The trial of a man arrested for a fatal shooting last September at the Ace of Clubs Tavern in Hoquiam entered its second day at the Grays Harbor County Courthouse.

Michael Bowers Moore, 58, is being tried for the death of Steven Button, 58, on Sept. 15, 2022. Moore entered the bar that evening just before 9 p.m., carrying a bottle of liquor and acting belligerent, according to multiple witnesses who took the stand Wednesday.

“We were there kind of shooting the breeze and keeping up with the football game,” said Danielle Dan, who had been hanging out with Button before the incident. “Steve was always in a good mood.”

Thursday Night Football had started up, said bartender Ashley Robbins, and Button had been there for some time, drinking four beers over the time — Voodoo Rangers, the last in the bar, to her memory.

“He’s been my customer for as long as I can remember. Enough to be considered a regular,” Robbins said. “It wasn’t like every week. He could be gone for a month and still come back.”

Button was known among regulars, said Zachary Fogo, a regular at the Ace of Clubs.

“I didn’t know him too well. I’d say hi to him once in a while,” Fogo said. “I didn’t make a point of going and saying hi or sitting and talking with him.”

Button wasn’t showing any external signs of inebriation, Dan said.

“He was getting ready to leave after he finished that one. I don’t believe he was intoxicated,” Dan said. “He was not falling down drunk. He did not have any visible signs of intoxication.”

The evening escalated when Moore arrived at the bar, visible through the Simpson Avenue door on camera footage played before the court before entering the bar. Robbins and other witnesses said they generally look askance at people entering using that door, and that regulars generally come from the door to the parking lot in the back.

“Even people who aren’t our regulars usually come through the back door,” Robbins said. “He was just peering through. He had this demeanor about it that made me very uneasy.”

Moore can be seen entering through the door and walking down the bar on camera. His demeanor and the fact that he was carrying what appeared to be a liquor bottle made him an immediate object of focus, witnesses said.

“I remember him walking up to the door and pointing in our general direction. I don’t know what he was pointing at,” said Christian Haerle. “He was probably around my height. Had a beard. Pretty scruffy looking. Heavily intoxicated by the look of it. He was holding a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand.”

Robbins said she immediately informed Moore that he couldn’t be bringing his own liquor into the bar.

“Right before he walked in is when I made eye contact with him. That’s when he entered the bar,” Robbins said. “I was standing right there and I turned and noticed his bottle of alcohol and I said ‘you can’t have that in here and you need to go.’ He raised his middle fingers at me and said eff you.”

Moore flicked off the bar, multiple witnesses testified, while continuing to walk forward. Robbins repeated her instructions to leave to him, while he continued to be belligerent, Robbins said.

“He was being threatening,” Robbins said. “After I told Michael Moore to leave for the second or third time, Button said, ‘she told you to get out, so get the —— out.’”

Moore was being bellicose toward patrons of the bar, Haerle said.

“He was definitely pretty heavily intoxicated,” Haerle said. ”He seemed almost aggressive, like he was trying to start something.”

At that point, footage shows Moore moving to the rear exit. After a few seconds, Button gets up to follow.

“He appeared to be walking in. I don’t know where he was intending to go. It all happened very quickly. I know there was another exchange,” Dan said. “He grabbed a pool cue on his way out the door.”

Moore and then Button grabbed pool sticks on their way out the door. Witnesses testified that they were peripherally aware something was happening, but it wasn’t a direct focus for most. Robbins followed the pair out into the rear parking lot.

“Then they both went outside with pool sticks,” Fogo said. “Moore said he wanted to take it outside.”

Video footage shows Button bulling into Moore as the pair scuffle, knocking him to the ground and the pool cue out of his hands. Robbins picked up the fallen pool cue to prevent either from reacquiring it as the two scuffled in the parking lot.

“Michael Moore was saying you’re on camera, you’re on camera. Button was saying, good, I’m glad, get the —— out of here,” said a visibly distraught Robbins. “He turned back to come inside with me. Something got him to turn around, that’s all I know. I ether locked it out or … I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Moore and Button scuffle in the parking lot. The gun goes off. Button is fatally shot in the parking lot of the Ace of Clubs.

“There was a sound and a puff of smoke and then I saw Button go limp,” Robbins said. “I said, ‘what was that,’ like I knew what it was, but I didn’t want to believe what it was. Someone said, ‘it’s a gun, it was a gun.’”

Other bar patrons were outside at this point, following the fight into the parking lot.

“I heard the gunshot. It scared me, so I didn’t go look,” Dan said. “He was on the ground. Just laying on the ground. I couldn’t tell if he was face up or face down.”

Button’s bulk obscured the view for most.

“I saw them scuffling. They were tight. I don’t know if they were grabbing each other but they were close,” Fogo said. “I heard a pop and a little flash. It was like a little firework. It was muffled.”

Robbins said she called 911.

“The 911 operator asked — she asked what he was wearing, and I was trying to get an answer out of people,” Robbins said. “I stepped back outside and saw Button laying there, and I turned back around and made myself go in. I didn’t go back out.”

Bar patrons managed to separate Moore from the gun before police arrived. People were held for questioning as the Hoquiam Police Department, assisted by the Aberdeen Police Department, Grays Harbor Sheriffs Office and Washington State Patrol, took control of the scene.

“My friend’s body was still lying on the ground,” Dan said. “It was very challenging. They wouldn’t let us leave.”

The trial will continue Thursday.

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.