BUFFALO, N.Y. — An Erie County jury now has the case of a young man charged in the shooting death of a youth football coach.
Norzell Aldridge, 36, was a well known youth football coach in Buffalo. He was shot and killed after a game in Emerson Park behind the Harvey Austin School August of 2019.
Jason Washington was a teenager when he was charged with the shooting. He is now 20 and claims he shot the the youth coach in self-defense.
Washington refused a plea deal and testified in court on Wednesday. He is charged with murder in the second degree, a Class A-1 felony; one count of attempted murder in the second degree, a Class B felony; and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a Class C felony.
The shooting happened after a fight involving Washington's cousin. Those involved tell 2 On Your Side there was already bad blood between the parties involved.
Washington told the court "I didn't intend to kill anybody." He claims to have heard the victim say "they want to play grown-man games, I'm going to get my gun." It is after that when Washington pulled out his gun and opened fire, striking two people.
He told jurors he got rid of the weapon.
"I threw it in the river at the Falls," Washington said.
Washington's mother, Tanika Lucas, saw the video of the incident that was played for jurors.
"There is video footage of my son and my nephew leaving the park and being followed, to which you see my son leave off the screen, because he's trying to get away, and they're walking fast, you can tell," Lucas said.
She said her son told her he got the gun from an abandoned house.
"The fact he needed to have that because people were threatening his life says a lot," Lucas said.
She believes her son acted in self defense.
"When my son came through my doors that night, my baby came to me and said, 'Mommy, I had to make a choice. It was me or it was them, and mommy, if I didn't make the choice I made, I would be dead and you'd be crying,' " she said.