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The testimony came during the third day of the Cayuga County Court trial of Shameek Copes, 28, of 1 Jefferson St., Apt. 1, who faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the killing of a Syracuse man outside Swifty's Tavern on Perrine Street. The prosecution has said Copes fatally shot John Wesley Smith III, 37, in the early morning hours of March 15.

Adrian Agee, of Auburn, who was arraigned in April on charges related to Smith's death, was the final person to testify Wednesday, and he'll be back on the witness stand Thursday morning to answer questions from Copes' defense attorney.

In answering questions Wednesday from Cayuga County District Attorney Brittany Grome Antonacci, Agee said he went to Swifty's the morning of March 15 and met with people to celebrate a birthday. The shooting took place on Copes' 28th birthday.

Agee, who said Copes is his niece by marriage, said Copes started getting upset at one point and asked him to get her a gun. Although he said he was initially reluctant to do so, he ultimately left Swifty's to retrieve a firearm for Copes and returned to the bar. Agee said he then went into the women's bathroom with Copes and gave her the gun. She "loaded the chamber," Agee said, before leaving with the weapon. 

Saying that he stayed inside Swifty's while Copes walked through the front entrance of the bar, Agee testified that he began hearing gunshots. 

"I didn't think she would do something like this," Agee later said on the stand. 

Agee was originally charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, hindering prosecution and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the investigation into Smith's death. Agee has pleaded guilty to the weapon possession and the hindering prosecution charges, and is facing prison time.

Agee also testified to driving Copes away from the bar after the shots were fired. He said Copes was still upset and he took her to Steel Street. Agee said he "kind of told (Copes)" he didn't want to touch the gun but admitted putting it in a storm drain.

Agee said police initially interviewed him later on the day of the shooting. Grome Antonacci asked Agee if he had been "less than truthful" with police at that time, and Agee noted he had been terrified at that moment. Agee was interviewed again on March 16, and he then took police to the storm drain on Steel Street where he had said he disposed of the gun.

Grome Antonacci showed Agee some video surveillance clips from Swifty's taken that night, including color footage where Copes is shown walking out through the bar's main entrance. Grome Antonacci asked him if he had noticed anything at that point, and Agee said he had heard gunshots.

Another video shown was black-and-white video security footage from outside the bar in which gunshots are heard, and Agee identified Smith, a person he said he knew, in the video. When Grome Antonacci asked who the person seen in the footage fleeing the scene was, Agee replied, "That's Shameek." 

Others who testified Wednesday included an employee of Swifty's at the time the shooting who was working that night and two bar patrons who admitted they were intoxicated but recounted seeing Copes raise her arm while she was exiting through the doorway.

Three Auburn Police Department detectives, Sean DeRosa, Adam Rivers and James Frost, also testified. DeRosa, lead investigator for the case, said Swifty's had at least four cameras with footage relevant to the case and said he viewed the footage. 

"It appeared in the video that Copes appeared to shoot the victim," DeRosa said.

Through the video surveillance and other information gathered during the investigation, DeRosa said the APD determined Copes was the main suspect in the shooting. Copes' lawyer, Rome Canzano, told the jury during his opening statement on Tuesday that the defense believes the video evidence is not conclusive.

During Canzano's cross examination, DeRosa said he was not able to tie the guns determined to have been involved in the shooting to any particular person.

Following jury selection that took all day Monday and the first part of Tuesday, courtroom tensions occasionally ran high during the first two days of witness testimony. A couple of people in the gallery had outbursts and rushed out of the courtroom, and after court ended around 5 p.m. Tuesday, some people got into a verbal confrontation outside. Although the situation never became a physical fight, APD were called to the scene. 

Judge Thomas Leone, who is presiding over the trial, addressed the tensions before proceedings began Wednesday. Standing up while speaking, the judge said while almost everyone was respectful, he saw Tuesday afternoon's confrontation from the large windows in the back of the courtroom. The judge said that while "I know emotions are running high," confrontations wouldn't help matters.

"Let's just get through this trial with minimum aggravations," Leone added.

The fourth day of Copes trial resumes Thursday morning with Agee set to take questions from Canzano.