A close friend of accused murderer Jose E. "Kool-Aid" Ramos told a Norwich jury Wednesday that he saw Ramos shoot Tynel Hardwick at a Norwich bar on Oct. 10, 2008.

The woman who drove Ramos and his friend Dishon L. Morgan to Rumors Bar & Grill also implicated Ramos in the shooting. 

Ramos, 32, has pleaded not guilty to murder and opted for a jury trial, which began on Monday.

On Tuesday, Ramos' younger sister, Shavonna Kincade, testified he admitted using a rifle he stored at her Elizabeth Street apartment to kill a man after a dispute at Rumors.

Kincade said she didn't believe her brother, who she says tended to fabricate things. She said she eventually left police an anonymous tip in case there was "a sliver of a chance" that it was true.

On Wednesday, Morgan — whom Ramos considered "like a brother" — and Morgan's then-girlfriend, LaToya Small, testified about the night's events, with Morgan admitting he had seen Ramos shoot a man.

Small said she had driven the two men to the bar about 9 p.m. and some time later heard Ramos saying something about a "snake in a box" and saw a tall, African American man pacing around with "his arms behind his back and his hand in his jeans."

She said both men were pacing around, though she did not hear any dispute.

She said she drove Ramos and Morgan to the Elizabeth Street apartment, where he retrieved a long, black bag, then returned to the area of the bar. She said she waited in the car on nearby Division Street.

Small said she heard a shot, then Ramos and Morgan returned to the car and instructed her to drive to Hartford "to get rid of the gun."

"They were talking about what had just happened as far as what Jose had done," Small testified. "They were laughing about it. He said he was laying down in the grass and shot him."

Also testifying Wednesday was James Kincade, Ramos' brother-in-law.

Kincade said that when Ramos brought the rifle to the Elizabeth Street apartment, he had shown Kincade two ammunition clips, or magazines, that Ramos had taped together, bragging that it was his invention.

He said Ramos stored the gun in a bedroom closet and that it was gone the morning after the shooting. 

Kincade testified that he later identified the taped-together magazines in a photo that police showed him. Police said they recovered the ammunition at the crime scene.

James Kincade said he didn't believe Ramos when Ramos said he had shot somebody, so he never reported the information to police.

Also, Kincade testified, "He said if I was a backstabber or snitch, he would burn down the (apartment)."

Norwich police Detective Corey Poore was testifying when the trial broke for the day.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN