EL CAJON, Calif. -- A Jamul electrical contractor on trial for fatally shooting a young man on his property testified Thursday that he felt his life was threatened when he pulled the trigger.

Joseph Robert "Bob" Orlosky, 56, is charged with murder in the Dec. 1, 2006, death of 23-year-old Charles "Chuck" Crow, one of three men who were in a Jeep Cherokee on Wisecarver Truck Trail.

Testifying in his own defense, the balding, soft-spoken defendant was asked by his lawyer, Paul Pfingst, why he fired his AR-15 rifle.

"The car was just coming at me," Orlosky said. "I was trying to get out of the way. It was just coming at me."

During the prosecution phase of the trial, the driver of the Jeep, David Hurley Jr., testified that he went into the isolated area that evening because he saw real estate signs, and both he and Crow were interested in buying houses.

Hurley said he was driving past the defendant, who had backed his own vehicle into roadside bushes, and slowed down so they could offer help, believing Orlofsky might have been experiencing car trouble.

Orlosky testified that after the shooting, he did not realize someone had died until he watched the television news that night.

He said he spent the next day working in an office trailer away from his house, and contacted an attorney before going away to Las Vegas to handle business.

Under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek, Orlosky denied that the trip was meant to avoid arrest. He conceded that he stayed away from law enforcement when they came to his property.

"I wasn't going to make myself available until I got a lawyer," the defendant said.

When asked by the prosecutor if he was "hiding," the defendant answered, "I would call it observing my rights."

In his questioning, Dusek attempted to paint a picture of the defendant as someone who was less than truthful with authorities. Orlosky conceded that he used a false date of birth and fake Social Security number on some documents in the past, registered some of his vehicles in Oregon and received his driver's license from that state.

The defense contends that Orlosky was plagued by copper thieves targeting his property, and believed the victims had come to steal from his equipment yard. Two weeks before the shooting, the defendant caught three thieves who were arrested by sheriff's deputies.

Orlosky testified that in the years leading up to the shooting, he had lost about $80,000 through thefts. He said he bought his rifle seven to eight years ago for "defensive purposes."

The defendant said he tried to block the roadway, but the Jeep accelerated past him. He said he thought the vehicle was coming at him and didn't think it had room to pass, but it did.

"I didn't fire at all until they were right on top of me, and I thought I was going to get run over," Orlosky testified.

He said that when the Jeep made a U-turn before the confrontation, he saw two people get in the vehicle through a rear passenger door, and one appeared to have a coil over his shoulder.

Dusek asked Orlosky if he was mad people were trying to steal from him.

"No, scared," the defendant replied. "I was scared to death. The vehicle was trying to kill me."

Orlosky testified that he was only aiming at the vehicle, not the people inside.

After he fired, he said he heard a shot which caused him to hit the ground and fire some more, but admitted he never saw the flash of a gun.

Hurley and a young man wounded in the shooting, Hector Monget, denied they were there to steal copper, which has dramatically risen in value in recent years.

A sheriff's detective testified that nothing was found in the Jeep that would indicate the men had come to steal anything, but they'd previously sold copper to recyclers.