Joshua Jonathan Hairston

FLOYD -- Joshua Jonathan Hairston said he emptied his pistol into Sean Michael Neumann because Neumann came after him, a sheriff's investigator testified Thursday.

Hairston, 18, is charged with first-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony in the June 5 death of Neumann, 39. Neumann was found shot to death at his small, blue house on Floyd Highway in Check.

After listening to five witnesses testify for an hour and a half at Hairston's preliminary hearing, General District Court Judge Ed Turner certified both of the charges to a grand jury. The grand jury will decide if Hairston should face a trial in circuit court.

Neumann was shot four times, a medical examiner testified. He suffered shots to his upper chest and left upper arm and two shots to his abdomen.

At least five shots had been fired inside the home, Senior Special Agent Chuck Eaton of the Virginia State Police testified. In addition to the four shots to Neumann's body, another was found at the base of the kitchen cabinet, he said.

Eaton said Hairston told him he saw Neumann a couple of times a week. The day of the shooting, Hairston went to Neumann's house for a drug transaction, Eaton testified. A friend, William Dwayne "Big Tree" Hairston, who is no relation, drove him there.

While they were inside, Joshua Hairston told Eaton, Neumann grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to stab Dwayne Hairston. After a few moments, Neumann threw the knife down but poked and spit on Joshua Hairston, Eaton said he was told. Joshua Hairston told police it sounded as if someone was banging on the door trying to get in and he got scared.

Asked how many times he shot Neumann, Eaton said Joshua Hairston told him "he just kept squeezing the trigger until the gun was empty."

Joshua Hairston had bought the gun about two months earlier, Eaton said.

Dwayne Hairston testified that Neumann did pull a knife on him. He said he asked if he could have a beer, and Neumann yelled at him to shut up. Dwayne Hairston said he told Neumann that he had better shut up.

At that moment, he said, Neumann grabbed a knife from a dish strainer and held it a few inches from his chest, saying, "I've got you now."

Neumann was "acting crazy" and "wild-looking," Dwayne Hairston testified. He said he told Neumann to get away from him with the knife.

Neumann, he said, threw the knife across the room and sat back down on the couch with Joshua Hairston.

Dwayne Hairston said he got up to leave. He heard shots as he stepped out the door. He kept walking, he said.

"I didn't know who had the gun," he said.

Dwayne Hairston testified that he didn't see any confrontation between Joshua Hairston and Neumann.

When they arrived at the home, Neumann wasn't there, Dwayne Hairston testified. About 10 minutes later, a man in a pickup truck arrived with Neumann in the passenger seat. When he left the house, Dwayne Hairston said, the man was gone but the pickup was still there.

He said when Joshua Hairston came outside, he said Neumann made him do it.

Investigators said they were told Joshua Hairston had been seen leaving the house. They searched for him several days, until he turned himself in June 11.

Lt. Marshall Thomas of the Martinsville Police Department testified that he was on patrol when a vehicle pulled up beside him.

Joshua Hairston's mother, who was inside, told him her son wanted to turn himself in but didn't know how. Thomas went to pick up Joshua Hairston, who got into his patrol car, he said.

Joshua Hairston claimed he had thrown the gun into Floyd County's Little River, Thomas and Eaton testified.

A dozen officers searched June 12 but were unable to find it. A tip later led them to a man who admitted the gun was buried in the backyard of his Floyd home. He dug the gun up, investigators testified.

Tests confirmed that the buried .357 was the gun that fired the shots that killed Neumann.