"The screams sounded like terror," said Jonathan Land, a company vice president who hid under his desk as McDermott gunned down two people in the accounting department.

Several witnesses to the Wakefield shooting said victims pleaded for mercy before McDermott pulled the trigger and two testified that the software programmer reloaded his weapon in the middle of the massacre.

McDermott leaves court with his Bible

That testimony may haunt McDermott's defense which claims the 43-year-old Navy veteran suffers from schizophrenia and was insane during the Dec. 26, 2000, killings. He was under psychiatric care and taking several antidepressants at the time.

Prosecutors contend McDermott was angry about company plans to garnish his wages to pay a $5,600 IRS debt and targeted specific employees with whom he had clashed on the matter for death.

The witnesses Tuesday described how the sound of gunshots ripped through their normal office routine, sparking first confusion, and then desperate attempts to survive.

"What were you thinking at that point?" prosecutor Thomas O'Reilly asked Linda Tessier, who concealed herself under her desk while McDermott shot co-workers just a few feet away.

Prosecutor Thomas O'Reilly

"I'm next," she replied.

Throughout the testimony, McDermott showed no emotion. He kept his eyes on a paperback Bible on the defense table.

McDermott's associates said on the day of the shooting, the man everyone called by the nickname "Mucko" showed no sign of the violence that was to come. Kenneth Yee, a senior consultant at the Internet company, testified McDermott and he chatted pleasantly in the coffee room that morning.

McDermott, Yee said, asked him how his Christmas had been and the two discussed how wishing someone a Merry Christmas could be tricky in a world of so many religious traditions.

"He said, 'Yes, that's right. You can't offend anybody today. You have to be very careful,'" said Yee. He added, "He seemed like every other day. He seemed happy to be at work."

Before lunch, Yee found himself under a table in a conference room, ducking gunfire and shattering glass.

McDermott's parents

Margaret Lynch, the assistant to the company president, said the shooting started in the lobby just after 11 a.m. Wiping away tears as she testified, Lynch said McDermott walked into the room from his cubicle carrying a large black bag. She said that as she began walking back to her own work area, she heard receptionist Janice Hagerty ask him in a joking manner, "Where are you going?"

She said she heard McDermott reply, "Actually, I need to see someone in human resources."

Lynch said when she glanced back at the lobby she saw McDermott aiming a "rifle-type gun" at Hagerty with both hands.

"He fired the gun twice and I saw the smoke that came from the gun," she said. Lynch said that moments later, as she tried to hide, she heard McDermott say in a quiet voice, "Ah, it's okay."

McDermott made his way to the president's office, but finding it empty went upstairs. Land said he stepped out of his office with co-worker Louis Javelle to see what the banging noise from the lobby was.

McDermott, he said, was charging down the corridor with a "focused" look on his face and a gun in one hand.

"He was moving at a good clip, taking big long strides," said Land.

Land said he stepped back into his office and heard Javelle say, "Mike, why?"

"Did you hear a response from Michael McDermott," asked O'Reilly.

"Not a verbal one...I heard a loud pop," said Land, who had wedged himself between his desk and the wall, remembering the advice of his World War II veteran father to "stay low and keep your heels down."

He said the gun shot was followed by the voice of victim Craig Woods, who worked in the human resources department, saying "Mike, no" and then a shot.

James Kerrigan, the facilities director, said he could see Woods desk from his office. Woods, already struck once, put one hand up and cried, "Please!" only to be hit several more times "right across the belly," Kerrigan said.

Tessier said McDermott then barged through the locked door of the accounting department and shot development technician Paul Marceau twice.

A moment later, she said, McDermott shot Manfredi.

Defense lawyer Kevin Reddington

She and Kerrigan both recalled hearing a clicking noise which sounded like the gun was opened and then closed.

"I thought he was changing clips," said Tessier.

During brief cross examinations, defense lawyer Kevin Reddington gave some hints of his defense. He pointed out McDermott had no reasonable motive to kill some victims, like Marceau, had nothing to do with the payroll.

He also suggested the company should have been more familiar with McDermott's mental problems.

"Did anyone at Edgewater care about this man's work history?" he asked Land, referring to McDermott's dismissal from a Maine nuclear power plant after a work-related suicide attempt.

The prosecution objected the the question and Judge R. Malcolm Graham told Land not to answer it.

Testimony continues Wednesday. The trial is being televised live on Court TV.