Story Published:
Apr 17, 2008 at 4:38 PM PST
Story Updated:
Oct 21, 2009 at 9:47 AM PST
Christina Rexroad is questioned by King County prosecutor Erin Ehlert during her testimony at the the Naveed Haq trial in King County Superior Court.
SEATTLE - Two years of painful memories erupted Thursday in the murder trial of Naveed Haq - the man charged with murder and attempted murder for the July 2006 shooting at the Jewish Federation Center in Seattle.
Christina Rexroad had been shot and nearly died twice from her wounds that day.
Thursday, she faced Haq to relive those terrible moments.
At first, Rexroad was calm and quiet, but the memories overwhelmed her. As she sat silently, struggling with her emotions, the judge ordered a recess to give her time to collect herself.
She did tell jurors that popping noises drew her out of her cubicle that day. That’s when she came face to face with Naveed Haq.
"He turned and looked at me... he had a gun in his hand and I don't know if he said anything or not and then he shot me," she testified.
Rexroad said Haq chased her into a conference room as she tried to get away.
She ran out another door, slipped down a stairwell and out onto the street and the safety of a Seattle police officer.
"She had masses amounts of blood coming out of here," Officer Donald Johnson said.
Rexroad said, "I kept telling him not to let me die and I kept rattling off my mom's cell phone number and he just tried to keep me talking."
Officer Johnson said, "She lost consciousness it looked really bad. She turned white on me. I really thought she had passed."
Rexroad said, "I lost my complete cycle of blood outside the hospital and went into cardiac arrest and then lost complete volume of my blood again and died on the operating table."
Rexroad survived, but she's still in therapy and working on her recovery.
In addition to Rexroad’s emotional testimony, jurors also saw dramatic video from surveillance cameras stationed around the Jewish Federation building.
Seattle Police Detective Monty Moss, pointing to a TV screen said, "Mr. Haq is there, holding gun in his left hand."
Detective Moss reviewed frames captured by four cameras stationed around the Jewish federation building for jurors to see.
Inside, you see Pam Wechter walk down the hallway. Seconds later you see Haq lunge over the railing - gun in hand.
Pam Wechter died on the landing below.
Another camera - positioned at the back door, shows Rexroad come out and collapse to the sidewalk.
The surveillance video puts a timeline on the afternoon. It shows Naveed Haq walking up to the building at 3:56 that afternoon.
He walked out unarmed - 17 minutes later - and police handcuffed him.
Once in custody, police took Haq's wallet and in it they found a card for a counseling service in the Tri-Cities. One of the detectives did indeed call that center. In cross examination, the defense asked the detective if the counselor told detective about Haq’s diagnosis and medication and he said he did - though but that information was not shared with the jury.