Jury selection began Friday for the trial of an Annapolis man charged in an allegedly hate-driven shooting that killed three men and wounded three other people in 2023.

The mass shooting, sparked by an altercation over a neighborhood parking space, shook the Annapolis community and led to vigils and calls for justice.

Charles Robert Smith, 45, was indicted in July 2023 and charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree murder substantially motivated by hate towards persons of Hispanic national origin, and other offenses. The victims were Latino and the suspect is white.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

About 100 residents sat through the jury selection Friday morning at the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in Annapolis, which probed the panel’s feelings on firearms, criminal justice reform and victims’ groups.

“Does any member of the jury panel have strong feelings about murder in any degree?” potential jurors were asked.

Another question: “Does any member of the jury panel have strong feelings about immigration in this country or immigrants?”

The shooting took place on June 11, 2023, on Paddington Place in Annapolis. The victims included a father and son, Nicholas Mireles, 55, of Odenton, and Mario Mireles Ruiz, 27, of Annapolis; and a family friend, Christian Marlon Segovia Jr., 24, of Severn.

Smith’s attorneys claimed in court documents that he acted in self-defense. The FBI investigated whether Mireles Ruiz had ties to “violent gangs such as the Mexican Cartel, as well as of the Mireles family’s efforts to finance a contract killing of Smith,” Assistant Public Defender Deborah Katz Levi wrote in court documents.

In November, a state judge in Anne Arundel County ordered the FBI to turn over more information. The federal law enforcement agency refused and filed a motion to quash the order, citing “sovereign immunity.”

The Capital Gazette reported last week that the FBI had found no evidence of involvement by the victims in the MS-13 criminal gang.

Prosecutors said in court documents that Smith and the Mireles family had disputes for years and that Smith’s mother had used racial slurs toward one of the victims and his family before he died.

In court papers, Smith’s attorneys laid out their client’s version of what happened:

On the night of the shooting, the Mireles family had 40 to 50 people over for a birthday party. Smith’s attorneys said Smith was unable to park his car because a vehicle was blocking his driveway.

Smith’s mother was having a “heated verbal altercation” with Mireles Luiz, who they say had a “reputation for violence as well as gun possession from prior incidents,” so Smith retrieved a Glock pistol from inside the home to protect himself and his mother, defense attorneys claim.

They say Mireles Ruiz took Smith to the ground and “grabbed for his Glock pistol,” prompting Smith to shoot him several times at close range.

Segovia began moving toward Smith, and fearing that he was armed, Smith shot him as well, defense attorneys state in court papers.

Smith’s attorneys said other partygoers fired back, so he retreated into his mother’s home, where he grabbed an AR-15 and shot to “prevent anyone else from approaching the house.” Mireles was fatally shot and three others were wounded.

Police have said Smith went into his home, set up a rifle, and began firing through the front window at people coming to help those who had been shot.

Defense attorneys previously described Smith, an Army veteran, as suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The killings sparked grief in Annapolis’ Latino community. The three men left behind spouses, children and mothers. The families insist Smith’s outrage was driven by hate because they are from Mexico, El Salvador and Peru.

Mireles Ruiz’s fiancee, Judith Abundez, was pregnant with the couple’s second child at the time of the shooting. The baby boy turned 1 in September.

“What we really want is justice,” she said in June 2024.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of Charles Robert Smith.