Salvadore Parra said it was early one morning last October when he and his buddies decided they wanted to go out dancing.
When they ended up at a convenience store near South Sixth Avenue and Valencia Road, they cranked up the radio in their truck and started dancing, some in the bed of the truck, some on the ground.
Two other groups of people were at the store that morning, Parra said. One was in a sports utility vehicle, the other in a blue car.
Parra said when he let the others know he was loyal to the Bloods street gang by "throwing" some gang signs, they didn't react.
Until he and his friends left.
Shortly after leaving the store, he saw the blue car and the SUV.
His buddy Joseph Murrillo, 24, shouted for everyone to get down and four or five shots rang out as they turned from Valencia onto South Santa Clara, Parra said.
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The five men in the bed of the pickup ducked down, Parra said, but Murrillo started yelling, "I'm hit, I'm hit."
The group raced for Murrillo's house on West Calle Aragon. When authorities arrived, they found Murrillo dead in the bed of the truck.
Parra was one of the first witnesses to take the stand Wednesday in the murder trial of Marcos Antonio Felix, 21, and Michael Arnold Garcia, 18.
Prosecutor Mark Diebolt contends Felix was driving the blue car that morning and Garcia fired the fatal shot.
Felix is charged with second-degree murder and Garcia with first-degree murder.
Defense attorneys Chris Kimminau, Nicki DiCampli and Natasha Wrae have proclaimed their clients' innocence. There are conflicting statements about what happened that morning, how many vehicles were involved and who opened fire on whom.
Alex Grolsby, 16, was another passenger in the bed of the pickup truck the morning of Oct. 27, 2007.
A teary Grolsby recalled Murrillo telling everyone to get down, but had a hard time recalling other details.
Although he told police gang signs were thrown at the convenience store and he saw one of the strangers with a gun, he told Diebolt he doesn't remember either detail now.
Grolsby testified no one in his group had a gun that night.
Parra is expected to resume testifying this morning in the courtroom of Pima County Superior Court Judge Howard Fell.
In addition to the murder charges, Garcia and Felix face multiple counts of endangerment and drive-by shooting.
