FLAGSTAFF, AZ — It’s been almost a decade since a Northern Arizona University student shot and killed a classmate and injured three others after a fight broke out and spilled onto campus.
Colin Brough, a 20-year-old junior, died.
Just this week, the shooter, Steven Jones, was released from the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Brough’s aunt, Andrea Jernegan, told ABC15 she believes the justice system failed in this case. A Coconino County judge sentenced Jones to six years in prison in 2020 after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault charges. But after credit for time already spent in jail awaiting trial, he served four and a half years in prison.
“It’s not fair,” she said, “that after serving four and a half years the kid is walking the streets free as a bird.”
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Jones was released on Monday to a term of Community Supervision, formerly known as parole, until July 8, 2025. Jernegan knew his release date was approaching because she said she would periodically check his prison record.
She said no one in the family has gotten over what happened on the night of the deadly shooting: October 9, 2015.
“It’s just a horrible memory to have,” she said.
Jones testified in court that he feared for his life and acted in self-defense that night after getting punched. But the prosecutor says he returned to his car, grabbed his gun and deliberately shot the students.
He was initially tried for first-degree murder in 2017, which would have meant a minimum 25 years in prison if he were found guilty. But a jury couldn’t reach a consensus.
A second trial was scheduled to begin in 2020 with Jones facing a reduced charge of second-degree murder. But he accepted a plea agreement to lesser charges of manslaughter and aggravated assault before that trial began.
Jernegan said there is always an emptiness without Colin there.
“It still really hurts,” she said. “I have moments where I just break down and cry.”
Colin’s birthday is an especially difficult day, she said.
“I miss his quirkiness and his laughter and his smile. His silly jokes. I just miss him, you know, as we all do.”
ABC15 reached out to Jones, now 27 years old, to see if they would do an interview. A family friend told ABC15 that Jones was trying to move forward quietly and did not want to do an interview.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at: anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.
