Four people who were in an apartment building with a man accused of shooting two neighbors testified Tuesday in Randy Johnson’s defense.

“There was this lady that made a racket on the second level (of the building),” said Narisa Anothinh. “She was just yelling at everybody. By the time we got to the stairs, I only heard gun shots.”

Johnson, 19, has been in Douglas County Jail on four charges of attempted second-degree murder since the Dec. 21 incident. He is accused of shooting at people standing on a second-floor balcony at a building in the Boardwalk Apartments complex, 524 Frontier Road.

Two people were struck by bullets. A 22-year-old man received a minor injury to his back from a bullet that went through a wooden slat before it hit him. A 21-year-old Baldwin woman was hit twice in the leg.

Tuesday marked the first day witnesses were called by the defense in Johnson’s preliminary hearing, which has lasted three days. The hearing will continue at 9 a.m. today with two more witnesses who will be called by Johnson’s attorney, Angela Stroller.

On Tuesday, sisters Tiffany Olson and Melissa Olson, Anothinh and Andrew Maupin testified that they were leaving a third-floor apartment, which had been rented by Maupin, right above where the shooting occurred.

Maupin had been evicted for noise complaints, and Anothinh and the Olson sisters had gone there to help him. Unexpectedly, people showed up at the apartment — one of them being Johnson. The four witnesses said Johnson, who some of them knew as “Mississippi,” was an acquaintance.

Maupin testified that he told Johnson they would meet up with him and some other people at a bar. Johnson then left with a woman and another man.

Tiffany Olson testified that they started hearing arguing and “decided to leave before anything happened.”

The four started walking downstairs, and Melissa Olson said she heard Johnson, a female acquaintance and people standing on the second-floor balcony yelling at each other.

“It was angry yelling,” she said. “You could tell the people in the apartments said something, but I didn’t hear any threats.”

Maupin said while walking downstairs he saw Johnson with a handgun. All four said they heard gunshots and ducked down.

Before defense witnesses were called, Lawrence Police Detective Warren Burket testified that Johnson said in an interview Dec. 22 that he shot some rounds at people on the balcony.

Burket said that Johnson told him and another detective that the people on the balcony were yelling comments at him and his friends.

“And he said he wanted to let them know not to mess with him,” Burket said.

Burket testified that Johnson told him he didn’t want to hurt anyone — he just wanted to scare them.

Burket also said he brought Johnson to the Investigations and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings Parkway, after his arrest to be interviewed, but instead he ended up taking Johnson to the jail. Burket said one of the reasons detectives delayed interviewing Johnson was because he seemed to be drunk.

“We didn’t want to take any chances that he was too intoxicated,” Burket said.