It started with a slap in one Keeaumoku-area bar and ended with a shooting in the parking lot of another.

Prosecutors say Phillip Dejesus Deleon gunned down Shawn Powell in vengeance on July 31, 2009.

His lawyer says Deleon killed Powell in self-defense.

Deleon, 34, is on trial in Circuit Court on murder, attempted murder for allegedly shooting at one of Powell’s friends, firearms and other charges.

The series of events that culminated in Powell’s death started after midnight in Club Seven, near Ala Moana Center. Powell, 35, and four friends, including Jermain Beaudoin, were there. It was their fourth stop in a night of bar-hopping.

Deleon also was at Club Seven.

Beaudoin said on the witness stand yesterday that he saw Powell involved in a tussle with Deleon and attempted to break up the two. But when Deleon swore at him, Beaudoin said, he slapped him.

Megan Kau, deputy city prosecutor, said Deleon, humiliated, left Club Seven.

Deleon later encountered Powell and Beaudoin in the parking lot of Seoul Karaoke.

His attorney, Michael Green, said Deleon didn’t know Powell and Beaudoin were going to be there. But when he saw them and realized they recognized him and were headed his way, Deleon took a gun out of the trunk of his car and fired warning shots in the air, Green said.

"The last words he hears Powell say is, ‘You’re f—— dead," Green said.

When Deleon fired a shot at Powell’s chest, Powell was just inches away, according to a statement Beaudoin gave police following the shooting.

Green said Deleon then fired more warning shots into the ground, this time to prevent Beaudoin from attacking him.

After the shooting, Green said, Deleon fled because he was afraid for his life.