Kommika Katrice Gregory testified Tuesday that she shot Ronald Stanley Thompson three times and killed him in self defense on Nov. 16, 2017.

“I still feel right,” Gregory, 39, testified during the second day of her murder trial. “I don’t feel I did anything wrong for trying to protect myself.”

Thompson was a guest at the apartment of Gregory’s ex-boyfriend, Rodrekus Butler, whom she had broken up with days before. She had gone to Butler’s apartment with a gun in the pocket of her hoodie sweatshirt. She testified she had purchased the gun from an acquaintance to protect herself from any people who might be around Butler.

On the night before the shooting, according to testimony at the trial, Gregory claimed she had received a “pocket dial” phone call from her ex-boyfriend’s phone while she was driving downtown to pick up a male friend, Frederick Cherry. The phone transmitted a conversation taking place between Butler and some other people at a party in which they discussed shooting Gregory.

At one point she swung by Butler’s apartment complex but decided not to go in because she saw cars outside and there was a party going on and she feared that the people who had threatened her might be there.

In fear for her safety, Gregory decided to purchase a rifle and went to Walmart with Cherry. However, Walmart didn’t sell rifles after 10 p.m. at night so she ended up purchasing a firearm for $200 and 10 Ecstasy pills in the Walmart parking lot from a man she called “the Hispanic male” whom she met at Walmart through Cherry.

The Hispanic male didn’t have bullets for the gun, but his friend had them at his house. He told Gregory to follow the vehicle back to his house. Gregory testified that she raced the other car “just because.”

Cherry decided he did not want to return with her to her apartment. Gregory went home and the “Hispanic male” contacted her on Facebook an hour or so later and they decided to hang out at her house. She testified that she played the phone recording for him and he said it sounded messed up but didn’t do anything else.

Hours later, Gregory decided to go over to Butler’s apartment and ask him what was going on. She took the firearm with her, but testified that she didn’t intend to harm anyone with it. She did not fear Butler would harm her, though she was afraid of his acquaintances, and said she didn’t know Thompson would be there.

When she knocked on the door of Butler’s apartment, Butler answered. He denied knowing anything about the threats she overheard in the “pocket dial” phone call. She had gone into his bedroom and tried to persuade Butler to go back to her home so they could talk. Thompson followed them and kept ordering her to leave. She believed Butler was getting dressed and would agree to come with her. In the hallway, she said Thompson got into her personal space and blocked her path to the door and said he would take the gun from her and shoot her. She testified he put his hands on her and she thought he shoved her first. She shoved him back and shot him when he came after her again. She shot him again twice more because she said he kept coming after her. Then Gregory said she left the apartment.

Gregory made various phone calls after fleeing the apartment, including one to her estranged husband in Atlanta, Ga., and one to her 10-year-old son, who had been left at her apartment alone all night and had been present in the apartment while his mother was socializing. She told the boy that police would be coming to the apartment and to cooperate with police. The boy later came out of the apartment when his older brother came by to pick him up. The boy gave police the phone, which they used to contact Gregory.

Gregory’s estranged husband had been following social media and news accounts from Georgia and told her to get out of town. He told her police were looking for an active shooter and he feared the police would shoot and kill Gregory. Gregory abandoned her car and arranged for a ride to New Town from a friend of “the Hispanic man.” She eventually decided to turn herself in and called Minot police to arrange for New Town law enforcement to take her into custody at the casino in New Town. She was later transferred to the custody of the Minot Police Department in Makoti and has been held in custody ever since.

Police never recovered the phone recording that Gregory said she received and they didn’t interview any of the people who allegedly were overheard in the recording.

Rodrekus Butler, 30, died earlier this summer.

Cherry, who is now in custody at a jail in North Carolina, was interviewed and told police he deleted a recording from his phone, according to testimony by Investigator David Goodman of the Minot Police Department.

Gregory had told police that she never considered contacting police about the alleged threat.

“Pretty much everybody on the street, nobody calls the police,” she explained to police in an interview that was played back for the jury on Tuesday. Gregory also explained that she distrusts police and preferred turning herself in to authorities on the reservation because she believed federal police were less likely to shoot and kill her.

Gregory’s defense attorney, Steven Mottinger, asked the judge to dismiss the charge against her because it was clearly self defense.

Judge Gary Lee declined the motion twice and said it is a matter for the jury to decide.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution, defense and the judge discussed the language of instructions that would allow the jury to consider lesser charges such as negligent homicide and manslaughter in addition to the Class AA felony murder charge. Mottinger is asking the jury to acquit Gregory on the basis of self defense.

Closing arguments are scheduled to be given this morning in the case. After that, the case will be turned over to the jury for deliberations.