Witnesses give competing accounts at trial in shooting at Vance Jackson Road car wash

Jury testimony in the 187th District Court on Monday detailed conflicting accounts of an April 9, 2024 altercation outside a car wash on Vance Jackson Road that left 22-year-old Nadia Nicole Newton with a gunshot wound to her leg.

Officer Matthew Varos of the San Antonio Police Department testified that he was dispatched to 2622 Carybrook Court on April 9 for a “shooting in progress,” found a woman with a gunshot wound to her left leg, and applied a tourniquet. “I put a tourniquet on it,” Varos said while identifying his body-worn camera as State’s Exhibit 1, which the court admitted without objection.

Newton testified she was walking to a bus stop after starting a job at Bill Miller’s when the defendant, identified in court as Johnny Del Rosa, pulled up in a blue car, blocked her path and behaved aggressively. She said she carried a knife because she felt threatened and that, after he forced her to kiss him and began grabbing her, she stabbed him "to get him off of me." Newton said the defendant then drew a gun and shot her in the leg. “He shot me in the leg,” she testified.

The state introduced surveillance and cell-phone video of the car wash (State’s Exhibits 4 and 5) and hospital photos of Newton’s injury (Exhibits 6–8); the court admitted those exhibits after Newton testified she appears in and recognizes the videos and photos.

Travis Phillips, who works at the All American Car Wash at 4343 Vance Jackson Road, testified that he observed the altercation, ran from the car wash to intervene, pushed the defendant to the ground after seeing him "pull out a weapon," and later saw the defendant point a gun before Newton was shot. “I saw him pull out a weapon,” Phillips said.

Defense counsel cross-examined Newton and Phillips to emphasize that, according to Newton’s recorded statements and the video evidence the defense highlighted, the defendant did not show a firearm until after Newton stabbed him. Newton acknowledged she had her knife out while both parties filmed each other and that she ran to the car to record the license plate; she also confirmed that she told officers she feared the defendant because she knew him to carry a gun and a knife.

Officer Brandon Dimock testified separately that he was dispatched to a nearby address the same evening for a cutting in progress and photographed the scene; his body camera footage and photographs were admitted as State’s Exhibits 2 and 3.

No verdict was reached Monday. The judge instructed jurors not to investigate or discuss the case and set continuation of testimony for Monday at 1:30 p.m.

What remains unclear from the testimony admitted so far is the precise sequence of force during the heated exchange—whether a gun was displayed before Newton’s use of the knife or only after she stabbed the defendant—and the record includes inconsistent spellings and identifications in the transcript that the court and counsel clarified on the record. Several key factual details, including the exact number of stab wounds and the post-incident chain of custody for the knife, were described by witnesses as unknown or "not specified."