An hour before a New Kensington drug dealer was gunned down in the hallway of a New Stanton hotel, another dealer was robbed minutes after he sold crack cocaine to a man in the building.

Jeffrey Patterson testified Wednesday he was taken down from behind by two men immediately after he left a hotel room where he sold $200 worth of drugs to a man he identified as Christopher Smarr.

Smarr, 19, of McKeesport is on trial for first-degree murder in the shooting of 31-year-old Brandon Gray at the Garden Inn Hotel on March 14, 2015. Police contend Smarr killed Gray moments after the two made a drug deal in a room.

The trial started Monday.

Although Patterson pointed to Smarr as one of the men he sold drugs to, he could not positively identify either of the men he said approached him from behind as he walked down a hallway, pushed him to the floor and stole money he was paid in the deal.

“I wasn't sure if it was him. It could have been him. I didn't know,” Patterson testified.

Assistant District Attorney Adam Barr argued that Patterson's testimony mirrored the circumstances of the robbery that led to Gray's murder an hour later.

Witnesses earlier in the trial testified that Smarr followed Gray from another hotel room after a drug sale and shot Gray when he refused to return the $950 he was paid in the transaction.

Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio rejected a defense request for a mistrial, saying Patterson's testimony was proper. Defense attorney Michael DeMatt contended that because Patterson could not identify Smarr as the robber, his testimony was prejudicial and should not have been allowed.

The prosecution alleges Smarr killed Gray as part of a turf war between drug dealers.

Patterson testified the men who robbed him made threats he was to report to his supplier, named “Rico,” who operated in a nearby New Stanton hotel.

“When I left, they said, ‘Don't worry. It's not you. Let Rico know to stay out of this spot,' ” Patterson testified.

A forensic pathologist, Dr. Cyril Wecht, testified an autopsy revealed the single gunshot to Gray's chest caused significant internal injuries, and Gray bled to death. The bullet pierced a lung, grazed Gray's stomach and perforated his aorta, Wecht said.

Members of a Mt. Pleasant family who were staying at the hotel as they prepared to relocate to South Carolina told jurors they heard the gunshot.

Ivy Evanichko, 19, testified she stepped out of her hotel room to get headphones from the family's car when she heard the shot and saw a tall man who looked like Smarr jog down the hallway away from the shooting scene as Gray lay on the floor.

“He was significantly taller and wore a gray hoodie. I didn't see his race,” Evanichko testified.

Other witnesses previously testified Smarr wore a gray hoodie when he bought drugs from Gray at the hotel.

The trial will resume Thursday morning.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.

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