Shooting suspect in court; victim on life support
The 20-year-old man arrested in an attempted murder made his initial appearance in Yuma Justice Court Wednesday morning, in a hearing in which a prosecutor informed the court that the victim is considered brain dead and is currently on life support.
Jimmie Roy Jordan listened as Justice of the Peace Greg Stewart informed him of the charges on which he was arrested, incuding attempted first-degree murder. Other charges currently being sought against him are carrying a weapon during the commission of a crime and two counts of aggravated assault.
Stewart also explained to Jordan that the county attorney’s office has two days to review the case and determine whether to file a criminal complaint against him, charging him with any of the offenses.
He continued by saying that if no criminal complaint was filed against him, he would be released. If a complaint was filed, however, he would be provided with a copy of it when he returns to court on Friday.
Prosecutor Jim Eustace of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office was also present during the hearing and asked to address the court in regard to Jordan’s bail, which was later set as a $1 million bond.
Eustace said that Jordan had a 22-caliber handgun on him at the time of his arrest and that it is being tested by the state crime lab to see if it matches casing of the same caliber that were found at the crime scene.
He also added that the victim had been shot three times, once in the shoulder, once in the chest and once in the head.
According to Yuma police, Jordan was sought as a suspect in an attempted homicide that happened Friday in the 2100 block of South 5th Avenue. He eventually was arrested Tuesday afternoon in the 1800 block of South Walnut, where he was taken into custody without incident.
On June 17, officers were dispatched to the 5th Avenue location in reference to a man down call. Upon their arrival, officers found a 31-year-old male with gunshot wounds.
The man was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center and later flown to a Phoenix-area hospital with life-threatening injuries. No further information was released at the time.
This is not the first time Jordan had been wanted by law enforcement.
Last year Jordan, who eventually turned himself in, had also been sought by the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office for questioning in connection to a triple murder that happened on Sept. 3 at a home in the 2700 block of West 5th Street.
Investigators from the sheriff’s office wanted to interview him in connection to the shooting deaths of 20-year-old Grady Baxter, 19-year-old Nicholas Grabbe and 24-year-old Javier Sanchez, all of whom were from Yuma.
While he was never indicted in the triple homicide, Jordan was charged with multiple unrelated felony drug offenses, which stemmed from a search warrant that was served at his residence.
Those charges included one count of possession of drug paraphernalia and six counts of narcotic drugs for sale. Since he was on unsupervised probation stemming from a DUI case out of Yuma Municipal Court in March, he was ineligible for bond.
The case against him, however, was dropped in Jan. 2019 after the charges against him were dismissed without prejudice. He was 19 years old at the time.
James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@ yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.