A man accused of killing a 13-year-old boy and wounding three others over a June 2018 road rage incident told police that he had an out of body experience during the attack, prosecutors in the murder trial of Jeremy Webster in Adams County District Court said during opening statements Wednesday. 

The prosecution’s summary of the case to jurors took less than an hour and Webster’s defense team opted not to deliver opening remarks. Webster’s attorneys also did not cross-examine witnesses Wednesday morning. 

Attorneys are lining up their strategies in what looks to be a case which will hinge on whether Webster knew right from wrong when police say he went on a shooting spree in a Westminster dental office parking lot on a hot summer afternoon five years ago. Webster was charged with 22 felony counts including first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Vaughn Bigelow Jr. was shot and killed and three others were injured in the melee which shocked many Colorado residents.

For the Bigelow family, June 14, 2018 started out as a lazy summer day. 

Meghan Bigelow had taken her three boys, 13-year-old Vaughn,  Cooper, 12, and Asa, 7, for smoothies and a dip in a pool and they were on their way to combined dental appointments. On a construction-clogged street, they heard sirens near 92nd Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, and started to get out of the way. Mrs. Bigelow testified that she crossed into Webster’s lane and put up a hand to say she was sorry, but he started cussing at her through his open car window. 

In a voice which was shaky at times, Meghan Bigelow recalled that Webster then followed the family to the Children’s Dentistry parking lot a few blocks away where the two of them got into a shouting match. When Webster got in his car to drive away, Bigelow said she pulled out her cellphone to take a photo to show police.

That’s when the then-23-year-old backed up, pulled out a gun and shot her, she testified.

“I heard the gun go off and I dropped to the ground,” said Bigelow, who described going in and out of consciousness but could hear gunshots around her. 

When Cooper knelt beside her, she said she told him she was alive so that he wouldn’t worry. 

Upon hearing “blood-curdling screams from children,” Ashley Lucero went to the window of a nearby orthodontics office where she worked.  She testified Wednesday she watched in horror as Webster walked to where Asa was crouched down with his hands over his head, and shot him.

“From what I recall, there was just one,” she said in response to how many shots were fired at the boy. 

Lucero calmly told the jury that after Webster shot Asa in the head, he stood, turned the other direction, and with his arm extended, shot at least twice at a fleeing Vaughn Bigelow.

Authorities arrested Webster, of Colorado Springs, on Interstate 25 near Castle Rock a few hours after the shooting.

Meghan Bigelow, who was rushed to the hospital’s intensive care unit, didn’t know her oldest son, whom she called “Bubba,” had died until her husband told her two weeks after the shooting happened. Asa recovered from his life-threatening wounds and now has hearing loss and problems with his right side. 

Cooper, now 16, was the only family member who was not physically injured in the incident. When he took the stand Wednesday, his voice was loud and clear as he answered attorneys’ questions about what happened that day. 

Despite Webster’s claim of insanity, prosecutors told the jury that he was sane during the incident.

“Overall things were improving for him. June of 2018 he was 23-year-old guy, living on his own in an apartment, taking care of himself, holding a job and driving himself to and from work,” 17^th Judicial Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Prince told the jury.

While questioning Meghan Bigelow, Prince asked if Webster appeared to be responding to unseen images and she said no. 

The trial in District Judge Priscilla Loew’s courtroom has been a long time coming. It was originally scheduled for July 2021, but was delayed multiple times due to questions surrounding Webster’s mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic. In Oct. 2021, the judge declared a mistrial when a key witness couldn’t travel from out of state to testify because of a medical issue.

Webster is charged with:

• One count of first-degree murder after deliberation
• Four counts of attempted first-degree murder after deliberation
• Two counts of first-degree murder with extreme indifference
• Three counts of first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon
• One count of first-degree assault with extreme indifference
• One count of attempted first-degree assault with extreme indifference
• Four counts of committing a violent crime causing death or serious bodily injury
• Six counts of committing a violent crime using a weapon

The trial is expected to continue to at least April 27, according to prosecutors.