![\"Justin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/95ffa778-5e95-4091-a1d0-21b59f3a8f6f_1727473118.png\")
<\/a>ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\nThe state has rested its case and the jury has been sent home for the weekend in the 2024 downtown Orlando Halloween mass shooting trial, where never-before-seen interrogation video was shown in court Friday. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors say then-17-year-old Jaylen Edgar shot and killed 25-year-old tow truck driver Tyrek Hill and 19-year-old UCF student Timothy Schmidt Jr. <\/p>\n
Edgar faces two counts of first-degree murder as well as seven counts of attempted first-degree murder for the other victims he\u2019s accused of shooting. <\/p>\n
After the takedown and arrest by Orlando Police on Orange Avenue, two homicide detectives question Edgar for more than an hour. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors played that interrogation video in court for the jury Friday afternoon. <\/p>\n
Numerous times, the detectives tried asking Edgar what was going through his mind, but he never provided a straight answer. <\/p>\n
In the video, Edgar is seen identifying himself in photos from videos around the time of the shooting downtown. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery part of downtown was packed,\u201d Edgar told the detectives. \u201cYou had to squeeze through people.\u201d <\/p>\n
Edgar did admit during the interview that he had the semi-automatic pistol that officers found concealed in his pants after Officer Michael Hernandez tackled him to the ground. <\/p>\n
Detective Joshua McNutt informs Edgar near the end of the interview that they have him on video pulling out a gun and shooting someone. <\/p>\n
The second day of the mass shooting trial began with testimony from two more victims. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt something hit my shin and then me and my three friends, we all just went down to the floor,\u201d Eitan Mailor said. \u201cI was shot behind my shoulder and the bullet traveled through my jaw, shattering it in the process, and it got stuck there,\u201d Gabriella Santiago-Sanchez said. <\/p>\n
A crime scene investigator showed jurors the yellow shirt and jeans Edgar was wearing on Halloween night two years ago. <\/p>\n
An FDLE firearms expert testified some of the shell casings matched the gun police recovered from Edgar, including one located near the downtown Taco Bell where Hill was shot in the head. <\/p>\n
Another state\u2019s witness on Friday was the FDLE DNA expert who said she identified a mixture of Edgar and Hill\u2019s DNA from a blood stain on Edgar\u2019s yellow shirt. <\/p>\n
WESH 2 spoke with Hill\u2019s mother, Teresa Clinton, before the trial resumed in the afternoon. <\/p>\n
“Ooh, I miss the gentle giant, the kisses on my forehead and calling me ‘Mama dukes,'” she said of her son. <\/p>\n
Clinton said she\u2019s holding up the best she can as she sits through the trial and seeks justice for the murder of her son. <\/p>\n
She said she\u2019d like to see a conviction followed by a life sentence. Edgar isn\u2019t eligible for the death penalty because of his age at the time of the shootings. <\/p>\n
“I am a woman of God,\u201d Clinton said. \u201cI do forgive (Edgar), but I would say that he needs to take accountability. He needs to do the time because he did the crime. Also, he has left back victims that are still alive, that has to go through this, for the rest of their lives.” <\/p>\n
After the jury was dismissed, the judge denied a request from Edgar\u2019s attorney for an acquittal. <\/p>\n
The judge also told Edgar it\u2019s ultimately his decision whether he takes the stand in his own defense. <\/p>\n
The Halloween mass shooting trial resumes at 9 a.m. Monday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Never-before-seen interrogation video played in Orlando Halloween mass shooting trial ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 The state has rested its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[152086,29921,152085,34137,7739,152082,152080,3361,152081,139,141,140,11878,152087,914,152083,918,152084],"class_list":["post-378121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-court-friday","tag-edgar","tag-fdle-firearm-expert","tag-first-degree-murder","tag-hill","tag-homicide-detective","tag-interrogation-video","tag-life-sentence","tag-numerous-time","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-prosecutor","tag-shooting-downtown","tag-state","tag-teresa-clinton","tag-wesh","tag-yellow-shirt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}