PHOENIX

The most seriously wounded of three people shot in a community-college computer lab had punched the gunman in the face before he opened fire, police say.

Isaac Deshay Smith, 19, had beaten the suspect, Rodney Smith, in a fistfight in December and the two unrelated men had gotten into verbal confrontations every time they met since, Phoenix Detective Reuben Gonzales said.

On Thursday, police said, Isaac Smith, 19, punched 22-year-old Rodney Smith during a confrontation at South Mountain Community College.

Rodney Smith then pulled a handgun from his waist and opened fire, according to a probable cause statement released Friday. He has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, the Maricopa County Attorney's office said Tuesday.

School officials say 20 to 30 people were in the lab, which is open to the public. Both were former students.

Isaac Smith was trying to hide under a table when he was shot, the court document said. He underwent emergency surgery overnight and was in critical condition Friday at Maricopa Medical Center.

The other victims, identified as Otisha Charee Williams, 20, and Christopher Lee Taylor, 17, were in stable condition early Friday. Williams and Taylor appear to have been innocent bystanders, police said.

At a court appearance Friday, Rodney Smith pointedly apologized to the "innocent victims" of the shooting after the judge advised him that anything he said could be used against him in court.

"I didn't mean for any innocent victims to get hurt," he said. "I apologize to the innocent victims and their family."

Court documents say the December fight began after a man who was at a gas station with Isaac Smith tried talking to a woman who was with Rodney Smith.

Isaac Smith and two others punched and kicked Rodney Smith repeatedly as he lay on the ground breaking his jaw in two places and the woman was punched in the stomach when she tried to stop them, documents say.