When he saw his college buddy Christopher Deedy in a confrontation with another man in a Waikiki McDonald’s, Adam Gutowski was afraid something bad would happen: He knew Deedy was carrying a firearm.

When he heard the other man, Kollin Elderts, indicate that he knew Deedy had a gun, Gutowski started to panic, he said Thursday in Circuit Court.

Deedy, 30, a U.S. State Department special agent in Washington, D.C., is on trial for murder for fatally shooting Elderts on Nov. 5, 2011, in the Kuhio Avenue restaurant. He had arrived in Honolulu 12 hours earlier to provide security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.

This is Deedy’s second trial; the first one last year ended with a hung jury. He claims he shot Elderts in self-defense.

Gutowski, 30, said he and Deedy were college roommates and fraternity brothers in New Orleans even though Gutowski attended Loyola University and Deedy went to Tulane University.

On the night of the shooting, he said, he showed Deedy the town, then they took a food break.

Gutowski said he saw Deedy and Elderts confronting each other in the McDonald’s and heard Elderts say to Deedy, "Oh, you have a gun."

"It seemed to have made (Elderts) more aggressive," Gutowski said. "That’s when I got very nervous and I felt like I needed to get involved."

He said he put his hands in front of him to block Elderts from going after Deedy but that Elderts punched him in the head, knocking him to the ground. He said the next thing he remembers is Elderts’ friend Shane Medeiros on top of him, beating him up.

Gutowski said he did not see Deedy shoot Elderts or see or hear Deedy identify himself as a law enforcement officer before the shooting.

The restaurant’s security officer, Rosalinda Soriano, testified Thursday that Elderts was acting aggressively as soon as he walked into the restaurant and had verbally bullied another customer as both were placing their orders.

Before the shooting, Soriano had ordered Elderts, Deedy and the people who had gathered around them to leave the restaurant but that nobody complied.

During the confrontation, Soriano said, Elderts was aggressive while Deedy was "calm," adding, "He was OK. He looks like concerned guy."

Soriano said she didn’t hear or see Deedy identify himself as a law enforcement officer.

She said she was focused on people’s behavior, not on what they said, because English is her second language.