Twenty minutes before he was shot in the chest and hand during a March 17 attack inside his York City home, Julius A. Davis and his fiancee had been playing cards with several couples at a friend's place, he testified.

That friend, Brandon Dante Jones, 29, of 461 Salem Ave., is now facing trial on charges of aggravated assault, burglary and receiving stolen property. At the close of his preliminary hearing Thursday, Senior District Judge Barbara Nixon determined enough evidence exists to send the case to York County Court.

Walking slowly and gingerly, Davis, 54, of the 800 block of West Poplar Street, took the witness stand and said that while he was at Jones' home, Jones mentioned a money problem.

“Mr. Jones said he needed $200 for a paternity test,” he said.

Davis testified Jones, known as “Tay,” used to be his next-door neighbor and was “like a family member.”

Struck in head: About 3:15 a.m., about 20 minutes after Davis and fiancee Cynthia Baya got home, there was a knock on the door, Davis said. Baya asked who was there but got no response, so Davis opened the door.

“As soon as I opened the door, boom — he hit me in the head with a gun,” Davis testified. He said he never saw the intruder's face.

Davis said he grabbed the rifle, yelled a warning to his fiancee, then struggled with the attacker, who had a blue bandanna over his face and a sweatshirt hood over his head.

“He kept beating me in the face with the gun,” Davis testified. “He aimed straight at my chest and pulled the trigger.”

Blood everywhere: Davis said after being shot, he grabbed a stool and hit the intruder in the head, but the man shot him a second time, through the hand. He said he bled profusely.

“It was everywhere,” he said — the floor, the walls, even inside his refrigerator.

The attacker fled, ditching the gun, gold hooded sweatshirt and blue bandanna outside, according to York City Detective George Ripley.

Baya testified that when Davis yelled to her that the intruder had a gun, she grabbed a phone and ran outside, where she called 911. She said she went back inside after officers arrived.

Jones appeared moments later, she said.

“Tay ... walked right through my front door,” she said. “I looked at him and said, ‘How did you know what happened?' He said, ‘I didn't. I just came to get a movie.'”

Not curious: Baya said Jones had borrowed movies from her before, but never at 3 a.m. Also, she said, he never asked what had happened to Davis or why police were there. After spotting officers, he simply left, she testified.

Ripley testified he interviewed Jones, who said he was drunk that night and couldn't remember what happened.

Jones was shown photos of the sweatshirt and gun, and he admitted that both were his property, according to Ripley, who said those items are at a state police crime lab being tested for DNA.

Gun stolen: The .22-caliber rifle had been reported stolen in Baltimore, Ripley said.

Jones also told detectives that when he awoke hours after the attack, he realized his new white sneakers had blood on them, so he threw them away, Ripley testified.

During the interview, Jones said he is a member of the “Hoover set,” a subset of the Crips national crime gang, according to Ripley.

Defense attorney James Rader said Jones maintains his innocence.

— Reach Elizabeth Evans at levans@yorkdispatch.com, 505-5429 or twitter.com/ydcrimetime.