![Byron Tonks, 20, was shot in the chest while sheltering inside a home at Wyong in March, 2020. Bradley Jason Mark White is on trial accused of murder. Byron Tonks, 20, was shot in the chest while sheltering inside a home at Wyong in March, 2020. Bradley Jason Mark White is on trial accused of murder.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/v6ZqFubQfSczSV22Th78nc/c3766cb7-f6ed-4184-a753-97782788334f.jpg/r0_0_541_678_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
THE parents of a man who was killed while sheltering from a gunman inside a home at Wyong in 2020 have broken down in court while reliving the terrifying hour-long shooting rampage and recalled their son's last words.
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Bradley Jason Mark White, 42, was angry about a long-running grievance he had with neighbours over the road in Cutler Drive on March 17, 2020, when he twice set fire to a car and then began firing two rifles from inside his house.
He fired more than 220 rounds, shooting at people in the street, responding police, houses and cars.
At one point during the relentless barrage of bullets, Byron Tonks, who had driven to a house in Cutler Drive to help a 17-year-old boy, who was the target of Mr White's rage, screamed out from the front room: "I've been hit".
Mr Tonks's father, Albert Tonks, described pulling up outside the house and having to take cover as Mr White fired upon them.
Albert Tonks said when he heard the shots stop he stood up and a few seconds later was struck in the shoulder.
He managed to make it inside the house where the rest of his family were sheltering.
"[Byron] walked past me and into the lounge room and yelled out "I've been hit"," an emotional Albert Tonks gave evidence on Thursday. "We moved him halfway into the laundry and laid him down. "That is where he grew his wings."
Albert Tonks said as bullets continued to strike the house and smash windows, his son began to lose consciousness.
"He looked at [his brother] and said feed my lizard," Albert Tonks said. "He looked at his mum and said "I love you mum". "He looked at me and ran out of puff. "He couldn't say anything to me."
Albert Tonks said after the family had been evacuated from the house by police and paramedics had declared Byron dead, he was told he should go to hospital to treat the gunshot wound to his shoulder.
"But I wanted to stay with my son," Mr Tonks said. "I didn't want to leave him there."
As well as shooting Albert Tonks and killing Byron Tonks, Mr White also shot a woman, Pamela Dickinson, in the back while she was trying to get into her house.
Mr White has pleaded not guilty to murder, two counts of discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and four counts of firing a firearm at a house with disregard for safety and is facing a trial in Newcastle Supreme Court.
He does not deny firing the two rifles and shooting Byron Tonks but has raised a defence of mental health impairment or cognitive impairment, which he says impacted his ability to know what he was doing was wrong.
[Byron] walked past me and into the lounge room and yelled out "I've been hit". We moved him halfway into the laundry and laid him down. That is where he grew his wings.
- An emotional Albert Tonks, the father of Byron Tonks, gave evidence in Newcastle Supreme Court on Thursday.