Accused gunman Blaine Simmons “acted in a very nervous manner” when stopped after a gang-related shooting last year in Sandys, a police firearms officer told the Supreme Court.

Mr Simmons denies attempting to murder Lo’Torean Durrant, as well as using a firearm to commit an indictable offence.

Mr Durrant, 23, was shot through the abdomen shortly after leaving a taxi outside his Somerset residence near 10pm on March 19, 2013. The court has heard that the victim was earlier accused of being a member of Parkside gang by a man who assaulted him at a bus stop — and that he had been stalked by two dark-clothed men on a motorcycle near his home on the night before the shooting.

The defendant, now 19, is a Carifta Games track and field athlete.

Day two of his trial centred on events from the night of the shooting at an address on nearby Acacia Lane — described before the jury as lying “right at the heart” of territory associated with the West End gang, Money Over Bitchez.

Yesterday in court, an area resident said she’d contacted police that night after her suspicions were aroused by two dark-clothed figures hurrying nearby — followed later by a black car that picked up one of the men.

The woman cannot be named for legal reasons.

Shortly after hearing sirens from close by, the woman told the court she’d heard footsteps coming from Acacia Lane, and saw “two guys with helmets” dressed in dark clothing, with no bike, entering a yard along the lane at “a fast pace”. They appeared to be coming from the adjacent Spice Lilly Lane.

She then read online that a man had just been shot on Scotts Hill Road — and later noticed one of the dark-clothed figures getting into a black car by the house on Acadia Lane.

She noted its registration and informed police.

“I just thought it was suspicious,” the woman told Crown counsel Maria Sofianos.

Defence lawyer Marc Daniels put it to the witness that one of the men she’d seen had been his client.

Next on the stand was Sandys resident and Somerset Trojans footballer Sean Brangman — whom the court heard had initially been arrested as a suspect, and later released by police.

Mr Brangman told Crown counsel Loxly Ricketts he had called on an Acacia Lane address that night in his black Peugeot — the registration number of which matched that given to police.

The jury heard that Mr Brangman had originally fabricated part of his statement to police about that events that night because he had been in the area in the hope of obtaining cannabis from a man identified as Malachai, nicknamed Mala.

Mr Brangman said that after waiting perhaps five minutes in the area, he’d spotted shadows from an approaching figure, who turned out to be Mr Simmons.

Mr Brangman, identified in court as the vice-captain of the Trojans, said he knew Mr Simmons as Youth Man, and recognised him as a visitor at his neighbour’s residence in the condo complex where he lived.

“He approached my car and asked me if he could get a lift up by my house,” Mr Brangman added. “I said OK. I wasn’t going out of my way.”

Mr Simmons had a helmet and a plastic bag. The two shook hands, and Mr Brangman gave the younger man a lift back to the apartments, where he got out.

Mr Brangman told the court he returned to his own residence — but was awakened along with his girlfriend at 4.30am by police, who took them both to Hamilton Police Station and seized the car.

Mr Brangman said he’d been arrested under suspicion of involvement in the shooting.

Cross-examined by Mr Daniels, Mr Brangman admitted that he initially left out details of the night because he hadn’t wanted to mention cannabis.

“The reason I put it to the police like that was because I am a role model, and what I really went for was marijuana,” he said.

Mr Daniels suggested that the drug connection, Mala, had asked him to give Blaine Simmons a lift — but Mr Brangman disagreed, replying: “He never asked me to give anybody else a ride.”

Mr Brangman told the court that he asked Mr Simmons if he’d seen Mala, and that the defendant had told him no. Mr Daniels responded: “Mr Simmons didn’t say no — he said that Mala had just left.”

The witness disagreed.

Mr Daniels then suggested that he’d asked Mr Simmons if he had any cannabis because he could smell the drug on him when he got into the car.

Mr Brangman disagreed, telling him: “I was just asking.”

“It’s some coincidence you ended up getting involved,” Mr Daniels told him. “You weren’t part of this, and you ended up dragged out of the house at 4.30 in the morning. Talk about bad luck, right?”

Next on the stand was Acacia Lane resident Bakeer Simmons, whom the court heard had been arrested as an accessory and who was later released.

Mr Simmons told the court he’d gone to work on the day after the shooting. The jury heard police had subsequently seized items from his house, including two towels.

He told Ms Sofianos he hadn’t been handling firearms at the time, and denied knowing anybody named Malachai or Mala.

He said he wasn’t related to the defendant, also a Simmons, and told the court: “I don’t even know him from in the neighbourhood. He’s no face to me.”

Mr Daniels subsequently accused Mr Simmons of lying in court and lying to police, putting it to him that both the defendant and Mala had smoked cannabis at his house on the night of the shooting. Mr Daniels also said his client had left the residence after a vehicle pulled up outside — all of which the witness repeatedly denied.

Police firearms expert Julian Brassington next told the court that he’d been on duty on the night of the shooting, and had spoken with a distraught taxi driver who attended Somerset Police Station with a bullet hole in the side of his car.

Police also got a call near 11pm of “two males dressed in dark clothing running down Acacia Lane”, Pc Brassington said. The suspects were believed to have gotten into the black Peugeot earlier reported, he added.

Pc Brassington said he attended the residence to which the car was registered, and kept watch — later seeing a car pull up and a man hurrying out to the apartment complex.

The driver of the car identified herself as the mother of Blaine Simmons, and said she’d come there to pick up her son.

When Mr Simmons arrived from the condos, the officer questioned him.

“Mr Simmons was sweating heavily,” he added. “He didn’t want to look at me when I was speaking to him.”

The defendant also commented that he had taken a shower at his friend’s house. Pc Brassington said he was still sweating, although the night had been cold.

“At that point, that started to ring alarm bells,” Pc Brassington said. “Having been a firearms officer and firearms instructor for the past 17 years, it raised concerns in relation to forensic evidence.”

The trial continues today.