Two eyewitnesses identified Miguel A. “Mikey” Vega as the man who burst into a Prest Street apartment in New London on March 3, 2010, and opened fire, as Vega’s trial got underway Thursday in New London Superior Court.

The shooting left 21-year-old Rahmel Perry dead and Perry’s friend Michael Ellis Jr. with nonfatal gunshot wounds.

Vega, 31, who was living on Jefferson Avenue at the time, is charged with murder, felony murder, home invasion, home invasion with a deadly weapon, first-degree burglary, attempted murder, attempted first-degree assault with a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit.

Sisters Shariymah James and Altarica Parrish, who are cousins of Michael Ellis Jr., testified under subpoena by the state that Vega and an unidentified man broke in through the back door while wielding revolvers and that Vega pulled a bandana off his face and began shooting.

James said she had taken her son to her uncle Michael Ellis Sr.’s apartment at 53 Prest St. that night after fighting with her boyfriend. The boy was asleep in a bedroom when Perry, Ellis Jr. and a group of others returned from the Galley, a downtown bar, talking about a fight, she said. Vega had fought with Perry and Ellis because they were paying attention to the mother of Vega’s child, according to testimony at earlier hearings.

James said she heard “a loud boom” at the back door and Vega came into the living room wearing a bandana over his face, she said. Vega ordered everybody to the ground as the mother of Vega’s child yelled, “Mikey! Mikey!” James testified.

“He pulled his mask off and said, ‘You think this is a game?’’’ James testified.

A woman named Crystal Taylor jumped out the window of the second-floor apartment and Vega shot in that direction, she testified. He crossed the room to where Perry was and fired more shots, she said, then chased her and Ellis Jr. as they fled.

James said she retreated to a bedroom closet and when she came out, Perry was gasping for breath. Several people called 911, then they carried Perry out of the apartment and another of Ellis’ cousins drove him to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. Medical staff were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead.

James’ sister, Altarica Parrish, who had gone to the Galley with the group, narrated a surveillance video of the bar fight from the witness stand. She said Ellis Jr. had a black eye from the fight. She said when Vega came into the apartment and started shooting, she fled into the bathroom and hid in the tub. When she emerged, Perry was lying on the couch gasping for air. She said she administered CPR and the group carried him out of the apartment.

Neither of the witnesses said they could identify the second gunman, who has not been charged.

Identified immediately by police as a suspect, Vega was at large until June 2010, when he was arrested by federal agents in Norcross, Ga. He was extradited to Connecticut a year later and has remained incarcerated while his case was pending.

Relatives of Perry and Vega are watching the trial, which is taking place in the courtroom of Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed before a jury of 12 regular members and four alternates. Before the jury was sworn in Thursday, Jongbloed denied a defense motion to suppress a statement that Vega gave to police during an interview at a Georgia prison.

Also Thursday, former city patrolman Justin Clachrie, now a state trooper, testified that he arrived in the area of Blackhall and Williams streets that night to find Ellis, suffering from a gunshot wound to the back, sitting on a stone wall. Ellis approached his cruiser and collapsed on the hood, Clachrie testified. Clachrie said he sat Ellis down on the curb while waiting for an ambulance and asked him what had happened.

“He said a Puerto Rican guy dressed in black came to the residence at 53 Prest St. and started shooting,” Clachrie testified.

Clachrie said he rode in the ambulance with Ellis and asked him for the name of the shooter when Ellis was being treated in the Emergency Room at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. He said Ellis responded, “Mikey.”

New London Police Sgt. Russell Cavanaugh testified that, when he and other officers entered the Prest Street apartment, they found a window wide open, bullet casings on the floor and items knocked over. They also found a cellphone by the open window and more casings on the street, Cavanaugh testified.

In taking the case to trial, Vega rejected an offer from State’s Attorney Michael L. Regan to plead guilty in exchange for a 35-year prison sentence. The deal would also have resolved Vega’s pending drug charges, according to his attorney, John E. Franckling.

Vega was arrested Jan. 16 after prison officials found 27 bags of heroin in his cell at the Northern Correctional Institution, according to Franckling.

The trial resumes today.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN