MUSKEGON, Mich. — Tuesday a key witness in the trial for the man accused of shooting and killing 22-year-old AJ Federighe in 2018 took the stand to testify.
The witness was among the prosecutions' first four witnesses in an effort to convict 63-year-old Paul Gabriel of Muskegon on a charge of open murder.
Balcom's Cove resident Jacqueline Cristini testified she was in the parking garage at the high-rise condominium on Muskegon Lake on September 25, 2018 when Gabriel pointed a gun at Federighe. Cristini testified that she and her husband had just returned home from playing a round of golf and parked in the condo's garage.
While entering an elevator to go to their apartment, Cristini said her husband heard something from the garage. Just a minute or two earlier they were in the garage talking with Gabriel, who also had a condo at Balcom's Cove.
Cristini testified Tuesday, October 26, when she and her husband returned to the garage they found Gabriel staring down Federighe. According to her testimony, the two men were several feet apart and also separated by a metal stairwell railing.
Matt Roberts, chief trial attorney for the Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office asked Cristini what Gabriel was saying.
"I don't remember him saying anything at all," Cristini said. "He was just staring."
Then, according to Cristini's testimony, Gabriel removed a gun from what appeared to her to be a grayish cloth cover.
"Next thing I know there's a gun laying on top of it," she said. "He must have pulled the gun out of that thing."
Cristini went on to testify the men remained several feet apart, and mostly silent. "Mr. Gabriel, I never heard him say anything," she said. "I did hear AJ say something like don't go there, don't go there, and then I think he said don't go there you p-u-s-s-y. That's all he said."
Cristini testified she and her husband repeatedly asked AJ to leave the garage and enter the covered walkway. Which Federighe did, but moments later, Gabriel followed the three into the covered walkway and again had the gun in his hand.
Cristini testified she was surprised by AJ's lack of concern for his safety. "It just didn't seem like it registered that much," she said. "Like it wasn't that big of a thing."
The Cristini's left Federighe and Gabriel alone in the covered walkway and retreated to their condo to call 911.
Roberts asked Cristini if Gabriel ever asked her or her husband for help, if they'd call 911 for him, or if Gabriel ever asked Federighe to leave him alone. Cristini's answered no to all three questions.
She also testified about a small red area on Gabriel's face that she remember seeing. She was not there in the covered walkway when Federighe was shot, and she did not hear a gun shot.
In 2018, both Gabriel and Federighe’s fathers had condos at Balcom’s Cove and investigators say the two men had an ongoing feud.
Federighe went to his father's condo the day he was killed to retrieve some of his belongs.
The Muskegon County prosecutors office is expected to call around six witnesses to testify. The defense told the judge their list of witnesses includes a private investigator and the defendant may also testify.
The trial resumes Wednesday and could last most of the week.
The actual shooting was not in site of security cameras at Balcom’s Cove, however the events leading up to the shooting and after will be used as part of the prosecution’s case.
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