Eladio Zambrano murder trial is underway

FRESNO, Calif (KFSN) -- Fear ran rampant through this neighborhood on April 18th.

An Uber Driver says he felt it after his passenger got out, had an argument with two men in front of a house, and came running back to the car pretty quickly.

"And says 'drive' and that's when I start looking back and I hear a gunshot and we drive off," said the witness.

At least two neighbors heard the gunshot and then a few hours later, heard three more. But they say they never called 911 because they were scared.

We are not even identifying the witnesses in this murder trial for their own safety.

Police say the last gunshots killed Sierra Berg. They say her boyfriend lives at the house where the shootings happened, but it was his brother who killed Berg.

Eladio Zambrano's Defense Attorney says it is possible his client is not the one who pulled the trigger. And if he did, he says Zambrano may have acted in self-defense.

He says the earlier confrontation at the house had Zambrano on alert and a phone call Berg made, overheard by a neighbor, may have raised his suspicions.

"She was on the phone and she said 'you think me busting out your windows was bad? I'll be there in five minutes.'," said Sierra's neighbor.

But officers say Berg got to the house and Eladio Zambrano opened fired on the car she drove, hitting her twice and killing her.

They found evidence like ammunition at the scene.

"During our initial securing of the residence, Officer Cardenas had located an empty box of Winchester double-aught buck. It was an empty ammunition box," said Fresno Police Officer Raden McFarland.

Eladio's brother hung his head as police investigated. Officers say he tried to save his girlfriend after the shooting, and nothing they found tied him to any weapons, just Eladio.

Eladio Zambrano was arrested and charged him with murder. His trial is expected to last two weeks.