Edward Joseph Parker.

Brittany Nicole Smith.

A preliminary hearing Wednesday revealed messy romantic relationships and money owed among those allegedly involved in a Memorial Day shooting on Highway 59 that left a Lawrence man seriously injured and two charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Brittany Nicole Smith, 22, of Lawrence, looked on Wednesday as her ex-boyfriend and the shooting victim, Skylar Workman, 24, of Lawrence, testified against her and her co-defendant, 25-year-old Edward Joseph “E.J.” Parker, also of Lawrence. Parker also attended the hearing, though at their first court appearance in June, Smith and Parker were ordered not to contact each other.

Smith and Parker were arrested in connection with the shooting of Workman at about 11 p.m. May 26. Workman said he was driving southbound on U.S. 59 just south of Lawrence when a car he could not identify pulled up behind him, shot his truck from behind and from the side, then fled to the south. Workman suffered gunshot wounds and was flown to Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka.

During Workman’s testimony Wednesday, he said he was shot in his knee and hip and that bullet fragments were found in his leg and thumb. Workman spent nine days in the hospital undergoing surgeries and recovering from his injuries.

Workman said the night of the shooting he received a text message about 9:45 p.m. from an unknown phone number claiming to be a woman named Sierra Carter while he was at a gas station in Baldwin City. Workman thought she was a high school classmate.

The person claiming to be Carter tried to get Workman to meet up with her several times throughout the night and Workman agreed. The first meeting place the two agreed on was Wells Overlook Park, but when Workman drove to meet the person claiming to be Carter, no one was there and the park was closed, he said.

Workman testified that he waited about three minutes for the person claiming to be Carter to show up before he saw a car’s headlights pull up behind him. Workman said the car then backed out and headed east, so Workman left the area and got on U.S. 59 going west.

Workman said the person claiming to be Carter kept texting him trying to meet, this time at Clinton Lake, but Workman said the situation started to feel “sketchy.”

Workman testified that at that time, he suspected Smith, whom he had dated for four months in 2013, was the person behind the text messages. Workman then ended the conversation and left the area. Workman said he called Parker’s girlfriend to confirm his suspicions about the unknown number and the girlfriend said the number belonged to Smith.

Workman said he was shot about 20 minutes after the text messages began and that he received a call from the same number about 30 seconds before he was shot. The person at the other end of the phone call did not say anything the last time, Workman said.

Workman could not identify what kind of vehicle the shooter was driving or how many individuals were in the car, but said he recognized the vehicle’s headlights as the same as the ones from the vehicle at Wells Overlook.

When questioned by prosecutors on how Workman knew the shooter was in the same car that was at Wells Overlook even though he could not identify a make, model or color, Workman said, “I just know it was the same vehicle. Not every car has the same head and corner lights.”

Detective Scott Bonham testified that Smith later verified that she was the one texting Workman under the pseudonym so that she could determine Workman’s location for Parker, who had come over to her house with a handgun.

Bonham said Smith told him that Parker was angry with Workman for texting Parker’s girlfriend and that Workman owed money to two of Parker’s friends. Bonham said Parker loaded eight bullets into the gun’s magazine and told Smith, “(Workman) has it coming. One of these ought to get him.”

Detective Dean Ohman of the sheriff’s office testified that there were seven bullet holes discovered in an 11-inch area around Workman’s driver’s side door.

Smith told Bonham that she was still in love with Workman and wanted to get back together with him, but Workman was with a new girlfriend. When Bonham asked why she did not warn Workman about Parker’s plans, Bonham said Smith said Workman would not have believed her and she was afraid Parker would “come back and get her.”

The hearing is set to continue Thursday morning.

Smith and Parker are being held in the Douglas County Jail — Smith on a $75,000 bond and Parker on a $150,000 bond.