LAKEPORT, Calif. – The trial of two young local men for a June 2011 shooting that killed a child and wounded five others let out early on Friday after a broken elevator prevented them from getting to court on time.

Paul William Braden, 22, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 24, are each facing 15 counts for the shooting on June 18, 2011, that killed 4-year-old Skyler Rapp and wounded five others, including the child’s mother, Desiree Kirby, and her boyfriend, Ross Sparks.

During the week Josh Gamble, a cousin of Sparks, continued testimony he began last week, with Sparks also taking the stand, according to District Attorney Don Anderson.

On Friday, Curtis Eeds, who lived next door to Sparks and Kirby, was called to take the stand, Anderson said.

Eeds was on the stand in the morning before testimony stopped so Anderson and the defense attorneys – Doug Rhoades representing Braden and Stephen Carter representing Lopez – could work out issues with the case out of the presence of the jurors, Anderson said.

Court was to reconvene at 1:30 p.m., with those issues from the morning still not worked out, but proceedings couldn’t continue because the defendants didn’t show up, Anderson said.

“The elevator broke down and they were stuck in it,” he said.

As a result, visiting Yolo County Superior Court Judge Doris Shockley let jurors go early for the day, Anderson said.

Testimony will resume next week.

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