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URBANA — After the car they were in stopped, two Champaign men say they took their friend’s gun and ran, leaving the driver bleeding in the road.

They didn’t see their friend, who they say shot the Lyft driver again.

All three, then aged 17, were later arrested and charged with murder in the January 12, 2022 shooting.

Two of them, Na’Shown Fenderson and Jaheim Dyer, reached plea deals later that year.

Each pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the shooting of Lyft driver Kristian Philpotts and agreed to testify against the third man, Tyjohn Williams, in exchange for having their murder charges dropped.

That testimony took place Monday, the first day of Williams’ trial. He faces four first-degree murder charges.

Fenderson’s demeanor was noted repeatedly by both the defense and prosecution throughout his testimony, which lasted more than two hours.

He was apparently very agitated in the courtroom, moving around in the witness box and often hesitating for long periods before answering questions, or not answering them at all.

Asked about his behavior, Fenderson said he was “under a lot of pressure.”

“I don’t like to think about that kind of thing,” he told Assistant District Attorney Scott Larson. “This stuff bothers me.”

By contrast, Dyer, who is Williams’ cousin, spoke clearly in court, even as he exposed multiple lies he told during his first interview with police the night of the shooting.

According to his testimony, the three teens were “relaxing” after school when Williams’ mother ordered a Lyft ride to take Williams to a hair appointment and the other two decided to accompany them.

None of them had ever been to the place where Williams was supposed to get his hair done, and along the way he seemed to change his mind.

“Tyjohn felt paranoid; he didn’t feel safe,” Dyer said.

Williams apparently asked the driver, Philpotts, to turn around and take them home, offering them money or marijuana in exchange.

Philpotts refused the additional payment but agreed to take them back.

Dyer said he saw a gun in Williams’ hand as he pulled it forward and toward the driver’s seat from where he was sitting behind the passenger seat.

Then, he said, Philpotts “fell out” of the vehicle and Williams moved forward in the driver’s seat, throwing his gun in the back.

The other two occupants began screaming, asking what he was doing and what was happening, as Williams drove more than two blocks from where the shooting occurred near Vine Street and Burkwood Short in Urbana, closer to Vine and Pennsylvania, before colliding with a truck.

Dyer said Williams fled, leaving his gun, shoes and phone behind, and the other two never saw him again.

Perhaps unaware of the phone’s existence, Fenderson said he grabbed the shoes and the gun. He said he and Dyer ran into a nearby yard and climbed a fence to hide the gun in a roof gutter.

Both were later driven through the area by police and said they could not remember where the gun was.

Neither Dyer nor Fenderson had a working phone, so they began knocking on doors asking to use a phone or Wi-Fi.

An elderly man in the 1500 block of Vine let them in because of the cold and allowed them to make calls.

Neither called 911 to report the shooting.

“Did you leave him (Philpotts) to die in the street? asked Stephen Komie, the Chicago attorney representing Williams.

“Yes,” Dyer responded Monday.

Security camera footage shown in court showed Philpotts as he was when police arrived on the scene, bleeding from the mouth as a passerby who happened to be a paramedic began trying to save lives.

Dyer and Fenderson first called Williams’ mother, who did not show up because they waited at home for more than an hour.

Then they tried Dyer’s mother, who showed up.

Urbana Police Officer Cortez Gardner saw them waiting on the porch about two hours after the shooting as he canvassed the area.

Gardner said Monday that he approached, initially believing them to be potential witnesses but not suspects because he had no meaningful description to go on.

He said Fenderson introduced himself as “Shawn Fender” and answered a few questions, but Dyer avoided answering and began walking toward the corner when his mother had just arrived to pick them up. .

Gardner said he did not observe any of the nervous behavior displayed by Fenderson in court and that both men were behaving “normally” at the time.

Yet something about the way they walked away from him made Gardner decide to follow him and get Dyer’s mother’s license plate number, which would be used to track the couple down later in the night.

He said he also knocked on the door to ask the resident if the two men on the porch lived there and was told they did not.

Prosecutors said Dyer and Fenderson spent time at Dyer’s home alongside several members of his family, including Williams’ mother, during which time they both changed clothes.

Police found the address through the license plate Gardner obtained and arrested both as they were leaving later.

Despite Fenderson’s hesitation, late Monday morning, he testified that he took Williams’ gun and shoes from the Lyft vehicle and fled.

He also admitted to making up a fake name when he first spoke to a police officer and changed his clothes shortly after the shooting.

Larson asked him directly: “Do you see the person in the courtroom today who shot Kristian Philpotts?”

Although he said Williams did not threaten him or make contact with him, Fenderson said, “I’m afraid to answer that question.”

He said he stood by his earlier account to Urbana police, in which he told them that Williams committed the shooting, but confirmed few details.

A police officer and an Urbana Fire Department employee, who were among the first to arrive on the scene, also testified Monday, as did an Urbana detective who worked on aspects of the investigation.

The trial is expected to resume Tuesday morning.