Noah McGlawn

The mother of Noah McGlawn offered tearful testimony Wednesday during her son’s attempted murder trial in Limestone County.

The trial for McGlawn, 24, of Whiteville, Tennessee, resumes today in Circuit Judge Robert Baker’s courtroom at the Limestone County Courthouse in Athens. He is accused of shooting Brandon Matlock, now 27, of Athens, as he rode his motorcycle along U.S. 72 East in Athens on Sept. 10, 2012.

Under questioning by defense attorney Patrick Tuten, Sherry McGlawn testified she did not know her son disliked the technical school he was attending, which may have provoked his anger the day of the shooting, and she said she was sorry for her son’s actions in shooting Matlock, something she at one point described as “an accident.”

Sherry detailed her son’s history of physical and mental difficulties since childhood, often lowering her head and weeping.

She said she and her husband, Mac, did not seek a psychological evaluation of Noah until a family doctor recommended it shortly before the shooting.

She said he did not like crowds or loud noises, did not like changes, avoided eye contact, obsessed about certain subjects, did not socialize with peers, liked being alone in class, and repeated the last sentence someone spoke.

“The kids called him 8-track,” she said of neighborhood and church children.

His difficulties prompted the McGlawns to home-school Noah from ages 5-18. She said they had him try baseball when he was young but he could not catch a ball, looked awkward running and hitting, did not interact with kids on the team and sat on the bench by himself. He tried Boy Scouts but his motor skills were not very good, she said. He liked karate classes — the discipline and the moves and countermoves — but he didn’t like “grappling” with others because he did not like to be touched.

“He gets rigid when you hug him,” she said.

When he was 18, they put him in a private school, Morris Chapel, which he graduated from in May 2012 at age 20.

Hoping Noah would find an employable skill as well as to foster more independence, they convinced Noah to take classes at a technical school. She said she asked Noah every day how school was going and he told her everything was fine.

She testified Noah’s anxiety, which had always been present, increased after graduating. In addition to breaking out in hives, he was having nightmares that “soldiers were chasing him,” so he placed sheets around the lower bunkbed where he slept.

After attending trade school for a week where he was supposed to study maintenance, Noah skipped school on Sept. 10, 2012, filled a backpack with a .22-caliber pistol that belonged to his father, but which he was allowed to use, some ammunition and two cans of food and began driving, according to testimony and Tuten’s opening arguments Monday.

Noah, then 20, told Athens police investigators after the shooting he drove for hours before seeing a motorcyclist, then-24-year-old Matlock, and shot him. Noah stopped at Bud’s Chevron near the Priceville exit and asked the clerk there to call police because he had shot someone.

During questioning by Athens police, Noah said he chose Matlock at random. He said his father wanted him to attend the tech school, which he disliked. He said he was angry the day of the shooting and “just felt like shooting someone.”

Matlock, who has mostly recovered since the shooting, offered key testimony Tuesday when he said McGlawn shot him from the driver’s side window of his green SUV as the two headed westbound on 72 that day.

The first bullet went through Matlock’s right arm.

Matlock testified that when he slowed his motorcycle to pull off the road, McGlawn also slowed down and then shot him again. The second bullet entered Matlock’s low back and did not exit. It was later surgically removed.

Testimony was ongoing at press time Wednesday afternoon and was expected to continue today.