OGDEN — Theron Farmer testified Wednesday that he was surprised when Daniel Viegas-Gonzalez allegedly pulled a handgun and shot Eric Johnson.

“I thought Eric had died,” Farmer said. “I thought he had shot him in the face.”

Farmer took the stand in his own defense on the fourth day of his trial on a charge of first-degree felony aggravated murder for the Feb. 11, 2019, death of Johnson’s younger brother, Kamron. Prosecutors allege Farmer and Viegas-Gonzalez, 30, of Farmington, went to the Johnsons’ west Ogden home to rob Eric Johnson of narcotics.

Farmer, 25, of Ogden, said Eric Johnson fell to the floor and began screaming. Kamron then emerged from his bedroom. “I watched Danny shoot Kamron through the chest.”

He said Viegas-Gonzalez then pointed the gun at him and said, “Find everything,” meaning drugs and valuables. As he was ransacking Eric Johnson’s bedroom, Farmer said he heard three more shots.

Defense attorney Grant Morrison asked Farmer why he did not try to stop Viegas-Gonzalez. “I didn’t have a weapon and I was in shock,” Farmer said.

After the shots, Farmer said Viegas-Gonzalez came into the bedroom and told him, “You’d better not be calling the cops.”

As they prepared to leave, Viegas-Gonzalez put the gun to Eric Johnson’s head, Farmer said. “I told him, ‘No, don’t kill him,’ and he pulled the trigger but it didn’t fire.” He said Viegas-Gonzalez said he couldn’t leave any witnesses because he didn’t want to go back to prison.

“I thought he was going to kill me,” Farmer said. “He told me if I got him in trouble in any way, he would kill me and my family.”

Farmer’s account of the shootings differed somewhat from Eric Johnson’s testimony last week. Johnson, who was shot in the chest, arm and thigh, had a long recovery but is now able to walk again. He testified that Farmer had a gun in his waistband; Farmer said Wednesday he did not have a gun that day and has never owned one.

A friend of Farmer’s testified last week that Farmer said the night after the shooting that he had told Viegas-Gonzalez to “finish him.” Another friend said Farmer showed her a screenshot of a news story about the shootings and “seemed to be proud of it.”

In court, Farmer denied saying “Finish him” and said, “I did everything he told me to do.”

Morrison asked Farmer if he planned the drug robbery and shootings. Farmer admitted in his testimony that he had contacted Eric Johnson to buy Xanax for Viegas-Gonzalez, but all he did was to arrange the deal with Johnson, who he had known since they were in junior high. “I don’t think I could mastermind anything,” he said. “I didn’t even graduate high school.”

Farmer also denied allegations that Eric Johnson was targeted in revenge for the 2017 death of Hunter Woodson, a Sunset 19-year-old who was gunned down in a drug deal. Seth Carreras, 21, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the murder.

Farmer testified that earlier in the day on Feb. 11, before he joined Viegas-Gonzalez, he had been in a fistfight with a friend of Carreras. “I never met Hunter Woodson,” and he said the Johnsons had “no connection” related to the Woodson murder.

He said a text message exchange with a friend later on Feb. 11 was about that fight, not the west Ogden shootings.

Farmer also said Viegas-Gonzalez took a baggie of Xanax pills that Farmer found in Eric Johnson’s room. Later, he said that after Viegas-Gonzalez dropped him off at his mother’s house in Ogden, he took Xanax and smoked cocaine. He said he found the Xanax in his pocket and it was not from the amount taken from the Johnsons’ home.

“You just happened to find Xanax in your pocket?” deputy Weber County attorney Teral Tree asked Farmer.

Friends of Farmer testified last week that after they picked him up on the evening of Feb. 11 to drive to Layton, Farmer told the driver to go slow and don’t get pulled over by police. Farmer testified, “I didn’t want to get motion sick” from the drugs he had consumed. “I started Xanning out getting in the car toward Layton,” he said.

Police tracked Farmer to Layton and arrested him Feb. 12 after they shot tear gas into an apartment where he had stayed the night.

On Monday, prosecutors played for the jury a video recording of the Feb. 13, 2019, police interview of Farmer. Through most of the interview, he insisted he could not remember much about what he did Feb. 11.

“And now, 2 ½ years later, you can remember everything?” Tree asked. “I can remember a lot of details, yes,” Farmer said.

Viegas-Gonzalez, also charged with aggravated murder, is expected to go on trial sometime next year.

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