Connor Makstutis told jurors on Thursday that he felt like his back was against the wall on March 13, 2023, when Richard Derkach confronted him as he was stuck in traffic.

Both of them lived in Brookline and, for months, he alleged, Mr. Derkach had been harassing him.

On Thanksgiving night in 2022, he claimed, he passed Mr. Derkach as he drove home from his mother’s house. After he parked at his home, he said, he saw Mr. Derkach’s Kia minivan driving toward him, so he “jumped back into my car.” Mr. Derkach started chasing him, he said, and he “didn’t know what was going to happen.” He ultimately got away, he said, but was so shaken by the incident, that he bought a gun the next day.

“I bought it for my protection, my safety — I was scared he was going to shoot me,” Mr. Makstutis said, a

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