JACKSON, MI - Speaking to detectives days after he shot his brother, Riley Spitler recalled their relationship and spoke of a fight they once had.

"He kept talking about, 'You're never going to make good choices, you're just a loser, you're not going anywhere,'" Spitler said in the taped interview. "I pushed him, he pushed me back. I punched him."

"It was one of those times when he was big brothering you?" Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety Detective Joseph Merritt asked, then inquired as to how often their arguments turned violent.

"Many times," Spitler answered.

On Thursday, Jan. 14, prosecutors played a series of taped interviews and a 911 call during 17-year-old Riley Spitler's murder trial. Spitler is charged with open murder in connection to his brother, Patrick's, shooting death Dec. 6, 2014.

After the shooting, Spitler told police he pointed a loaded .380 at his brother, de-chambered a bullet and said "Let's see if it's your lucky day" before pulling the trigger.

Spitler said he didn't expect the gun to fire. However a bullet struck his brother near his heart. After attempts to revive him failed, Patrick Spitler was pronounced dead on the floor of his bedroom.

During interviews presented to jurors Thursday, two Blackman-Leoni detectives developed Spitler's sense of the firearm, and asked about potential conflicts the night of the shooting.

Speaking to the detectives, Spitler explained how he only fired the .380 twice before the shooting and was generally unfamiliar with the firearm.

Upon further questioning, the then-16-year-old acknowledged the gun is fed by a magazine and cycles bullets automatically.

In addition, he explained how a bullet would not cycle into the weapon if the magazine were to be ejected, and at one point asks the detectives: "When you found the gun - here's my question, my main question -- was the magazine all the way in, or partially ejected?"

Police found the magazine seated in the firearm, and taking the stand Thursday, Merritt explained the significance of the interviews from the perspective of police and prosecutors.

"The interesting part and the big cause of concern for me ... was he completely abandoned the 'I didn't believe the gun was loaded' (position,) and demonstrated even further knowledge and working of the semi-automatic firearm," Merritt explained.

Throughout the interview, Spitler also spoke candidly about past arguments with his brother, which often turned violent. However, he reiterated he had not been arguing with his brother the night of the shooting.

Spitler also went on to say Patrick was generally interested in firearms, and his mother bought Riley the .380 after he convinced her he needed it.

Three of Patrick Spitler's friends, including Kailyn Madery and Joshua Foote, however said Patrick expressed concern over his brother's firearm in their house.

Taking the stand, Madery said Patrick confided in her a few months before the shooting. She said Riley had pulled a gun on him in the past.

"Riley had pulled out a gun on him in some type of argument," Madery said. "He (Patrick) was just talking about (being) worried, being concerned, not knowing what to do."

As she was cross-examined by defense attorney Alfred Brandt, Madery could not remember exactly when the incident took place.

In addition, Brandt contested Merritt's interpretation of a 911 tape the prosecution played for jurors. The tape, which was partly inaudible, featured Spitler yelling out frantically to a dispatcher.

At the start of the call, Spitler yells, "I just shot my brother."

"What happened?" the dispatcher asks.

"I just shot my brother," he yells over and over, reciting his address. "You need to hurry ... I think I killed him."

After the dispatcher asks specifically what happened, Riley says he was "playing around and I accidentally shot him."

After he's prompted to go upstairs to check on his brother's breathing, Riley can be heard pleading, "please breathe." Later, he says, "I shot him in the heart," and "I don't think he's breathing."

As the tape played in the courtroom, Spitler slunk in his chair and sobbed into his hands. Judge McBain eventually excused the jury as Spitler composed himself.

Cross examining Merritt, Brandt contested the detective's interpretation of the 911 tape, in which Spitler does not specifically ask first responders to help his brother and claims the shooting was accidental.

"So if the call to 911 wasn't to help Patrick, it was to explain it was an accident?" Brandt asked.

"Yes," Merritt answered.

Open murder allows a judge or jury to decide if first- or second-degree murder or manslaughter, if any charge, is appropriate.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Spitler will be sentenced to a mandatory term of life in prison without a chance at parole. Second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, but could be punishable by a length of years and is a parolable offense.

Due to scheduling conflicts, trial was not set to begin until noon Friday.

Ryan Shek is a reporter for the Jackson Citizen Patriot and MLive.com. Contact him at rshek@mlive.com.