When Tina Howell hopped into her car in the early morning hours of Dec. 18, 2004, she was scared for her kids.
It turns out it wasn't her children who were in danger.
She was.
Moments after she got into her car, someone opened fire on her.
Shocked, Howell crashed her car into a telephone pole and then tried to take refuge on her passenger-side floorboard.
As she huddled with one arm protecting her head, the shooter walked up to the car and shot her twice more.
On Wednesday, Howell told a Pima County jury there is absolutely no doubt in her mind the man who shot her was her former boyfriend, Donald Palmer, 47.
Wednesday was the first day in Palmer's trial on charges of attempted murder, drive-by shooting and assault.
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Howell, a teacher with the Tucson Unified School District, testified that she and Palmer were romantically involved for more than three years and at one point even bought a house together.
They broke up in December 2003 but stayed in touch in person and by telephone.
Howell said a year later a Marine friend of hers was in town for a week and she decided to spend the night of Dec. 17 with him at an airport-area hotel.
Throughout that night, Howell testified she and Palmer spoke several times via cell phone.
Although she had originally told Palmer she was in Phoenix, Howell said she eventually told Palmer she was at the hotel in one of two phone calls around midnight.
Between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., Howell testified Palmer called her a dozen times.
After one of the phone calls, Howell said she felt compelled to drive home to check on her 16-year-old son and adult daughter.
"He said something to the effect of 'you better leave that hotel or somebody in your family is going to get hurt,' " Howell said.
She testified she pulled on some sweat pants over her pajamas and got into her car.
She then called Palmer to tell him she was on her way home.
"He said 'Look in your rear-view mirror,' " Howell recalled.
When she looked behind her, Howell said she saw Palmer in his teal-green Chrysler.
Palmer drove behind her for a few moments and then drove beside her, Howell said.
Seconds after she noticed the gun, Howell said she heard a loud bang.
It was then that she crashed, Howell said.
Howell testified after she was shot the third time, she got out of the car and lay on the ground.
Palmer came up to her, lifted one of her arms up, muttered an expletive and left, Howell said.
"I was thinking I was going to die. I was thinking about my kids. I was thinking this is wrong. There was a lot going through my mind," Howell said.
She spent two weeks at University Medical Center, Howell said.
Howell testified one of the bullets entered her face and exited her neck, one went through her arm and another grazed her hand.
Howell said she has pins in her right arm and her right hand doesn't work properly, a portion of her face is numb and she has problems with her neck.
Under cross-examination, Howell acknowledged Palmer never objected to her Marine friend and, in fact, told her he would leave them alone.
She also indicated some confusion over when the call that prompted her to drive home came in and when she left the hotel.
At one point she said she left to check on her children shortly before 6 a.m. but later acknowledged having told police she left the hotel between 2 and 3 a.m. and went home but didn't go inside. Howell was unclear about where she was between 3 and 6 a.m., when she was shot but thought she might have fallen asleep in her car.
Defense attorney Eric Larsen told jurors Howell was shot by someone else, and Palmer had nothing to do with it.
Palmer was arrested in Atlanta three months after the shooting.
Something jurors have not been told is this is not the first time Palmer has been charged with the attempted murder of a girlfriend.
In May 1984, Palmer was sentenced to 21 years after being convicted of attempted murder and multiple counts of aggravated assault.
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections Web site, he was released in December 1999.
"I was thinking I was going to die. I was thinking about my kids. I was thinking this is wrong. There was a lot going through my mind."
Tina Howell, shooting victim
