Defendant, 17, Breaks Down on the Stand : Courts: Boy begins crying at murder trial as he describes aiming gun and fatally shooting Jacqueline Reay, his 16-year-old girlfriend.

Bringing his trial to a temporary halt, a Thousand Oaks teen-ager broke down in tears on the witness stand Wednesday as he described aiming a loaded handgun at his teen-age girlfriend and squeezing the trigger.

Before the emotional breakdown, the 17-year-old defendant had calmly fielded questions about the events that led to the July 13 death of Jacqueline Reay, 16, who was shot once in the eye in the kitchen of a Las Casitas condominium.

The youth began sobbing when his attorney, Victor Furio, zeroed in on the shooting itself. The lawyer asked the husky teen-ager, “Were you serious or playing when you pointed the gun at Jackie?”

“I was playing,” insisted the youth, who suddenly began crying uncontrollably.

Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. quickly called a recess as family and friends of the defendant--and the victim--also began to sob.

The first defense witness in the 3-day-old trial, the boy regained his composure and finished testifying after a lunch break.

Charged with seven offenses, including murder, the defendant is being tried as a juvenile because prosecutors think he did not intend to kill his girlfriend. He could be imprisoned until age 25 if convicted.

The boy testified that he had been pointing the gun at Jacqueline and several other teen-agers as “a joke.” But he never intended to harm or even scare anyone, he maintained.

Under cross-examination, the boy admitted he has trouble getting along with people and acknowledged that he committed a dangerous act by pointing the gun at Jacqueline without knowing whether a bullet was in the chamber.

He began carrying the gun for protection a week before Jacqueline’s death after being threatened by local gang members, he said.

Although he pointed the gun repeatedly at Jacqueline, the boy said he was only trying to have some fun.

He said he enjoyed Jacqueline because she seemed to understand him, unlike most other people. He said he liked his girlfriend of two months “a lot.”

“I always felt that she was somebody I could spend a lot of time with. And I did,” he testified. “I was never annoyed with her, as I am annoyed with a lot of people who I am subjected to for a long time. I was subjected to her a long time, and she never got on my nerves.”

The boy quickly responded to questions from lawyers about the 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun. But he said he had never undergone firearms training.

He said that before the shooting, Jacqueline had gone upstairs to shower. She was irritated that he would not stop aiming the gun at her legs, he acknowledged.

While she was showering, the boy allowed another teen-ager in the house to inspect the gun. He suggested that the boy may have inadvertently moved the bullet from a clip into the gun’s firing chamber.

When he got the gun back, the defendant said, he immediately pointed it at Jacqueline, who had returned downstairs.

Miffed, she went into the kitchen, where he continued tracking her with the gun, he said. He aimed and pulled the trigger. He was shocked when it fired. He said he ran into the kitchen where she was lying on the floor, dying.

He ran outside and flung the shell casing away. He ran. But five minutes later, he returned and surrendered to police.

“I wanted to run,” he said. “I wanted to get rid of anything that could have incriminated me.”