John Reed claims self-defense: ‘I just did it as fast as I could’

John Reed took the stand to testify in his own defense in his murder trial for killing his Oso neighbors. The courtroom was so crowded the testimony was delayed more than an hour to set up more chairs.

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Reed claims he killed Monique Patenaude and Patrick Shunn in self defense, but it wasn’t until Friday that jurors heard Reed explain his version of what happened.

Reed’s Oso property was damaged in the Oso mudslide. He took advantage of a federal buyout and was only supposed to access the property with special “right of entry” access permit.

On April 11th, 2016, after notifying the parks department that he planned to go to his house to get some paperwork, Reed says he was confronted outside his house by Patenaude and Shunn.

Reed told the jury that Patinaude had been drinking and was upset Reed had used their driveway to access his property.

He said the confrontation escalated to the point that Patenaude tried to punch him. When he told Shunn he shouldn’t let

“I said, ‘Patrick you should know better than to let some drunken idiot be calling all the shots,'”recalled Reed. He said that angered Patenaude so much she went to get a pistol out of her Jeep. He said Shunn also grabbed his gun out of his holster.

Reed said he was cornered, so he ran at Shunn to try to knock the gun out of his hand. He said the gun fired once, almost hitting him. As they struggled over the gun, he said Patenaude ran toward them with her pistol pointed at him.

“I was able to maneuver the gun, pointing in her direction. As soon as I could I squeezed off like three shots,” said Reed, using hand motions to demonstrate. “Rapid fire, bam bam bam, she was coming – I seen the last shot that hit her in the top of the head.”

Reeds says the gun flew out of her hand. As Shunn reached for it, Reed says he used Shunn’s gun and killed him.

“I took the gun and went right over like that, and shot him,” said Reed,”I just did it as fast as I could. I knew if he got that other gun, I didn’t want to have a shootout with him. He’s a way better shot that me.”

Reed says he thought about calling the police, but didn’t know what to say. That’s when he called his brother and started to work on the cover-up.

During his cross-examination Friday afternoon, Reed took responsibility for the cover-up. Investigators say he ditched the couples’ SUVs, buried their bodies, and hid their cell phones.

Reed said he should have called police right after the shooting.

“If I had it to do over again, I would, I don’t know why, I screwed up. I was panicking,” said Reed, “If I had it to do over I would definitely call the cops.”

This report comes from KIRO 7’s Alison Grande.