Witness: Scarsella admitted shooting Jamar Clark protesters

Updated: 6 p.m. | Posted: 3 p.m.

The first witness in the shooting trial of Allen Scarsella testified that Scarsella admitted he shot some people at a protest in Minneapolis in 2015.

Scarsella faces seven felony charges for shooting and wounding five people near the demonstration over the fatal police shooting of Jamar Clark in November of 2015.

Julio Suarez, 33, testified that in the months before the shooting, he and Scarsella hung out together to shoot guns, talk about guns and watch TV.

On the night of the shooting, Suarez says Scarsella and three other men stopped by his Minneapolis residence to ask him if he wanted to come with them to the protest. Suarez said he told them no.

Suarez said the men returned about an hour later looking shaken. He said Scarsella told him he saw another man reach for a weapon but he "beat him on the draw" and fired all the bullets in the magazine of his gun.

Scarsella's defense attorneys say Scarsella fired in self-defense, and he's pleaded not guilty. However, prosecutors allege Scarsella was motivated by anti-black feelings to shoot and wound five African American protesters that night.

Four days before the shooting, Suarez and Scarsella went on what Suarez, who says he was a member of the Marine Corps between 2002 and 2006, called a "recon mission," which Suarez livestreamed to the 4Chan website. The two men appear in two videos played before jurors.

In the first, Suarez curses the protesters outside the 4th Precinct and calls them "dindus." When asked what "dindu" meant, Suarez said it is a term used on the 4Chan message board to describe black people who commit crimes and then say they "didn't do" them.

In the Nov. 19 video, Suarez holds a handgun in front of the camera and says "we're locked and loaded." However, he said he didn't know if Scarsella was carrying a gun at the time. At the end of the video, Suarez says, "stay white." Suarez said he said it to be funny and ironic, "considering I'm a person of color." He later added, referring to livestreaming the video, "In hindsight, it was very stupid." Suarez said he was looking for a little "internet fame."

Suarez also testified that he didn't agree with how the protesters were going about it.

Witness testimony Wednesday also included the emergency room doctor who treated Draper Larkins, one of the wounded men.

A forensic scientist who collected evidence at Scarsella's residence in Bloomington testified that police found Scarsella's gun and phone in his room.

The final witness was Nicholas Georgiades, who is part of the media collective called Unicorn Riot. He live streamed an interview with Scarsella and Suarez at the protest on the night of the 19th. They appeared to be sympathetic to the protesters, but they were apparently joking around.

At one point Scarsella referred to people of color as the "melanin-enriched community."