A man who disarmed a gunman and shot him says he thought his attacker was reaching for another weapon.
Prosecutors say Alan Roberts wrestled a gun from James Freeman then shot him twice in the chest at "point blank range".
They allege Freeman was "no longer a threat", because he was lying on the floor and being kicked by two bystanders.
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But Roberts, who moments earlier was hit in the groin by fragments of a bullet, argues everything he did was "reasonable force" used in self-defence when he feared for his life.
The shooting happened at the Old Bank Pub in Page Moss on May 17 last year - on the first day out of lockdown.
Freeman, 24, of of Pennard Avenue, Huyton, has admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Roberts, 29, of Heyes Street, Everton, denies those offences and attempted murder.
Liverpool Crown Court today heard Roberts grew up in Page Moss and the pub was his local, but at the time he was living in Stockbridge Village.
Roberts said he spent the day out on his bike and rang his girlfriend Chloe Price on a friend's mobile phone, because he didn't have one.
He said they met at the McDonald's restaurant opposite the pub then walked over for a drink and game of pool, at around 8.15pm.
The jury has heard Freeman had earlier been to the pub, asking for a man called "Mikey".
Under questioning by Nick Johnson, QC, defending, Roberts said he wasn't aware of that, didn't know Freeman and had "never heard of him".
He said he was chatting in the patio area, at 8.17pm, when Miss Price asked "who is that on the bike?" and he turned to see a masked man.
Roberts said the cyclist looked "out of place", with his hood up and gloves and a mask on, and when the man "lashed" his electric bike down and came running up a ramp towards him, he was "panicking" and "scared".
He said: "He was staring, snarling, running at me with his hands in his pockets - I didn't know what he had on him."
Roberts said he first saw the gun when Freeman "half pulled it out" from his pocket, before he ran into the pub.
He said he wasn't thinking about the fire exits and didn't know if he could escape, adding: "He could have easily got me, shot me in the back."
Mr Johnson said: "Did you think you could outrun a bullet?"
"No," Roberts replied, adding that he stood at the side of the door.
He said: "The first thing that came through the door was the gun in his hand. My natural reaction was to grab it."
Mr Johnson said at 8.18pm "a shot was fired by Mr Freeman" and Roberts said: "I knew I had been shot."
Prosecutors say Roberts was hit in the groin by bullet fragments, leaving two "foci" - points - near his left pelvis.
Firearms expert Andre De Villiers Horn previously told the jury it was likely something in the pocket of Roberts' tracksuit bottoms deflected the bullet.
Mr De Villiers Horn said this could have been a mobile phone or thick wallet, but Roberts denies carrying either.
Asked if he felt any pain when the gun went off, Roberts said "not really no", adding: "I felt like as I've been shot I've bent over, know what I mean? The last thing I could have done is let go of the gun."
Mr Johnson said: "What do you think would have happened if you did?"
"I would be killed," Roberts replied.
Roberts said he thought "the best thing was try and wrestle and win possession of the firearm", because if he didn't "I would die".
He said it all happened in a "blur", he could hear his girlfriend "screaming", and he had his head down, focusing on the gun, so wasn't aware of two bystanders shown on CCTV kicking Freeman, who was on the floor.
Mr De Villiers Horn has described Roberts "racking" the gun - pulling back the slide to eject a misfired cartridge and transferring an unfired cartridge into the magazine chamber - in a very short period of time after he grabbed the weapon. A misfired bullet was found at the scene.
Roberts said he didn't remember trying to fire the gun and it not working, or Freeman trying to fire it and hearing a "click".
He said he didn't remember racking the gun, but accepted he did it, although he didn't know why.
Mr Johnson said: "Have you watched films where people have done that sort of thing?"
Roberts answered: "Yeah, you see them in films."
Asked if he remembered shooting Freeman, Roberts replied: "No."
Mr Johnson said: "What was going through your mind whilst all this was going on?"
Roberts said: "That I was going to be killed at the time. I can genuinely recall seeing him reaching into his pocket at the time I was stood over him."
He said Freeman was in the corner of the doorway and he didn't know whether anyone else was with the gunman, who might have attacked him.
Roberts accepted shooting Freeman twice and said: "I was scared for my life and thought he was going to pull something else out and either injure me, or someone else.
"It could have been a firearm or a knife, I didn't know."
He said he fled with with the gun because he didn't know who else might have picked it up and come after him, and that he "automatically" took Freeman's bike.
Roberts described going to a nearby wasteland, at around 8.20pm, where he left the bike and the gun.
He was next seen on camera arriving at Whiston Hospital with Ms Price two hours and 10 minutes later.
Roberts said he sat in the field, in shock, before he walked around the area he used to live and "bumped into" Ms Price, having not been able to call her, because he didn't have a phone.
He said they caught a taxi to the hospital because he had a "bullet wound" and when he told doctors this, he knew they would "phone the cops".
(Proceeding)
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