They wouldn’t stop.

That’s why Stephen Meeker said he began shooting at two men he said were running toward him and cussing at him the night of Oct. 14, 2001, outside his Baldwin residence.

“Why wouldn’t they stop?” Meeker, 34, asked repeatedly as he rubbed his face and sobbed hours later during an interview with Douglas County Sheriff’s Det. Doug Woods.

A videotape of that interview was played Monday for a Douglas County jury. The jury, consisting of eight men and four women, must decide whether Meeker is guilty of aggravated battery, aggravated assault and attempted aggravated battery.

Meeker is accused of shooting and wounding Steven Swafford, 31, Lawrence. Authorities say Swafford was shot three times with a 9 mm pistol.

The shooting allegedly occurred after a long-standing dispute between the Meeker family and Swafford’s girlfriend, Kerry Chalmers and her children, turned violent.

It was triggered that night when Meeker’s wife, Erin Meeker, told Chalmers’ children to get out of her yard, according to testimony. Chalmers, who testified last week for the prosecution, claimed Erin Meeker called her teen-age daughter a derogatory name and brought up earlier incidents. Erin Meeker has denied using a derogatory name.

Chalmers and her children lived next door to the Meekers in the 1200 block of Bison Court.

Stephen Meeker also testified in his own defense Monday, reiterating last week’s testimony by his wife, Erin, about the events on the night of the shooting.

Stephen Meeker said he was starting to get dressed after a shower when he heard Chalmers barge into his house screaming and threatening to kill his wife. He said he grabbed the pistol and confronted Chalmers, ordering her out of the house. He said he didn’t point the gun at her.

Stephen Meeker, completely naked, then stood in the front doorway as Chalmers retreated outside. Swafford and a friend of Swafford, Chris O’Neil, began running at him, Meeker said.

Stephen Meeker said he yelled at Swafford and O’Neil to stop. They were only a few feet away when he started shooting, Meeker said.

“They just wouldn’t stop,” Stephen Meeker testified under questioning from his attorney, Jim Rumsey. “I didn’t want to shoot anybody.”

Stephen Meeker said he backed into the house and shut the door. His wife had been trying to call 911 to alert police, but kept getting a busy signal, Meeker said. Meeker said he finally called the operator and was put in touch with a Douglas County dispatcher.

Meeker surrendered peacefully after Baldwin Police arrived.

During questioning at the sheriff’s office, the tape shows Stephen Meeker expressing concern for his family because of threats he said were made to him by O’Neil after he was handcuffed by police.

“You better carry a gun for the rest of your life because I’m going to get you,” Meeker recalled O’Neil telling him.

“I kept telling police to get him away from me because he was one of the guys who attacked me,” Meeker said on the tape.

Under cross-examination by Douglas County Assistant Dist. Atty. Dan Dunbar, Stephen Meeker said he never saw Chalmers physically attack his wife and that she was not carrying a weapon during the confrontation with Erin Meeker.

The trial will continue today before Judge Jack Murphy.