Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann's former workmates say the accused murderer spoke about getting a gun and wanting to "hurt" someone called Alex prior to the alleged shooting spree, a court has been told.
Workmate Steven Barlee said he had worked with Mr Hoffmann at Professional Roofing On Demand for about four months prior to the alleged fatal shootings of Hassan Baydoun, Michael Sisois, Nigel Hellings and Robert Courtney.
During the time they worked together, Mr Barlee told the jury, Mr Hoffmann spoke about people being "after" him and wanting to hurt him.
Mr Barlee told the jury that he worked with Mr Hoffmann on June 3, 2019, the day before the alleged shootings.
The witness said the defendant was "very erratic" during his last shift.
"He was running around, flat out. He was quite agitated. He was getting cranky at other trades onsite," he said.
Another of Mr Hoffmann's former colleagues, Anthony Clark, told the jury he had also worked with the defendant the day before the alleged shootings.
He said Mr Hoffmann's "general demeanour, it just wasn't quite right".
The court was told Mr Hoffmann also "quite regularly" brought up someone called Alex while at work.
"Alex was either sleeping with his girlfriend or pimping his girlfriend out," Mr Barlee said.
"He said that he was going to 'get Alex'.
"He was going to shoot him or blow his head off, bash him with a baseball bat. There was many times, many things said."
Prosecutors allege that Mr Hoffmann asked after a man called "Alex" multiple times during an alleged fatal shootings on June 4, 2019.
The defendant is accused of murdering four men and has pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges.
Mr Barlee said Michael Sisois, whom prosecutors allege Mr Hoffmann murdered that night, and the defendant appeared to be "best friends" while on site.
Witness says Hoffmann 'got a gun'
Mr Barlee said a "couple of days" prior to the alleged rampage, Mr Hoffmann told him he had "got a gun from someone starting with J".
The witness said Mr Hoffmann "said he was going to get Alex" with the gun.
The court was told Mr Barlee did not immediately approach the police after the alleged shooting spree and gave a statement to police after being approached by an officer "about three months" after the incident.
"It was a little bit surreal — we didn't expect him to go and do anything," Mr Barlee said.
During cross-examination, Mr Hoffmann's defence barrister, Jon Tippett, challenged Mr Barlee's account.
Mr Tippett suggested to Mr Barlee that he had misremembered conversations with Mr Hoffmann.
"I suggest to you that Mr Hoffmann was not talking about shooting up," Mr Tippett said.
Mr Barlee replied: "He definitely did say that".
Hoffmann warned to 'stay away' from girlfriend
Agapitos Agapitos told the jury that he hired Mr Hoffmann to work at his business in 2019.
Mr Agapitos said that, in the weeks prior to the alleged fatal shootings, he had become concerned about Mr Hoffmann's worsening mental state.
The court heard that Mr Hoffmann had spoken to Mr Agapitos about someone called Alexi, or Alex, and introduced his former boss to a woman he was seeing.
Mr Agapitos said the defendant told him that "Alexi" had been "using" Mr Hoffmann's girlfriend "like a pimp".
"He wanted to hurt Alexi, yes," Mr Agapitos said.
"He wanted to get a baseball head and smash his head in … he wanted to find him."
The jury heard Mr Hoffmann told Mr Agapitos his girlfriend had allegedly been sexually assaulted.
Mr Agapitos said he warned Mr Hoffmann to "stay away" from the woman he'd been seeing, telling the court she was a "junkie".
The jury was shown a text message, which the prosecution alleged was from Mr Hoffmann, sent on the morning of the alleged shootings.
"Sick have to stay home today," the message from Mr Hoffmann reads.
Mr Agapitos told the jury that Mr Hoffmann also lived at the workplace for a short period but he had asked Mr Hoffmann to move out a few days prior to the alleged attacks.
Mr Hoffmann has pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges against him.
The trial is scheduled to run for another seven weeks.
