'Why not call 911?' Crown grills Peter Khill about the night he killed Jon Styres

Peter Khilltold Hamilton court Tuesday that onnight he shot Jon Styres, his military training was triggered and he stopped thinking like a civilian until he could "neutralize the threat."

Around 3 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2016, Khilllooked out his window and realized someone was trying to steal his truck. In that moment, he said, the lessons he learned over four years in the Canadian Armed Forces reserves came flooding back.

• Doctors testify shotgun blasts struckStyresat a downward angle

• Officer testifiesKhillsaid he was a 'soldier' following training on the night JonStyresdied

The Hamilton-area homeowner testified in Superior Court that he was prepared to defend himselfwhen he ran from his bedroom and into thatcold night, wearing just boxers and a T-shirt, but carryinga loaded 12 gauge shotgun.

Moments later, Jon Styres, a 29-year-old man fromOhsweken, Ont., on the Six Nations reserve, lay dying in Khill'sdark, muddy driveway after being hit by two close-range shotgun blasts.

But thefatal shooting didn't need to happen, argued assistant Crown attorney Steve O'Brien, if Khill had chosen instead to pickup the phone and callpolice.

Khill has admitted to killing Styres, who prosecutors say was trying to steal his 15-year-old pickup, and is charged with second-degree murder. He's pleading not guilty.

In his opening statement, defence lawyer Jeff Manishen toldjurors his client's actions were based on self-defenceand his training as a Canadian Armed Forces reservist.

"It was nota matter of going outside to shoot.It was nota matter of going outside to protect a truck,"Manishensaid."He was simply there to stop a person."

Military training doesn't disappear

The first witness he called was Walter Sroka,Khill's superior officer in the 56 Field Regiment inBrantford, Ont., who explained training for soldiers is based on repetition.

"You do it so much you don't have to think about what you're doing," he said, adding that training doesn't just disappear after you leave the military and it can come back in some situations as if someone "turns a switch."

Threespecific lessons Sroka mentioned from that training are to evaluate threats and act proactively, never point a weapon at someone unless you mean to use it and that soldiers should never do anything alone or risk becoming a casualty.

Khill was alone on the night of the fatal shooting, but told prosecutors despite being "a little bit scared" he felt he needed to "neutralize any threat that was there."

'Basically your worst nightmare'

Khill described using his militarytraining tomove quietly and open doors almost silently as hewent out the back door and walked through a breezeway between the house and garage that brought him to within a dozen feet of Styres,who was bent over the passenger seat of the truck and did not appear to notice his arrival.

Manishenasked him to demonstrate what he did next and Khillshouted"Hey, hands up!" in a loud, sharp voice that caused peoplein the courtroom to gasp and sit up in surprise.

I intended to defend myself.- Peter Khill

That's when Khill said Styres' hands started to move and he fired twice.

"Basically it was your worst nightmare, where someone backed away from the vehicle, both arms came togetherand went like this," he said, standing up from the witness box and swinging his hands from their lowest point up to about waist height.

"Did you intend to kill the man?" asked Manishen.

"No," said Khill. "I intended to defend myself."

During his testimony, a woman sitting withStyres' supporters bolted from the courtroom in tears and could be heard sobbing outside.

Crown asks why police weren't called

Under cross-examination,O'Brien suggestedStyreswas merelystartled by the homeowner's sudden shout in the darkness, and that's what caused him to start in surprise and move his hands.

He also challenged Khill, saying that his testimony seemed to contradictwhat he told a 911 dispatcher and the officer who arrested him for murder that night thatStyres' hands were already in a shooting position when he began pulling the trigger.

"I didn'twait until [his hands]came all the way up,"Khillconfirmed."As soon as I thought he had a gun I fired."

Court has heardStyres was not carrying a gun. A folding knife was found on the 29-year-old, but it was closed and in his pocket.

O'Brien raised several alternatives to heading outside with a loaded gun, asking Khillwhy he didn't call police, turn on a light andopen the front door to yell, or even fire a round into the front yard to scare whoever was outside away.

The Crown specifically asked Khill where his cell phone was and pointed out that despitehis time in the reserves, he had been a civilian for about five years by that point.

"Why not call 911? Everyone knows 911, you pick up the phone and call the cops."

Styresa 'human' not a threat

Khill admitted his phone was "probably" on his bedside table and that calling the police wasreasonable, but added "I thought my response was reasonable as well."

O'Brien pressed again, suggesting the person outside could have been "a goofy teenaged kid, not some armed Taliban insurgent ... it wasn't worth a moment to call 911?"

"There was a threat outside and I did what I needed to neutralize it," responded Khill.

O'Brien disagreed, ending his questioning by stating.

"There was a guy stealing your truck that you shot twice and killed. He was not a 'threat you needed to neutralize' but a human being."

The trialwill continue Wednesday.