SLO murder trial testimony: Witnesses recall gunshots, screaming

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Witnesses recounted the early morning of 2007 when a gunshot blast woke them to a woman screaming that her boyfriend had been shot as his body lay on the ground, according to testimony Friday in the murder case against two San Luis Obispo men.

Additional testimony included police officers and a San Luis Obispo sporting goods store manager who said he sold a shotgun police believe was used in the killing. The gun was sold to a friend of one of the defendants.

Patrick Wollett and Chad Westbrook sat quietly in the courtroom as the murder case against them continued in its second day. Both men are charged with murder and face life in prison, if convicted.

A string of police officers and witnesses who were at the murder scene Dec. 6, 2007 when Joshua Houlgate was shot around 5:30 a.m. took the stand.

Both residents at the mobile home park at 1211 Orcutt Road in the Oceanaire Mobile Home Park where the shooting happened and police described a similar scene of a man lying on the ground bloody and gurgling as he died. And his girlfriend, Sarah Lonsinger-Rey, who is a key witness, walking around frantically screaming that her boyfriend had been shot.

Prosecutors believe the slaying was the result of a love triangle after Lonsinger-Rey became involved with Houlgate while still engaged to Wollett�s brother.

-- Leslie Parrilla

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