Former police officer Adam Coy took the witness stand at his home murder case He told the jury Monday that he believed Andre Hill was about to shoot him with a silver handgun when he opened fire on the 47-year-old unarmed Black man in the dark garage of a Columbus, Ohio, home.

“I thought I was going to die,” an emotional Coy, a former member of the Columbus Police Department, testified about the fatal encounter with Hill on Dec. 22, 2020.

After firing four shots and approaching Hill, who was lying bleeding on the garage floor, Coy said he looked for the gun he thought Hill had used but found a large set of keys, a cell phone with a light and a pack of cigarettes. near his body.

“I got to the point where I was standing next to Mr. Hill and rolled him back,” Coy said. “I started looking for where the gun was and I saw a bunch of keys there and I said, ‘F—.’ At that point I knew I had made a mistake.”

Coy, 47, took the witness stand Monday after the prosecution rested the case. Franklin County prosecutors called just six witnesses over three days and showed a jury sitting in Franklin County Common Pleas Court body camera video of Coy emerging from a friend’s garage with a cellphone and shooting Hill.

Prosecutors are expected to file a rebuttal by calling a witness who is an expert in police training after the defense is heard.

Coy, who is white, faces charges of murder, aggravated assault and manslaughter. He pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, Coy faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

‘Something is not right here’

Under questioning from defense attorney Mark Collins, Coy said he was responding to a non-emergency complaint about a suspicious vehicle parked on the street with its engine turning on and off at 1:30 a.m.

Coy testified that when he arrived at the scene, the person who called 911 approached the vehicle to which he had directed him.

As he approached the car, the driver, who turned out to be Hill, rolled down the window and held out a cell phone, Coy said.

“The driver says, ‘I’m waiting for someone to get out. They’ll be out in a second,'” Coy said.

Coy said he wished Hill a “good evening” and returned to his patrol car, waiting for the person to come out and meet Hill.

“He was wide-eyed, a little nervous, and seemed dismissive towards me,” Coy said of Hill. “He wanted to cut off contact with me as quickly as possible.”

Coy testified that Hill got out of his car a few minutes later, walked onto the front porch of a house and slammed the door, but received no response.

He said Hill then walked back to his vehicle and rummaged through the front seat before returning to the house and knocking on the door again.

Coy asked Hill, “What’s going on?” He said he asked. But Hill ignored him.

He said that when Hill went to the front door of the house a second time and knocked, he looked over his shoulder and again got no answer.

“It’s like, ‘What is this person’s intention?'” Coy testified. “It makes you think.” You’re not being honest with me.”

Her colleague, Officer Amy Detweiler, testified that when she arrived at the scene, she lost track of Hill and the two officers decided to walk toward the driveway of the home to determine where Hill was.

Coy testified that he did not draw his gun as he and Detweiler walked up the driveway.

He said he pointed his flashlight into a dark, open garage to look for Hill.

“About this time I see a light flicker in the back of the garage. Two or three feet up the driveway, I see a light flicker going down to the ground in the back corner of the garage,” Coy testified.

As he pointed his flashlight at the flickering light, he testified: “Mr. Hill was crouched in the back right corner of the garage.”

“I shine my flashlight at him and say, ‘Something’s not right here.’ Come here, show yourself,’” Coy testified.

‘It was the worst night of my life’

Coy said Hill walked toward him, holding a light-up cell phone in his left hand. However, Coy testified that Hill was walking next to a car parked in the garage and that he could not see the man’s right side.

Coy claimed that Hill was “getting on his ass” or taking “a stance like a boxer would if he were going into a fight.” He said he believed Hill hid his cellphone as a “distraction”.

When Hill reached behind the car parked in the garage, he said he could finally see Hill’s right side.

“What do you see when it turns towards you?” asked Collins.

“A silver gun in his right hand,” Coy replied. Coy said Hill lifted the gun from the back of his leg and “came toward me.”

“I drew my gun,” Coy said. “‘Gun! Gun!’ “I shouted and fired four times.”

Collins asked “Why did you fire four shots?” he asked.

“That’s what stopped him,” Coy replied.

Coy testified that he was “horrified” when he realized he was wrong about what Hill had in his right hand.

“It was the worst night of my life,” Coy said. “I was shocked. I started heaving dryly. I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t think clearly. Everything became blurry in my eyes.”

Coy ended his statement directly by saying, “I saw an imminent threat and didn’t want to get shot right before Christmas.”

The trial is expected to continue on Tuesday.