Gripping testimony from the New Jersey police officer on trial for murder after a deadly road rage incident on Interstate 97 in Anne Arundel County.

Derek Valcourt has more on what the officer says happened that night.

He told jurors the victim was the aggressor and says he shot him in order to protect himself and his wife and kids.

New Jersey police detective Joseph Walker emerged from the courthouse holding his wife’s hand after he spent nearly two hours on the witness stand Friday morning recounting the night of June 8, 2013 when he shot and killed Joseph Harvey of Anne Arundel County.

Walker testified that when his minivan with his wife and kids inside cut-off Harvey’s car, Harvey became enraged, driving alongside Walker’s car and screaming “What’s your [expletive] problem?” and then calling him a racial slur.

Walker says Harvey again called him a racial slur and said “I’ll [expletive] kill you.”

Walker told jurors that’s when he flashed his badge. “I said, ‘Police. Keep moving,’” Walker said in court.

But instead, he said Harvey eventually ran his car off the road near a highway on-ramp. Harvey and his passenger, friend Adam Pidel, got out of the vehicle and began walking toward the detective who yelled for them to “Go back. Just go back.”

When that didn’t happen, Walker shot Harvey once in the leg. He said Harvey kept approaching, so he fired two more shots that ultimately ended Harvey’s life.

Walker’s supporters say that amounts to self defense, but prosecutors argue Walker pulled the trigger three times out of anger and a bruised ego. The victim’s friends agree.

“Just because you’re police doesn’t give you the right to pull a gun out and shoot somebody,” said Jennie Jones, victim’s friend.

Earlier this week, Detective Walker’s wife took the stand, telling a similar story to the one told Friday by her husband. She said she too feared for her life that night.

Closing arguments in the case could come Tuesday.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Walker faces the possibility of life in prison.

An 89-year-old World War II veteran was beaten and robbed early Monday morning in Glen Burnie.

Anne Arundel County police said the man was walking home from McDonald’s a little past 6 a.m. when three men, believed to be teenagers, attacked him and knocked him to the ground in the area of Cloverleaf and Four Leaf Clover Drive.

“My heart was racing. All I could think was, ‘Oh my God, oh my God,'” said Janice Copes, the victim’s daughter.

Copes says her father, 89-year-old Ralph Bollinger, gets just about everywhere by walking. He makes the trek to McDonald’s every morning for breakfast, then heads back home on foot. But on his way home Monday morning, three robbers beat him up and took $100 from his wallet. Family members say Bollinger was just around the corner from his home when it happened.

“It’s bad enough that it happens to anybody. But to beat up an old man and take his money? And just let him lay there? It’s just horrible. It’s just awful,” Copes said.

Copes says her father walked into the house saying only, ‘I think I’ve been mugged.’ She immediately dialed 911.

“It’s scary. My heart, it was just pounding, my blood pressure was probably worse than his. I knew I couldn’t fall apart because there was just so much that had to be done. I’m falling apart now,” said Copes.

Copes describes her father as doing ‘as good as expected.’ She says he’ll stay overnight in the hospital on Monday, but family members hope he’ll be released on Tuesday.

Police said initial information indicates the people in question are three males in their teens, that wore dark, hooded sweatshirts and dark pants.

Anyone with information is asked to call police  at 410-222-6145.