Rosales said Brazill pulled out a gun and cocked it when Grunow refused to let him into the classroom. She said she hoped Brazill was joking at first. Grunow was trying to close the door when he was shot, she said. If convicted, he faces life in prison. The incident took place at Lake Worth Community Middle School.
Lake Worth is the town immediately south of West Palm Beach, the county seat.
Rosales said Brazill often sent her flowers and cards to try to persuade her to date him. She said he continued to give her gifts even after she told him she was not interested in a relationship. In opening statements, prosecutor Marc Shiner told the jury of nine women and three men that Brazill was angry the day of the shooting because he had been sent home for misbehaving and had recently received a failing grade. You're going to see in this trial that this young man had a storm brewing within himself. Brazill, now 14, had been sent home by another teacher earlier that day for playing with water balloons.