A friend of Nelson Lugela, the man accused of killing Calgary Stampeder Mylan Hicks, told the court on Thursday that he saw a gun in the accused's hand on the night the shooting took place.

Nelson Lugela, 21, is charged with second-degree murder after Hicks was fatally shot outside the Marquee Beer Market on September 25, 2016.

Hicks, a member of the Calgary Stampeders practice roster, was hit twice, once in the chest and once in the abdomen, and later died in hospital.

Testimony began on Thursday with a number of Calgary police officers who shared details about the arrest of three men, including the accused, shortly after the shooting took place.

The first police witness told the court that he was taking two other football players, wide receiver DaVaris Davis and offensive linesman Derek Dennis, to the police headquarters for questioning when Dennis alerted him about three men walking along Macleod Trail.

A dash cam video of the arrest was also shown in court, with one of the witness officers taking the time to identify each person in the footage.

The accused was among the three men arrested, the court heard.

Another Calgary police officer said that during the investigation, a pistol was found inside a blue bin in Parkhill, near where an eyewitness reported seeing three suspicious men.

The court also heard from Darwin Conception, Lugela's friend and one of the men who was arrested at the same time as the accused.

He told the court that he heard a bang but had no idea what happened when Lugela suddenly got into his vehicle and told him to drive away.

"As I was driving away, that's when I see the pistol in Nelson's hand," he told the court.

Conception testified that Lugela told him that he'd hit Hicks with two shots and he didn't 'think he was going to make it'.

During Conception's testimony, Hicks' mother was seen sobbing in the court.

He also told the court that he orginally lied to police about what happened, but then told the truth when he learned about Hicks' death.

"I don't think someone like that deserves to lose their life over nothing."

Following the shooting, Conception told the court that he, Lugella and a third man named Dhia-Al Hag Mohammed, drove away to a location north of the Marquee Beer Market where the accused threw the gun into a blue bin. Afterwards, the trio walked back to Macleod Trail at which point they were stopped and arrested.

On Wednesday, the court heard from number of witnesses to the shooting, both inside and outside the nightclub where it took place.

Jamie Guy and her girlfriend Celine were speaking with Stampeders running back Jerome Messam outside the Marquee Beer Market when they heard a gunshot.

Guy told the court that the shooter appeared from around the building and opened fire again.

“I couldn’t tell who he was shooting at,” she said during her testimony.

Lugela has pleaded not guilty in the murder. The trial is being heard by a judge alone.

(With files from Alesia Fieldberg and The Canadian Press)

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