HONOLULU -- The surviving injured victim in the Pali Golf Course shooting took the stand Wednesday morning in federal court, testifying on the state of security for local gambling houses.

Tino Sao suffered a gunshot wound to his face when rival groups performing security at the game rooms met at Pali Golf Course in January 2004.

Lepo Taliese and Romelius Corpus Jr. were killed in the gunfire. Nixon Maumalanga escaped the shooting unharmed.

The group met Ethan Motta and Rodney Joseph Jr.

Motta and Joseph are charged racketeering and the slayings.

Sao said during his Wednesday morning testimony that he was at a funeral when Kevin Gonsalves, a friend of Motta, insisted they meet. Sao's group followed Motta and Gonsalves to the golf course.

Sao said that when he hugged Joseph, the defendant kept his hands in his pocket and acted like a "punk." He said he then shook hands with Motta.

"At last we finally meet," Motta said, according to Sao. That is when Motta pulled out a black handgun and shot Sao pointblank in the face, Sao said.

Sao said his nose was bleeding and he tasted gunpowder. He yelled that he had been shot and his brother and friends ran off toward the clubhouse.

Before passing out, Sao said saw Motta shoot Taliese and heard Motta order Joseph to shoot Taliese again.

Sao said that when he came to, he went looking for his brother, Corpuz. Sao said, "I was going berserk looking for my brother."

They found each other at a bench with Corpuz gasping for air.

"He said he got shot once in the back of the head and once in the back," Sao testified.

As the paramedics arrived, "I told them to take my brother first. An officer said they are taking me first because my brother had expired."

Sao broke down on the stand at that time and could not continue, KITV's Daryl Huff reported.

Sao still has a bullet in his skull.

Defense attorneys later found some contradictions in Sao's testimony, but generally it was consistent with other witnesses.

The eyewitness accounts are key to the prosecution's case because they make the shootings sound like an ambush rather than a confrontation.

Motta and Joseph could receive life in prison if convicted of using murder to promote a criminal enterprise.

Earlier in the morning, Sao told the court about being beaten in July 2003. He also said that he and Motta divided up security territory for gaming rooms.