Rapper T.I. testified in a Cincinnati, Ohio court on Friday during the trial of one of the suspects accused of shooting T.I.’s assistant and childhood friend Philant Johnson during a rolling gun battle on a Cincinnati highway.

A somber T.I. took the stand for approximately 40 minutes to describe the shooting incident that stemmed from an altercation at a Cincinnati nightclub in May 2006.

Licking his lips and narrowing his eyes, T.I. then described getting into the backseat of a black van, as Johnson sat in front of him. He said he realized very quickly that something unusual was going on as the van pulled away and he saw headlights going into oncoming traffic from a vehicle that was attempting to get alongside the black van. “Before I knew it, shots rang out,” he said, explaining that they came from the left side of the van and that he immediately took cover as an unnamed person in his van returned fire.

Following the shootout, a white motorist stopped to help T.I. and those who weren’t injured, transfer the dying Johnson from T.I.’s van, which was disabled, to another van for the trip to the hospital.

Asked what Johnson looked like when he dragged him from the vehicle, T.I. said with a hard stare at no one in particular, “lifeless,” describing the blood running down his friends face, a shirt wet with blood and an entry wound on Johnson’s left temple.

The defendant, Hosea Thomas’ brother Padron Thomas has identified him as the shooter. It was Padron Thomas who drove the Jeep that allegedly chased the vans used by T.I. and his entourage on May 3, 2006.

T.I. denied allegations that he started the incident by “making it rain” at the Cincinnati club.  Source