A man who wrestled a gun from a masked thug and shot him twice in the chest was today cleared of attempted murder but found guilty of wounding with intent.
Career criminals Alan Roberts and James Freeman clashed in a terrifying pub shootout captured on CCTV.
Freeman, 24, was armed with a loaded gun when he hunted down Roberts, 29, outside the Old Bank Pub in Page Moss.
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Roberts ran inside, hid behind the door and when Freeman came in just seconds behind him, grabbed at the gun.
The pair struggled over the weapon, which went off, when two bullet fragments hit Roberts in the groin.
Liverpool Crown Court heard two other men started kicking Freeman on the floor, as Roberts took the gun, then "racked" it to eject a misfired cartridge.
Prosecutors said Roberts then fired twice into Freeman's chest at "point blank range" when he was "overpowered" and "no longer a threat".
But he argued he acted in self-defence and thought Freeman might be reaching into his pocket for a second weapon.
Miraculously, Freeman survived, but he has one bullet lodged permanently in his lung and another near his heart.
The shooting, on Monday, May 17 last year - the first day out of lockdown - saw both men set to stand trial for attempted murder.
However, Freeman, of Pennard Avenue, Huyton, admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
This was accepted by the prosecution, who offered no evidence on the attempted murder charge.
Roberts, from Page Moss but now of Heyes Street, Everton, denied all three offences in a five-day trial.
His barrister, Nick Johnson, QC, told the jury Freeman was "the assassin" and his client was "the victim".
In his closing speech, he said it was "the clearest case of self-defence you could get".
A jury today cleared Roberts of attempted murder, but unanimously found him guilty of the two other charges, after nearly eight hours of deliberation.
He showed no emotion when the verdicts were returned, while his girlfriend Chloe Price, sitting in the public gallery with another woman, sobbed.
During the trial, the jury heard Freeman, on an electric bike, went to the pub earlier that evening, when a barmaid recalled him asking for someone called "Michael".
Roberts' younger brother Michael Roberts was jailed for life in 2019 for manslaughter, over the shooting of Huyton teenager James Meadows in 2017.
The court heard Roberts and Miss Price arrived at the pub in Princess Drive at 8.17pm and were standing on a patio area outside.
David McLachan, QC, prosecuting, said Freeman - hooded and wearing a mask and gloves - jumped off his bike and headed for Roberts, who was "spooked" and ran into the pub, as the double shooting unfolded.
Crime scene investigators later found cartridge cases from three bullets and a misfired bullet.
Prosecutors were unable to say which of the two men had at one stage unsuccessfully tried to fire the gun.
But when Roberts had the weapon he turned away and pulled back the slide to eject a misfired cartridge, then turned back and opened fire twice in quick succession.
He would later claim to the jury he did this having seen guns "racked" in "action movies".
Mr McLachlan said two unidentified pub locals were giving Freeman "a kicking" when Roberts shot his "adversary" twice in "retribution", before he fled with the gun, on Freeman's electric bike.
When Roberts gave evidence, he told the jury he had instinctively grabbed for the gun and believed if he didn't get it, he would die.
Roberts said at the time he shot Freeman, he thought he was "going to be killed", because he saw him reach into his pocket for what could have been a gun or knife.
He said afterwards he ditched the gun and the bike on a field, before he wandered around the area and "by chance" bumped into Miss Price, because he didn't have a mobile phone to call her.
Freeman managed to "stumble off" and reached Barkbeth Road, where he told a resident: "I think I've been shot."
He was taken to Aintree hospital with two gunshot wounds to the chest and a cut left eye socket, before he later gave a no comment interview to the police.
Roberts attended Whiston Hospital with Miss Price two hours and 10 minutes after the shooting and was found to have a gunshot wound to his left groin.
When interviewed he gave a prepared statement, in which he said: "All I did during the alleged incident was use reasonable force to protect myself."
A firearms expert said a bullet likely struck something in Roberts' tracksuit pocket, such as a mobile phone or wallet, but Roberts said there was nothing there.
The court heard medical evidence showed he had two "tiny" fragments of a bullet in his groin, near his left pelvis.
But in an exchange with Mr McLachlan, Roberts insisted he had a "full bullet" in his groin and that he had seen it on an X-ray.
He also claimed not to have seen the two men were giving Freeman "a pretty good kicking" because his attention was "fully focused" on getting the gun.
Again suggesting Freeman was reaching into his pocket for what could have been a second weapon, he said: "I could have been shot dead. Anyone could have been shot dead, an old lady or a young person."
Asked why he "didn't just run off", he said he didn't know who else might be there with Freeman, and someone might have been waiting around the corner.
Mr McLachlan said if someone else was waiting around the corner, how would it help shooting Freeman twice in the chest.
Roberts said: "I was scared, I didn't really know what I was thinking, I thought I was going to die."
Mr McLachlan said: "Why did you think you were going to die by shooting him twice in the chest?"
Roberts said: "Because he was clearly going to pull something out."
However, he conceded: "You can't really see it on the video."
High Court judge Mr Justice Martin Spencer remanded Roberts in custody and said he and Freeman will be sentenced on February 25.
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