Frank Tepper, 43, who was fired this year, was ordered held for trial on a general murder charge at a preliminary hearing in the killing of 21-year-old Billy Panas Jr.
Anthony Picklo testified he was about to go to sleep he heard a scuffle outside his house in the city's Port Richmond section on Nov. 21. Picklo said he went out and saw Panas in a skirmish with another young man as a large group gathered.
When he went to help his friend Panas up off the ground, Picklo said, Tepper came over, pointed a gun at him and told him to back up.
"Billy was like, 'He's not going to shoot anybody,"' Picklo testified.
But as Panas dusted off his clothes, Tepper shot him in the chest from close range, Picklo said.
Picklo said that Tepper had a split lip, but that he didn't know how it happened. He did not identify with whom Panas had been fighting, and authorities have not said how it started.
Police initially said Tepper was trying to break up the fight, but he was fired after an internal investigation.
Defense attorney Fortunato Perri Jr. asked Municipal Judge David C. Shuter to reduce the charge to voluntary manslaughter, arguing that his client was injured and either acted in sudden passion or thought he was acting in self-defense.
"This witness is not aware of what happened prior to his arrival," Perri said in court.
Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron said Panas had not threatened Tepper, who lived in the neighborhood and has been described by some neighbors as a bully.
"He meant to kill him," Cameron said of Tepper.
Tepper, who attended the hearing in an orange prison jumpsuit, was also held for trial on charges of possession of an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person.
After the hearing, Perri said that evidence will show that people associated with Panas hit Tepper and that it's not a murder case.
"He was reacting to a situation in which he was being beaten," Perri said.
Meanwhile, Panas' friends and family filled several rows in the courtroom, some wearing blue hooded sweat shirts that said 'Billy Panas' on them.
"It won't bring my boy back, but it is some sense of justice," said William Panas Sr., who has said his son was trying to break up the fight.
Former District Attorney Lynne Abraham announced last year that she was convening a grand jury in the killing. Last week, the city's new top prosecutor said his office reviewed the case and determined there was enough evidence to file charges.