Opening statements begin in Yuma aggravated assault trial over 2024 shooting

Opening statements began Wednesday in the Yuma County Superior Court trial of Gabriel Taddei, 25, a case that has been on the local docket since a neighborhood shooting near County 12th Street and East 40th Place on Oct. 24, 2024. Taddei faces two counts of aggravated assault, including use of a deadly weapon.

Jurors were seated Tuesday before lawyers started laying out the case that prosecutors say turns on a brief but violent confrontation in a residential area. The state says Taddei approached the other man’s vehicle and fired through the windshield, striking him in the shoulder and fracturing his right arm. Prosecutors also told jurors they have video evidence they say shows the victim trying to back away before the shot was fired.

The defense offered a sharply different account, telling jurors Taddei approached with a gun only after he had been run over and feared for his life. That self-defense claim is likely to be central as jurors decide whether the shooting was unlawful or justified under Arizona law. The trial now has six additional dates set, signaling the case is expected to continue across several sessions.

The victim was 29 years old at the time of the shooting and was taken to Onvida Health, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The hospital’s role in the case underscores how quickly a neighborhood confrontation in Yuma can turn into a serious public safety matter, pulling a local medical center into the aftermath of a gunfire incident.

The case has moved toward trial for more than a year. On April 11, 2025, trial dates were tentatively set for April 2026, and Taddei was due back in court on May 23, 2025, showing the matter had already been moving through the system long before opening statements began this week. With jurors now hearing competing versions of the same encounter, the trial will hinge on what happened in those moments near East 40th Place and whether the shooting was an act of assault or self-protection.