Norman Waker’s public defender approached him in his wheelchair and mimicked holding a gun in front of his face as the 66-year-old testified during his murder trial that he acted in self-defense in a double shooting inside a senior living facility.

Waker is facing charges of first- and second- degree murder, along with first- and second-degree attempted murder, for the Feb. 20 shooting that left Clyde Barnes, 79, dead, and Vance Winston Bey, 73, severely injured.

On the third day of Waker’s trial on Thursday, his public defender, Matthew Connell, pushed his wheelchair in front of the witness stand across the red-carpeted courtroom and lowered a microphone to his seated height.

Waker told the jury he uses a wheelchair because a knee replacement caused an infection in his left leg, requiring it to be amputated at the thigh. A sore on his right leg requires synthetic narcotics to manage the pain.

Then he talked about his relationship with the man he killed. It was about 20 years ago, Waker said, that he met Barnes in jail.

Their paths crossed again two years ago when Waker moved in two floors above Barnes at Pleasant View Gardens senior living complex. The age-restricted apartments are made up mostly of low-income folks, Waker said, who rely on monthly Supplemental Security Income.

Waker himself receives $964 a month in disability payments, $263 of which goes to his monthly rent. At the end of the month, he would go to Barnes for high-interest loans. Barnes was also the go-to guy for purchasing discounted packs of Newport cigarettes.

“He talked shit,” Waker said about Barnes, during his profanity-laden testimony. The two men had a strained relationship; Barnes would call Waker names and threaten him, often “disrespecting me.”

But Barnes “would never do anything,” Waker said.

“What do you do when someone disrespects you?” Assistant State’s Attorney Victoria Yeager asked.

“I don’t have to tell nobody,” Waker said, adding that he would never let anyone disrespect him.

On the day of the shooting, Waker said, he called Barnes to tell him he wanted $80 worth of cigarettes. But, when he arrived at Barnes’ second-floor apartment and gave him the money, Barnes refused to give him the cigarettes, claiming Waker owed him money.

With Connell’s help, Waker recounted how Barnes pointed a gun at him, how he wrestled it away as they fell to the floor, and how the “tussle” ended with Barnes being shot in the back.

Waker added that he shot Winston Bey shortly after and claimed he had been watching the entire incident from inside Barnes’ living room.

Waker’s testimony contradicted that of Winston Bey and Barnes’ next-door neighbor, Linda Fifer.

Fifer testified on Wednesday that she saw Winston Bey in the hallway after the first set of “loud bangs” and asked him to go check on Barnes.

Minutes later, after the second set of shots, Fifer recollected Waker passing by her door in his wheelchair, telling her everyone was OK.

In a recorded interview with Baltimore City Police detectives hours after the shooting, Waker denied entering Barnes’ apartment or firing a gun at him or Winston Bey. When the officer asked if he acted in self-defense, Waker answered no.

An analysis of brown stains on Waker’s orange neon hoodie, worn at the time of the shooting, tested positive for Barnes’ DNA. Police never found the gun. Video surveillance at Pleasant View Gardens shows Waker — over the course of a minute after the shooting — with a white plastic bag on his lap leaving Barnes’ apartment to end up at the fourth-floor trash chute.

Waker said it was his “kitchen trash” he threw away.

Waker said he didn’t tell the police his story of self-defense prior to the trial because “it wasn’t their business.”

“I never called police for anything,” Waker told the jury. “It’s how I grew up.”

Closing arguments and jury deliberations will take place on Friday.