Peppering his testimony with curses and the "N" word, 23-year-old Tyshawn Smith reluctantly told a New London jury Tuesday what he remembers from the night that package store owner Jared Silva was gunned down during a botched robbery.

Key parts of Smith's testimony were statements that the gun used to kill Silva was stashed in his home overnight, and that he heard accused triggerman Gary L. Clarke say he "just panicked" and shot Silva.

The 46-year-old businessman, well-regarded in the city and in Niantic, where he lived, died of a gunshot wound to the face following a scuffle outside his Ocean Avenue store.

Clarke, 24, is on trial for murder, felony murder and attempted first-degree robbery, and State's Attorney Michael L. Regan has been calling on his contemporaries who were involved with the case. Smith was staying at his grandmother's house on Squire Street, just a few doors down from Jared's Packy, on Oct. 12, 2007. Smith, who has three pending court cases, including a weapons charge, said he is now living out of town.

On the night of the shooting, Smith said he was talking on the phone with his "right hand man," Amiel Gomez, who was near his house and was trying to persuade him to go outside. Smith said he told Gomez it was too cold. He said he heard a gunshot through the phone and from the street and, thinking his best friend may have been shot, ran outside. He said he saw a body "on the floor" by the package store and told Gomez to "get away from that (expletive)." He said Gomez told him Clarke and Cosmo Frieson had been fighting with the person.

After some prodding by Regan, Smith admitted that Frieson, Clarke's alleged accomplice, brought a gun to his house after the shooting, and that it was stashed in a couch overnight and returned to Clarke the next day.

Smith also conceded that he, Frieson and Gomez went to Clarke's Buchanan Road house after the shooting and confronted Clarke.

"We was yellin' at him," Smith testified. They asked Clarke why he had "killed that man," he said.

"What did Gary say?" Regan asked.

"I think he said he just panicked," Smith responded.

Defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan objected at one point to Smith's use of foul language. Judge Arthur C. Hadden responded that the court was letting the witness "use his own words." Donovan contends that Smith, not Clarke, was involved in the robbery with Frieson, and that Smith was the gunman.

During a lengthy cross-examination, Smith was testy and defensive when Donovan suggested he was the killer.

"I didn't kill that man," Smith said repeatedly. At one point he said, "Too bad (but) I didn't kill him."

When Smith claimed that he didn't remember some of the events of that night, Donovan repeatedly asked him to refresh his memory by reading a transcript of a probable cause hearing in the case which took place in December 2007. A few times, Smith recalled his earlier testimony after reading the transcript, but other times, he responded that "the paper" said he had said something, but he did not remember.

Smith's court cases have been pending since before the murder, and he said Tuesday that he has been told that the charges would be "thrown out" if he cooperates with the state. Regan, the state's attorney, asked him who told him that.

"Was it somebody from my office?" Regan asked. "No," Smith responded.

Regan told the judge he might call Smith's attorney, Shawn Kelly, to testify about whether Smith had been promised anything, but he appeared satisfied when Smith admitted no promises had been made.

The jury heard also from Chief State Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver, who confirmed that Silva, 46, died of a gunshot wound to the head and was the victim of homicide. Carver said Silva had scattered gunpowder particles on his face and estimated he was shot from within 2 feet. He said he removed from Silva's brain a medium-caliber bullet, such as one that might come from a .38 caliber, .357 magnum or 9mm handgun was removed.

Referring to the recent assassination attempt on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, Carver said that "despite recent events," people rarely survive when a bullet passes through their brain.

Carver also testified that Silva suffered a wound to the head that was imprinted with a checkerboard pattern that was possibly transferred from the grip of a gun.

The trial is not in session today, because of the snowstorm, but it is scheduled to resume Thursday. Regan, the state's attorney, said he still has a few witnesses to call, including police officers and someone from the Connecticut Forensics Laboratory.

k.florin@theday.com