Tension was high and the Crown witness was "scared" as the trial began in Cranbrook Supreme Court Tuesday for two men charged in connection with a late evening shooting outside the Sam Steele Hotel Oct. 29, 2009.

The witness, Trevor J. Cowell formerly of Cranbrook, told the court several times he was scared to be giving evidence in the trial of Donald "Papa" Faid, 56, and Kevin William Winters, 51, charged in connection with the handgun shooting of Chad Munroe.

On more than one occasion Cowell rested his head in his hands and refused to name other people that were in the bar the night Munroe was shot twice during a melee in front of the hotel.

In a multi-count information, the Crown has charged Winters with attempted murder, aggravated assault and using a hand gun while committing a crime and three lesser weapon charges related to the offence. Faid, a federal parolee, is charged with aggravated assault, using a weapon while committing an aggravated assault, unauthorized transfer of a firearm (handgun) and possession of a restricted weapon.

The trial expected to last at least two weeks is taking place before Justice Don Carlgren of the Cranbrook Supreme court.

Under close to three hours of questioning by the Crown, Cowell, who left Cranbrook a few months after the shooting said he was in the Sam Steele Hotel playing pool around 12:45 a.m. when he saw "three guys come in through the back door" of the hotel which is a known drug hang out. He identified one of the three as "The Boxer" and later referred to him as Colin Correia, who is now facing charges stemming from a shooting incident in Kimberley Sept. 24, 2010.

He identified the second man that entered with Correia as Chad Munroe, the alleged victim of the shooting and said he couldn't remember the third. As the trio walked through, Munroe threw him a hoodie and asked him to hold onto it, he said.

As soon as the men walked through the bar someone yelled there was a fight outside and Cowell went outside himself and saw Munroe and Correia fighting with several others including Winters, Faid and someone he only identified as Doug.

One person was lying on the pavement in front of the hotel while two others were kicking him and two more were trying to pull away the ones that were putting the boots to the victim, he said.

"It looked to me that he (the victim) was getting stomped. He was getting beaten up," Cowell said, adding he couldn't say for sure who the victim was but it might have been Munroe.

Cowell said he got involved in the fight himself in an attempt to stop it and saw Faid at one point trying to pull away one of the men kicking the victim.

Asked what happened next, he covered his head with his hands for half-a-minute before again speaking. He said Faid went to a Lincoln Navigator SUV parked nearby and grabbed a gun from under the passenger side front seat. "I yelled gun, gun, gun and I ran."

After running outside to the back of the hotel, Cowell said he heard a shot fired then shortly followed by another shot as he was running down an alley and a little later he saw someone lying in the middle of the road. "I found out after it was Chad."

Just after hearing the second shot, he said he saw Correia. "I looked down and saw The Boxer. He said they had a gun. Run, run." At the same time, he said he could hear the wounded victim "screaming in pain." He said he also saw Winters walking away from the fallen victim on Eighth Avenue in front of the hotel.

Asked what the handgun used in the shooting looked like; Cowell said it was about eight to 10 inches long including its brown handle. Faid was shaking when he grabbed the gun from the SUV, he said. Cowell said he didn't see anyone else handle the gun before he ran away and heard the first shot fired when he was at the back of the hotel.

Shortly after he heard the second shot fired, Cowell said he ran into Cst. March who arrested him and took a statement from him later that night, adding he did not give March a truthful statement and used a false name.

"I was scared, being around guns and all that . . . I don't know what I was thinking at the time. I wasn't thinking at all."

Asked if he was scared to come to court, Cowell nodded. "I'm still scared."

Plain-clothed RCMP were in and around the courtroom at all times and one accompanied Cowell whenever he left or entered the court room.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Rick Strahl, Cowell said he left Cranbrook in December 2009, less than two months after the shooting. "I got beat up," he told Strahl, but wouldn't say who beat him up.

Cowell admitted he was also drinking heavily at the time of the shooting - as much as 24 bottles of beer-a-day - and snorting cocaine. He said he lived mainly by playing pool and sometimes won as much as $700 in a day.

Strahl asked Cowell if the white hoodie that Munro asked him to hold while passing through the bar contained a long cylindrical object and Cowell replied "I have no idea."

Strahl questioned Cowell on his exact movements after he ran from the shooting and about a second corrected statement he later gave to the police.

At one point, Cowell asked Justice Carlgren if everyone in the small courtroom gallery had a right to be there. Carlgren replied it was an "open courtroom" and the public had a right to attend.