JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The man on trial in the shooting of 13-year-old Shenice Holmes took the stand in his own defense Thursday afternoon.

Willie Tucker III, now 20, is charged with second-degree murder the May 2006 slaying of Holmes, who was hit by a stray bullet as she was reading a book in the bedroom of her apartment. He is also charged with three counts of attempted murder in connection with shots fired at other people that night.

Prosecutors rested their case just after 2 p.m., and Tucker took the stand to tell his side of the story shortly before 5 p.m.

Throughout the case, Tucker's attorneys have asserted that Tucker acted in self-defense when he fired the shot that hit Holmes.

On the stand, Tucker said a fight earlier in the day escalated into gunfire. He said there was a second exchange near Holmes' home and he was forced to shoot in self-defense.

"My life was threatened," Tucker testified. "By the time he got up on us -- Steve Barry let off the first shot. When he let off the first shot, I let off shots with him. I let off five or six shots."

He said he did not know Holmes had been shot until the next morning.

"I go upstairs to take me a shower and lay down. Steve Barry called my phone and said, 'Bro, look at the news.' I turn on the news and see a little girl had been killed in the Hartwood apartments," Tucker said. "So, I'm telling Steve Barry, 'Man, neither one of us couldn't have did it. We couldn't have did it.'"

Under cross-examination, prosecutor Bernie De La Rionda said Tucker's story was not believable.

"He shot out of his window -- So, he's shooting out his window with his left hand?" De La Rionda said.

"I see the fire coming out of his window," Tucker responded.

"So, he's shooting … over the top of the car?" De La Rionda asked.

"I don't know which way he's shooting. He got his hand out the window and I see the fire come out the barrel," Tucker said.

"Isn't it true that it just doesn't make sense because you're making it all up?" De La Rionda said.

Defense rested its case after Tucker's testimony.

Before resting its case earlier in the day, prosecutors called a handful of witnesses in the third day of testimony.

One woman told the court she saw Tucker with a group of armed men who headed to where the fatal shot was fired.

"I don't know if they were loading or holding the guns, but I saw two long, rifle-type guns in their hand," Regina Robinson testified. "And we seen them walk away toward the back."

Robinson identified Tucker as one of the men who was holding a rifle.

Prosecutors and witnesses have said that Tucker was in a group of men seeking retaliation with a group of rivals outside a Northside apartment building when Holmes was shot.

On Wednesday, a man who claimed to be with Tucker that night said they were involved a shooting incident earlier that day with a group of men he described as their "rivals."

Victor Banks testified that he and Tucker made plans for retaliation in the hours before shots were exchanged in the parking lot of the Hartwood Apartments.

"I heard a lot of shots. I knew they were coming from Hartwood," Banks said. "After they left is when a dude came to the back where we was and said a little girl got shot, got killed."

Banks also testified that at a later time Tucker told him he fired the shots from a semiautomatic rifle.

Holmes' death on Mother's Day weekend 2006 was one of a series of homicides that galvanized the community against a wave of gun violence.

Tucker's defense attorney does not dispute that he fired the shot that may have killed Holmes but said he was given the gun by someone else and was trying to defend himself.

Because Tucker did not target Holmes, he is being tried on a charge of second-degree murder.

In addition to the second-degree murder charge for which Tucker could face life in prison if convicted, Tucker also faces three counts of attempted second-degree murder in connection with firing at the men he missed the night Holmes died.

Closing arguments in the case are expected to take place Friday morning, and the case could go to the jury sometime during day.