A court's heard a Southport drug dealer shot his rival to protect himself
Jamie Bridge is on trial for attempted murder, which he denies.
A drug dealer who chased a rival through a busy seaside resort before shooting him in front of Christmas shoppers has told a court he was trying to protect himself.
Jamie Bridge, 22, shot Christopher Jopson in the head with a sawn-off shotgun and injured bus driver Lee Armstrong, who was standing nearby, in the town centre of Southport, Merseyside, at about 12.30pm on December 21 last year.
He admits wounding Mr Jopson with intent to cause grievous bodily harm but denies attempted murder.
Mr Jopson and Mr Armstrong suffered wounds to their heads in the shooting but neither was seriously injured.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday heard both Bridge and Mr Jopson had been cannabis dealers in the Southport area.
Bridge, wearing a grey North Face tracksuit, told the court Mr Jopson had been jealous'' of him and began to threaten him.
Asked by Charles Lander, defending, what Mr Jopson had said about Bridge's mother, he told the court: He said if I didn't stop selling drugs in Southport area he'll blow her head off.''
He said he had received phone calls from Mr Jopson where he could hear a gun being loaded, men tried to kick down the door of his girlfriend's flat and in the days before the shooting Mr Jopson had stabbed his friend Simon Dunn, who sold drugs for him.
Bridge said he had picked up the shotgun, which was stored in a park, on the morning of December 21 because he had felt his life was in danger.
He said: It was either going to be me dead or... you know what I mean. Going to go one way or the other.''
Witnesses, including teenage girls, described seeing Bridge chase Mr Jopson down Eastbank Street in the town centre before shooting him.
Bridge told the court he had been aiming for the bottom half of his body.
He said: I didn't want to kill him. I wouldn't kill him in broad daylight. I wouldn't do that.
I don't want to waste the rest of my life in prison.''
Asked how he felt about injuring Mr Armstrong, who had been standing at a bus stop waiting to start his shift when he was hit by parts of the shotgun cartridge, he said: Sorry, for him and his family. I'll regret it every day of my life.''
He accepted he had told a pack of lies'' in initial police interviews, before he had been identified on CCTV.
The court heard on the first day of his trial Bridge had offered to provide police with the gun he used if the charge of attempted murder was dropped.
He told the court: I don't know where it is but I could get it.''
Asked by Henry Riding, prosecuting, if the threats from Mr Jopson had justified shooting him in the town centre in the middle of the day, Bridge said: He was making threats to me and stabbing my mates so yeah it does.''
Bridge, of Wyresdale Road, Aintree, has admitted wounding Mr Armstrong and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence and intent to endanger life