In a recorded conversation played in court Monday, a man accused of attempted murder described a standoff in which both he and his adversary were wielding shotguns.
Bradley Douglas Barr, 35, also faces charges of discharging a firearm with an attempt to wound or disfigure and unlawful discharge of a firearm in the Sept. 20, 2012 shooting of Craig Frederick Lyver, 42, on a 2800-block Northwood Pulp Mill Road property.
Unaware the RCMP had equipped the man he was talking with a recording device, Barr said Lyver, who he was helping with a marijuana grow-op, had let him store his personal items at his home for a couple of weeks while he waited on a townhouse he was planning to move into.
But once in Lyver's home, Barr said Lyver "got explosive to my face," and threatened to kill him before telling him he's out of the home and he won't be able to retrieve his possessions until a second crop had been harvested in about six weeks.
Lyver had been accusing Barr of failing to do his share of work in the grow-op, located on the Northwood Pulp Mill Road property, the court had heard in earlier testimony.
Barr said he left and the two got into a war of words via text messages before he tried to smooth things over with an apology.
But the conflict escalated again, the court heard, when Barr ran into a drug dealer who showed him a gold bracelet he had stored in a safe at Lyver's home.
"So now I know he's busted into my safe," Barr said.
"Steamed" Barr said he drove over to the property where he found Lyver sitting on a pile of tires in the driveway holding a shotgun Barr also happened to own.
Barr said he got out of his truck to see Lyver walk up to him while pointing the shotgun at him. Barr said he pulled another shotgun he owned off the seat of his truck "and I started pumping him full of fuckin' bullets."
Barr said he shot Lyver in the knee and arm and left with both guns, which he buried elsewhere.
The man, acting as a police agent, told Barr he wouldn't have left Lyver like that.
"I wasn't in my right mind," Barr replied.
After a few more comments from the man, Barr then said he "could've done it cleaner and neater. But I wanted him to know it was fuckin' me, right?"
Barr, who was arrested a day or so after the incident, said Lyver's "chick" was also at the scene but was certain she would not testify if Lyver refused to give any names.
The recording was made about 13 months after the shooting when Barr, by then out on bail, was talking to the man as they were sitting in his car in Vancouver.
With the help of metal detection equipment, sheriffs were screening people Monday before they entered the courthouse.
The trial continues Tuesday.
