SIOUX FALLS - A Hells Angels biker accused of shooting five rivals at Custer State Park in 2006 told jurors he would have been killed had he not fired at Outlaws Motorcycle Club members surrounding his truck.

The testimony from Chad Wilson, 33, of San Diego came as defense lawyers finished their case Monday. They called Wilson and three other witnesses.

Lawyers will give closing arguments Tuesday, and then jurors will start deliberating.

If Wilson and John Midmore, 35, of Valparaiso, Ind., are convicted of one or more of the five counts of attempted first-degree murder against them, they also could be found guilty of commission of a felony while armed.

Prosecutors said the two tried to kill five Outlaws members and acquaintances.

But Wilson testified he was ambushed by the Outlaws, fired in self-defense and did not intend to kill Thomas Haas, Allen Matthews, Danny Neace, Claudia Wables and Susan Evans-Martin.

"If I wouldn't have shot back, they would have kept shooting me until I was dead," Wilson testified.

Wilson said he was in his pickup, with Midmore driving, when they stopped at the resort Aug. 8, 2006, on their way to a strip club.

Midmore smoked a marijuana joint as Wilson got some sun, then the two went into the convenience store without their shirts on.

When they were inside, a member of the Outlaws recognized Wilson's Hells Angels tattoos, so he tried to get back to the truck without being noticed further and wait for Midmore to return from the restroom.

Wilson said he could see the Outlaws gathering so he tucked a handgun in his waistband and put on a shirt.

"I was terrified. I wasn't afraid. There was nine of them and two of us."

When Midmore got back, he pulled the truck ahead to leave but was stopped at the exit by an Outlaws member who walked in front of the pickup and another who stepped behind.

Wilson said he got out, walked around the rear and one of the Outlaws, Nathan Frasier, pulled out a handgun and dropped it, so Wilson said he raised his hand, lifted his shirt to show the gun and yelled "whoa" before seeing a flame from a gun by Outlaw Lon Baillargeon.

Wilson said he bent over, pulled out his gun, loaded a bullet in the chamber, stood up and started firing, then saw Frasier fire a shot.

"One thing led to another, and I just didn't stop," Wilson said.

He said he got back into the passenger's side and jammed his foot on the gas. Wilson said he threw his handgun along the road, then discarded two other guns along a logging trail after concluding nobody was following them.

The two men abandoned the truck and were arrested that evening after asking an off-duty park ranger for a ride.

Wilson said he was afraid because weeks earlier at a Hells Angels event in Cody, Wyo., and then at Sturgis he was told law enforcement officers warned the club that Outlaws were targeting the rival group.

On cross-examination, Wilson acknowledged that neither man nor the truck was hit with gunfire. He said it was a coincidence he had guns in the truck and didn't know the Outlaws were camped nearby, 70 miles from Sturgis.

"I didn't expect to run into nine Outlaws in the middle of nowhere," he said.

Thomas Streed, a professor of human behavior and retired investigator, testified it's human nature for a person who feels threatened to empty a gun and quickly discard it.

Streed said the allegation that the Hells Angels ambushed the Outlaws doesn't make sense because Wilson used a handgun when two rifles were hidden in the truck and there was no structure.

"I see chaos. I see sloppiness. I disorganization. I see spontaneity and absolutely no evidence of planning," he said.

A broken foot pedal on the truck, a full bottle of water and an empty Haagen Dazs wrapper all support Wilson's testimony that he hit the gas from the passenger's seat when he jumped back in and the two men had stopped for a snack, Streed said.

"One of the most shocking things to me is why would you bring ice cream to a gunfight?"

The other defense witness Monday was Dr. Michael Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police and star of HBO's documentary "Autopsy," who said the gunshot injuries support Wilson's version of where the Outlaws were standing.

Wilson said he's from San Diego but previously lived in Seattle. He is a Canadian citizen and member of a Hells Angels chapter in San Diego. Midmore, who lives in Indiana and Canada, has dual citizenship in Canada and Australia and is a prospect of a British Columbia, Canada, chatper.

Judge Gene Paul Kean denied defense motions to dismiss the charges but acknowledged some inconsistencies in the testimony.

"I agree there's some ripe and wonderful factual issues that are going to be argued by the attorneys," he said.