The trial for a Gunbarrel man accused of shooting his neighbor over a dispute about feeding the local squirrels began Monday as a Boulder County jury will be tasked with determining if the shooting was an attempted murder or an act of self-defense.

Jon Barbour, 60, is facing one count of attempted second-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury.

Attorneys agreed that Barbour shot his neighbor, Jeffrey Browning, on May 12, 2016, in their condominium complex on Willowbrook Lane. But prosecutors and defense attorneys presented two very different accounts of what led to the shooting in their opening statements Monday.

“This is a case with only two eyewitnesses: My client, Jon Barbour, and Jeff Browning,” said defense attorney David Sanderson. “The evidence is going to show this is a he-said, he-said situation. That’s what it boils down to. You get to decide whether Jon attempted to hurt Jeffrey Browning or whether he did not.”

Deputy District Attorney Karen Peters said a year before the shooting, Barbour began to feed peanuts to squirrels because it was his way of reconnecting with his deceased parents. But Peters said some residents objected to it because some children were allergic to peanuts and it created a mess.

“The defendant in this case shot an unarmed man in the back,” she said. “The reason this happened is because the defendant was angry at his neighbors and at the homeowners association because they wanted him to stop feeding peanuts to the squirrels.”

Peters said Browning actually didn’t care about the peanuts but did not like the fliers Barbour posted around the complex explaining why he fed the squirrels and signing them “The Squirrel Guy.” Peters said Browning took down the fliers, and Barbour saw this.

“All his anger toward the neighborhood and the homeowners association now is directed toward Jeff,” she said. “Jeff has no idea how angry Mr. Barbour is, has no idea how escalated this is. When Jeffrey Browning takes down the flier, two days before the shooting he has no idea Mr. Barbour’s focus is on him.”

Peters said that on the day of the shooting, Browning took his dog for a walk when he saw Barbour and asked him about his truck. Peters said Barbour confronted him about the fliers before he flashed a gun in his holster and said, “Come and get this.”

“Jeffrey Browning doesn’t want to go ‘get that,'” she said. “He takes a couple steps away and ‘bam,’ Mr. Barbour shoots him in the back.”

But Sanderson said that Barbour was defending himself after Browning attacked Barbour.

“Browning runs up on him, on Jon — his back is to him standing in his driveway — and sucker punches him right in the back of the head,” Sanderson said. “You’re going to hear that it was Jeffrey Browning who closed the gap. You’re going to hear that it was Jeffrey Browning who ran up on the backside of Jon Barbour. You’re going to hear that Jon protects himself and his wife of 30 years.

“When Jeffrey Browning whacks Jon Barbour in the back of the head while Jon is doing his thing, Jon’s self-defense mode kicks in and he reaches for his (gun), he unholsters it, he goes to turn around and as he does, the younger, the bigger, the stronger Jeffrey Browning grabs it. There is a struggle, they struggle, two men struggling over a gun. Browning loses his grip and as he falls away, the gun discharges.”

While prosecutors said Browning was shot in the back, Sanderson said that Browning was shot, “in his own words: ‘In his ass.'”

“Threat eliminated, Jon holsters the gun,” Sanderson said, noting that Barbour had a concealed carry permit for the weapon and also was the one who called 911.

“He waited for law enforcement to arrive, because that’s what you are supposed to do,” Sanderson said. “He was cooperative, he was polite, he was calm, he was matter-of-fact. He was not angry, he was not hysterical.”

The trial is expected to last one week.

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars