports on the alleged shooting captured on this security video taken at a Florida school Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Mark Potter has more on the first degree murder trial of Nathaniel Brazil in West Palm Beach, Florida (May 2) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)  DOCUMENT • Read the Florida law on juveniles being tried as adults  FINDLAW • Read the complaint against the gun maker (PDF) Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.  MESSAGE BOARD School safety

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On Friday, Michelle Cordovez testified she was with Brazill on the last day of school when the two were caught throwing water balloons and suspended by Kevin Hinds, a counselor at Lake Worth Community Middle School. Lake Worth is the city immediately south of West Palm Beach.

"[Brazill] said he was gonna come back to school and shoot Mr. Hinds. He said he had a gun," she said.

Cordovez said she laughed at Brazill's comment, believing he was kidding. She quoted him as saying in response, "Watch. I'm going to be all over the news."

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Robert Udell, Cordovez said Brazill threatened only Hinds, not Grunow. And she said she hugged him goodbye on that day.

"You wouldn't have hugged him if you thought he was serious, would you?" Udell asked.

"No," Cordovez responded.

Also on Friday, another student testified that Brazill showed her a gun three days before he shot Grunow.

Tiffany Jenkins testified Brazill had bragged about having a gun and that when she challenged him to prove it, he pulled it partially from his pocket, revealing the handle and three bullets.

She said she asked Brazill whether he would ever use the gun to kill someone, and he replied, "No, not unless I have to."

Defense attorneys admit that Brazill fired the gun, but say the shooting was accidental. They say he wanted to talk to a girl inside Grunow's classroom, and when Grunow refused to let him enter, Brazill pointed the gun only to show he was serious.

"There was never a premeditated intent to kill Mr. Grunow," defense attorney Lance Richard said in his opening statement. "There was never even a plan to even harm Mr. Grunow. Nathaniel Brazill admired Mr. Grunow. He loved him as a teacher. Mr. Grunow was one of his favorites."

The defense plans to have Brazill testify sometime next week. Defense lawyers call him their best witness.

Prosecutors, believing that Brazill's words will support their case, plan to show the jury a videotaped statement Brazill gave police shortly after his arrest. The statement, released last summer, gives Brazill's account of what happened when he told Grunow he wanted to talk to the girl.

"I asked him if I could speak to them. He told me -- he told me no, he pushed me away and told me to go to class, and he had a smile on his face and he was laughing, and that really made me mad," Brazill says in the tape.

"OK, so what did you do then?" asks the detective.

"I don't really remember," Brazill replies.

"OK."

"I think I pulled out the gun. I was, like, shaking a lot. I could hardly hold the gun. And I was afraid to drop -- drop it, 'cause I didn't know what was gonna happen if I would have dropped it. And so it all just went from there," Brazill says.

"This was his last chance to see her," Udell said. "It goes to the defense that he was so in love with her -- so much that he wanted to see her -- that he'd do something so stupid as what he did, pointing a gun at a teacher. It supports exactly what he's saying."

Prosecutors argue that in addition to being angry that Grunow would not let him inside the classroom, Brazill also was angry because he had been sent home for misbehaving and because he had recently received a failing grade.

"This young man had more than one motive to kill Mr. Grunow," Assistant State Attorney Marc Shiner told the jury of the nine women and three men in his opening statement. "You're going to see in this trial that this young man had a storm brewing within himself."

Police said Brazill returned with a .25-caliber handgun that belonged to his grandfather.

Timothy Gandolfo, another student who witnessed the shooting, testified Friday that Brazill was "standing cool, like a normal person would stand."

But he also said Brazill had a "surprised-scared face," as though he were in shock. "His eyes were bulging out," he said.

Classmate Tam Mangolo testified Friday about the scene when Brazill came to the classroom door. "I do remember Mr. Grunow say, 'Don't point that,' in a very serious-voice tone," she said.

When Grunow began to close the door and pushed back students in the class who had come toward the door, Mangolo said, Brazill shot him in the face. Grunow, the married father of two children, crumpled to the floor.

Friday's testimony came a day after a forensic video expert showed jurors a school surveillance video of the shooting.

The video, from a school surveillance system, shows students walking in a hallway as a person in the distance appears to point towards an adult standing in a doorway. The figure in the doorway appears to fall to the ground and then the other person runs away, pointing what appears to be a weapon at another adult.

The exchange lasted about 20 seconds.

Several witnesses have testified they saw Brazill shoot Grunow or saw him running from the scene carrying a handgun.

A friend of Brazill's testified Thursday that just hours before the shooting Brazill asked him if he had a gun.

Brandon Spann said that when he asked why Brazill wanted it, Brazill said he was "going to f---k up the school."

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