The best friend of a dancer shot dead after a night out at a snooker club said he thought the gunman was trying to "show off" when he pulled out the weapon.

Mutale Mwananshiku, known as Fred to his friends, told jurors at the Old Bailey yesterday (April 4) he did not believe the man who killed his friend of five years, 20-year-old Daniel Famakinwa, was holding a real gun.

The friends, who were in the same dance crew, had been partying at the West Norwood Snooker Club, on Norwood Road, on the evening of August 6 last year.

Inside the club, one member of the group, who later shot Daniel, tapped Mr Mwananshiku on the shoulder and said his friends were “dancing with his girl”, the court heard.

About an hour later at 3.45am, Mr Mwananshiku left the club to wait for a night bus and saw Daniel chatting to a girl next to the Arani Food and Wine shop.

Moments later another of their friends, known as Charmer, was approached by a group of six teenagers who the prosecution allege were “on the prowl” with a loaded gun.

Mr Mwananshiku told the court one boy confronted Charmer near Waylett Place and asked him “Where are your ends?”

He said the boy, which the prosecution claim was Upper Norwood teenager Ezekiel Charles-Sterling, then pulled out a weapon and began waving it around.

He said the group got “excited” and the gunman said “Empty your pockets. I’m going to bus it” meaning “I’m going to shoot”.

Giving evidence, he said: “He was holding [the gun] on its side with his right hand. He was waving it about. When he took the gun out they kind of got excited.”

Mr Jafferjee QC, prosecuting, replied: “At that stage did you take it seriously? Did you believe it was a real gun?”

Mr Mwananshiku said: “No. When I looked at them I just thought it was a group of young people- a group of kids. I just thought he was trying to show off.”

After the gun went off, he said both groups scattered and the gunman’s group ran towards York Hill.

Fighting back tears on the witness stand, he described running to help Daniel, who died an hour later from gunshot wounds to the chest.

"I ran to him and picked him up. I tried to see where he had been shot. The girl [Daniel had been talking to] gave me a scarf and I tied it. I was speaking to the lady [from the ambulance service call centre] and she was telling me what to do."

Ezekiel Charles-Sterling, 19, of Upper Norwood, Romelle Bogle, 18, of Brixton; Joshua Chieke, 18, of Stockwell; Christopher Perry, 18, of Streatham; Adrian Rhodes, 19, of Stockwell, and Demmar Dawkins, 18, of West Norwood all deny murder.

They also deny possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of a prohibited firearm in relation to a second shooting in the City of London four weeks later.

The trial continues.