Girl thought teenager was showing gun to boy before she heard a shot, court told
Police interview with teenage witness of Kesgrave shooting played at trial
A girl thought a teenager was "just showing his gun" to a boy who was on his way to school in Suffolk before she heard a loud bang and saw the boy on the ground with a wound to his face, a court heard.
The witness, who was aged 13 at the time, was walking to school in Kesgrave near Ipswich on September 7 last year for her first day back since the first national lockdown.
In her police interview, played to jurors at Ipswich Crown Court, she said she caught up with a boy who was also in school uniform and saw him "speaking to a man who was behind a silver car".
She said: "(The boy) appeared to know him, saying 'you can drive now?' as a question.
"He was walking past the car and I had caught up with him at this point.
"The guy behind the car pulled out a gun.
"It had a long silver barrel and a wooden handle."
She went on: "When he first pulled it (the gun) out (the boy) was asking 'is it legal or not', something like that.
"He was pointing the gun at (the boy).
"(The boy) was walking really slow, gentle steps.
"He was asking 'what are you doing with that'."
She said she walked past them then "heard a gunshot".
"It was really loud," she said.
"I turned round and saw (the boy) on the floor.
"I saw he had some sort of wound on his face or neck.
"I looked at the guy behind the car.
"He just screamed at me to run. I turned and I ran.
"I think I was screaming 'I'm sorry, I didn't do anything'."
She said she told a woman who came out of her house "somebody's just been shot", and while she was trying to call her father she saw the car drive past her.
A 16-year-old boy denies the attempted murder of a 15-year-old boy and four further charges.
Asked by a police officer what the person stood by the car was like, the girl said: "When he had the gun he was stiff and his jaw was very clenched in a way like he had a lot of anger.
"He had a lot of emotion of some kind."
She said the victim was asking "about a licence or a permit" when the other boy produced a gun.
She said that the boy "started to point the gun at (the victim) and aim", adding: "Initially I thought he was just showing him his gun."
She went on: "(The victim) said 'what are you doing' and walked really slowly.
"As (the victim) took really slow, gentle steps he moved along with him."
She said the boot of the car was open but "appeared to be empty", and she believed the boy got the gun "out of the car where the door was open".
She said that after she heard the gunshot the boy did not point the gun at her, adding: "He was just holding it in one of his hands."
The trial was earlier told that the victim's injuries were "devastating and life-changing", that he suffered a stroke and was left "partially paralysed" as a result.
The trial continues.