Michael Dunn, the 47-year-old software engineer who shot and killed a 17-year-old black male took the stand on Tuesday and argued he fired at the teen in self defense, according to the Associated Press.
Dunn is being tried in state court on one count of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of firing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle tied to the November 23, 2012 shooting that killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis, the AP reported.
Dunn, who has claimed self-defense, testified that prior to the shooting he feared for his life according to the AP.
"I thought I was going to be killed," Dunn said during his testimony, the AP reported.
The incident occurred at a gas station where Dunn and his fiancée stopped to buy white wine on the way back to their hotel after attending the wedding of Dunn's son, according to the AP.
Dunn said the music from a red Dodge Durango parked at the same gas station grew "really loud" after his fiancée went into the store, the AP reported.
"My review mirror was shaking, my eardrums were vibrating. It was ridiculously loud," Dunn said, according to the AP. "I said, 'Can you turn that down please?'" he testified. "They turned it off. I said thank you."
Then, Dunn said the young men in the Durango began using expletives and resumed to turn the volume back up, the AP reported.
"I start hearing things like F-him and F-that," Dunn said, according to the AP. "It was mean-spirited."
Cory Strolla, Dunn's attorney, told the jury in his opening statement that Dunn opened fire only after seeing what looked like the barrel of a gun or a lead pipe through the Durango's back passenger window and he was acting in self-defense as Davis was about to get out of the car, the AP reported. Police found no weapon in the Durango after the shooting.
The similarities of Dunn' case to the George Zimmerman case where he argued he shot Trayvon Martin in 2012 citing self defense is garnering media attention, the AP reported. In both cases, the victims were black teens killed by men who said they believed their lives were in danger.
Prosecutors showed the jury photo's of Davis body at the time he was shot in what the medical examiner described as a defensive position, leaning away from Dunn's gun in an effort to prove to the court he had no intention of acting aggressively and posed no threat to Dunn and his wife, according to the AP.
The assistant medical examiner, Stacy Simons, said in court on Monday that 17-year-old Davis was "leaning away from Dunn when the bullet entered his body," the AP reported.
