A 27-year-old man on trial for killing a teenager in North Long Beach during a cellphone deal testified this week that the boy kept reaching toward his waistband before and while he attempted to steal the phone and that he feared for his life thinking the boy may have been armed.

Jose Bustamante Cardenas, 27, of Los Angeles faces a murder charge for the April 15, 2022, shooting death of Joshua Simmons near the Via Carmelitos Community Center. The two met to discuss a lavender iPhone 11 Pro, which Cardenas was selling on Offer Up for $500.

While showing Simmons the phones features, including that the internet worked, Simmons kept one hand near his waistband, Cardenas testified Thursday. Simmons suddenly grabbed the phone and started to run away, Cardenas said. As he did, he continued to hold his right hand at his waist band. When he made another move with the right hand, Cardenas shot.

“I thought he was going to pull something so I fired,” Cardenas said. “I felt unsafe. I felt scared

“I walked toward him and he threw the phone to me,” Cardenas continued. “I took off running because there were others there and I thought they would come after me.”

However, video evidence played during questioning from a prosecutor appeared to contradict Cardenas’ account, as Simmons was seen pumping his arms while attempting to run away as Cardenas pulled the gun from his left pocket and began shooting.

When asked to point out the exact moment Cardenas saw Simmons with his hand in his waistband and looking back, Cardenas initially could not, then pointed out a moment on the video after he had fired at least one shot at Simmons as he was running away from Cardenas.

He later confirmed Simmons never pulled a gun out on him.

Cardenas, who was 24 at the time, put his fiancée’s old phone on Offer Up because they had just upgraded their devices and “I no longer had a need for it,” he said.

He received a message from an account he only remembered starting with the letters “DOMO” asking about the phone and if he could drop it off in North Long Beach. Cardenas agreed and said he could be there about 8:30 p.m., but testified he had no idea who he was speaking with.

When Cardenas arrived to the community center, he had the 9-millimeter handgun in his pocket. He later testified he bought the gun for protection five months prior after he had a gun pointed at him while making an Uber delivery.

Cardenas testified he had never made an Offer Up exchange at night and was unfamiliar with the areas.

He saw three males on the basketball courts and three more people on benches nearby, he said. At that point, he texted his fiancée “and told her to watch my back.

“The area was sketchy and he wasn’t where he told me he would be,” Cardenas said. “I didn’t know where I was, there were three or four people there I didn’t know and I’m asking where he was and he’s not responding. (I was) nervous.”

Simmons eventually approached Cardenas from behind and asked if he was there to sell a phone, Cardenas said. After showing some of the phone’s features, Simmons grabbed it, scrolled by swiping the phone screen, then took off.

As he collapsed, Simmons threw the phone back toward Cardenas and said “Sorry,” Cardenas testified Thursday. He picked up the phone, ran back to his car and drove to a Bank of America about 2 miles away at Lakewood and Del Amo boulevards. He said he knew the location because he was familiar with the Lakewood Mall.

“He was still breathing when I left,” Cardenas said.

He called 911 and got a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher and reported the shooting, describing it as an “Offer Up deal gone bad,” but was told to call Long Beach police because it was in their jurisdiction, Cardenas said. Eventually, he drove to a Chevron station at Del Amo Boulevard and Cherry Avenue where he waited for police and later spoke with detectives at headquarters.

Cardenas acknowledged during questioning by prosecutors that while at the Bank of America, he washed blood off his hands and the phone while talking with an operator. When asked if it was Simmons’ blood, Cardenas said “I assume.”

Mac played a portion of Cardenas’ interview with detectives, where Cardenas said “Honestly, for a couple seconds, I was going to let him go, but when I seen everyone, I grabbed my (9-millimeter) and I fired.”

After the shooting, Simmons lay motionless for about eight minutes before a group of people spotted him on the ground. Police arrived nearly 15 minutes after the shooting, with one attempting chest compressions on the boy for four minutes until firefighters arrived.

Simmons died at the scene.

Physical evidence found at the scene suggested Cardenas fired at Simmons seven times and a medical examiner’s report noted six gunshot wounds, two of which were deemed “rapidly fatal.” Both of those gunshot wounds entered Simmons’ back, with one exiting the front of his neck and the other at the front left shoulder.

Cardenas’ public defender has said Simmons did not have the money to buy the phone. Both police and medical examiner’s investigators found no U.S. currency on Simmons, they testified, but they also found no firearms. Simmons had two Cash App cards on him, one of which was found to have $1.37 on it and the other had no money.

Domonque Howard, whose son was friends with Simmons, testified Wednesday that Simmons used her Offer Up account through her son’s phone to communicate with Cardenas that night.