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Attorneys offered jurors opposing narratives Tuesday to explain why Thomas Clark opened fire from the back seat of a car in 2023, leaving three people dead outside a Southwest sa国际传媒官网网页入口 apartment complex.

Clark鈥檚 attorney, John McCall, told jurors Tuesday that his client fired in self-defense after people he described as 鈥渧ery dangerous鈥� drug dealers threatened to kill Clark.

But a prosecutor argued that jurors will hear no testimony during Clark鈥檚 trial this week that anyone had threatened his life before he fired nine fatal gunshots within six seconds from the back seat of a car.

Clark, 34, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the Aug. 31, 2023, shooting deaths of Jonathan McGaughy, 31, Genea Oliver, 35, and Randy Lovett, 40.

His trial in 2nd Judicial District Court is expected to continue through Friday before Judge Clara Moran.

鈥淕enea (Oliver) is talking about taking (Clark) out to Nine Mile Hill, and everybody knows what happens out at Nine Mile Hill,鈥� McCall said in opening statements.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 where people get killed and their bodies get buried or left,鈥� McCall told jurors. 鈥淪o this is what he鈥檚 hearing from these people.鈥�

Clark was friends with McGaughy, who dealt large quantities of fentanyl pills and traveled with an 鈥渆ntourage,鈥� some of whom were known to rob and kill drug dealers, McCall said.

鈥淭hese people were involved in some very serious and dangerous games, and (Clark) was told that they were very dangerous,鈥� he told jurors. 鈥淭hey were stealing drugs from drug dealers, and if they resisted, they were killing them.鈥�

Assistant District Attorney Collin Brennan told jurors that Clark鈥檚 own statements to police refute his claim that he felt threatened before he opened fire. Prosecutors plan to show jurors Clark鈥檚 interview with police.

鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 say that anybody is threatening his life at that time,鈥� Brennan said. 鈥淏ut he makes the decision to get ahead of it because he believes they may take him to Nine Mile Hill, even though nobody will testify that they ever told him that.鈥�

sa国际传媒官网网页入口 police investigating a crash nearby heard a volley of gunfire around 4:30 a.m. and followed the gunfire to Rhode Island and Bell SE, where they found McGaughy, Oliver and Bennett fatally shot near a 2009 Mitsubishi Galant, according to a criminal complaint filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court.

Police used a drone to find Clark on a roof at 320 Texas SE, the complaint said.

Brennan said prosecutors plan to use ShotSpotter technology, which alerts police to the location of gunfire, as key evidence in the trial. ShotSpotter data shows that 19 gunshots were fired in less than a minute, the complaint said.

Brennan said Clark fired 16 of those gunshots, beginning with a rapid volley of nine gunshots from a 9mm handgun.

鈥淭his case comes down to approximately six seconds,鈥� Brennan said. 鈥淲e know Thomas Clark, in those six seconds, he took three people鈥檚 lives.鈥�