Twenty-year-old Stephin Bergeron was killed after an afternoon and evening of confrontations on April 13, 2011, witnesses told jurors Tuesday.

David Caleb Fontenot, 23, accused of killing Bergeron and shooting at Chance Bourgeois, is standing trial on charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. Authorities said Bergeron was killed off La. 27, along the road next to Jerry’s Marine and across the street from Wayne and Layne’s.

Devin Badon, Fontenot’s co-defendant, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in June 2012.

Bergeron and Badon began arguing when Bergeron called Badon after learning Badon may have been giving drugs to Bergeron’s former girlfriend, Brenna Ledoux, according to three witnesses — Bourgeois; Christina Bergeron, Stephin Bergeron’s mother; and Jennifer Guillory, a friend of Stephin Bergeron’s who said she was the one who told him about the drugs.

Christina Bergeron said she also talked to Badon and told him she would tell his family.

Several people who testified Tuesday said they knew either Bergeron or Badon, but had met Fontenot only a handful of times, or didn’t know him at all. Prosecutor Rick Bryant said Fontenot was from Ville Platte.

Bergeron and Badon had been friends at one point and had even physically fought before, but always made up, Guillory said.

After arguing on the phone, Bergeron and Badon agreed to meet in Choupique to fight, Bourgeois, Christina Bergeron’s boyfriend, testified. On the way, Stephin Bergeron and Bourgeois saw Badon’s white Ford pickup truck and turned around to follow. When they pulled alongside the truck, Badon wasn’t driving; Fontenot was.

They then saw Badon and his girlfriend, Nikita Julian, in her maroon Chevy pickup truck and followed them about eight miles, Bourgeois said. Bourgeois and Bergeron were speeding up “like they wanted to run us off the road,” Julian testified.

When they reached a stoplight, Bourgeois got out and began “hollering at Devin to get out,” Bourgeois said. “It was me that egged on the chase,” he said. Bourgeois was yelling that he would find Badon and that he knew where Badon lived, Julian said.

When Badon and Julian’s truck turned onto Interstate 10, “we thought it was over,” and did not follow, Bourgeois said.

Badon and Julian drove to Lake Charles to meet Fontenot at his cousin’s apartment, Julian said. They then traveled back to Sulphur to Walmart at about 8 p.m. Fontenot tried to buy bullets, but was too young, Julian said. He and Badon got another man, Dustin Bowdin, to buy bullets for them, she said. Fontenot loaded the bullets into the gun, Julian said.

“He said he loved shooting people because he got to watch their soul leave out of their body,” Julian said.

While at Walmart, Julian got a call from Christina Bergeron about a message left on Stephin’s phone, Julian said.

“I said if it happened again, I would shove a gun down his throat,” Julian said. She said the message was in reference to the earlier incident at the red light.

From Walmart, Julian, Badon and Fontenot, still in separate trucks, traveled to a bar on Ruth Street, Julian said.

As they headed back to Hackberry, Badon got a call from Stephin Bergeron, Julian said. Badon told Bergeron they could meet in Choupique to fight, she said.

After it got dark, the two trucks came twice and revved their engines in front of Christina Bergeron’s house on Venus Lane, Bourgeois said. When the trucks came the second time, he tried to sneak off to go check out the situation, but Danika Bergeron, Stephin Bergeron’s sister, saw him leave, he said.

“I was going to confront them verbally at first and if it got physical, it got physical,” Bourgeois said.

Christina Bergeron said she was standing outside her home telling Stephin he needed to go home to his new apartment, when the trucks arrived and began revving their engines again.

They went back inside and she told him to wait for her while she went to the restroom. When she returned, he was walking out the driveway with her daughter, Danika Bergeron. She called to her children, asking them to come back, but only Danika returned, she said.

Bourgeois said he told Stephin Bergeron to go back home, but Bergeron didn’t.

They saw the two trucks parked across the street, in the parking lot of Wayne and Layne’s, Bourgeois said. They walked into the street and Bourgeois threw a rock at the trucks, he said.

When the trucks turned around, Bourgeois and Bergeron retreated back to their side of the street, crossing the ditch to get against the fence of Jerry’s Marine, Bourgeois said.

When the rock or rocks hit the two trucks, Badon yelled “there they are, bust a cap in their ass, bust a cap in their ass,” Julian said.

The white truck Fontenot was driving was in front, Julian said. He stopped and shot at Bergeron, Julian said.

“Dust was flying off the ground and I saw (Bergeron) covering his head,” Julian said.

“I heard bullets whizzing by my head and everything,” Bourgeois said. “It was close.”

When Stephin rounded the corner, Christina heard the trucks revving and instructed her daughter to get in the bushes, she said. Christina said she then heard gunshots — a total of 14 — and began to run.

She got in her van and drove to see what had happened. She said she first drove past Stephin without seeing, but then circled back and found him lying in the ditch.

“His face was blown apart,” she said. “I was trying to hold his face together, I was trying to put his face together.”

Bourgeois said he ran, but immediately returned, where he saw Bergeron on the ground, shot. “It was pretty clear that he was bad off,” Bourgeois said.

During a 911 call played in court, an emotional Bourgeois told an operator, “they killed him, Oh my God, y’all got to hurry … Stephin, stay with me, keep breathing, keep breathing.”

Fontenot drove off straight, while Badon and Julian turned around, Julian said.

When they met in Choupique, Fontenot said, “I think I killed one of those people,” Julian said. “I was freaking out.”

Fontenot left, while Badon and Julian went to bed, she said.

Devin went to sleep and “I tried to sleep,” she said.

She heard a bang at the door and authorities entered the apartment and arrested them, Julian said.

A grand jury declined to indict Julian.

A friend of Fontenot’s from Ville Platte, Toy Tables O’Neil, testified that he purchased a gun from Academy in Lafayette for his own protection, although Fontenot was with him. Prosecutors showed a store video of the two men buying a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun on March 16, 2011. O’Neil paid $344.50 for the gun, according to Joseph Nugent, the store’s operations manager.

O’Neil said he realized the gun was gone while cleaning his car soon after.

Several witnesses said they found a gun in Fontenot’s belongings in the weeks before the shooting. Reesa Boudreaux, Badon’s sister, said Badon lived in a garage apartment behind her home, but she was to be informed of anyone at the garage and he was not to have overnight guests. When she saw someone enter the garage one night weeks before the shooting, she waited until the person and Badon left, then went to investigate, along with her husband, she said. In a bag belonging to Fontenot, they found bullets, then a gun, she said.

Kenneth Kellum Jr. and Julian went to the house and got the gun, they said. They put the bullets into a sock and Julian threw them into Choupique Bayou, she said.(MGNonline)