The victim of a shooting in Butler last month told a judge Monday that serious wounds to his face and head have left him with diminished vision and nerve damage.

Brandon Fairtrace, 20, wearing a bandage around his head and a clear protective covering over his right eye, gave brief testimony at a preliminary hearing for the teenager accused of shooting him with a shotgun at his West Brady Street apartment.

“My eyesight's not complete,” Fairtrace told District Judge Pete Shaffer at the hearing. “I've lost the ability to (see) detail out of this eye. Things are blurry.”

He said he would likely need additional surgery to his right eye that suffered injury to its cornea and retina, as well as rehabilitation for facial nerve damage.

Following Fairtrace's testimony, Shaffer ordered 19-year-old Jase W. Charlton, who has no known address, to stand trial on attempted murder and other charges in the July 20 shooting.

Earlier at the hearing, Butler police Capt. David Dalcamo testified that Charlton admitted his role in the shooting.

“(Charlton) agreed he was responsible for shooting Mr. Fairtrace,” Dalcamo said.

Police allege Charlton about 4 a.m. fired a shotgun through the bedroom window of the victim's first-floor apartment where Fairtrace was in bed with his girlfriend.

Investigators believe Charlton and Fairtrace are in rival groups of friends who had been feuding in recent weeks.

Fairtrace's girlfriend drove him to Butler Memorial Hospital before he was transferred to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh and admitted in critical condition.

Soon after his investigation began, Dalcamo testified, Charlton's name came up.

“I developed some leads that the defendant and Noah Burnside were involved,” he said during questioning by prosecutor Richard Bosco, a Butler County assistant district attorney.

Later that day, police interviewed Burnside, 18, of Butler, a friend of Charlton.

Burnside, who has not been charged in the case, told police that Charlton had shown up at his home between 4 and 5 a.m. July 20, acknowledging he had shot Fairtrace “through the window,” according to court documents.

Police went looking for Charlton, who was found July 21 at a friend's home on East Locust Street, Dalcamo said.

During his video recorded interview at the police station, Charlton pulled out one live shotgun shell and one spent shell from his socks and admitted to the crime.

“Did you ask him to elaborate (about the shooting)?” Bosco asked Dalcamo.

“I did,” Dalcamo replied, “but he refused.”

On cross-examination, the officer told Charlton's attorney, public defender Charles Nedz, that the defendant was advised of his Miranda rights before the interview.

But “at some point” during the interview, Dalcamo said, Charlton invoked his right to an attorney.

“He requested counsel” the officer testified, “at which point the interview was ceased.”

Charlton later changed his mind and again spoke to police, Dalcamo said, but not before he was “re-advised” of his Miranda rights.

Dalcamo testified that Charlton asked for an attorney after admitting his involvement in the shooting.

The officer also acknowledged that the recorded interview was stopped for a time when Charlton offered to show police where he had hidden the shotgun.

He led police to several garbage cans on North Washington Street, the supposed hiding spot, court documents said. But the gun was not there. Charlton surmised someone must have taken it.

Police still have not recovered the gun.

Bosco limited his questioning of Fairtrace to what injuries he suffered in the shooting, and the kind of treatment he received.

Fairtrace said that during his hospital stay he was placed in a medically-induced coma and had to be connected to a respirator, while physicians removed shotgun pellets from his face and head.

Since cross-examination is limited to matters testified about on direct examination, Nedz was unable to ask Fairtrace about the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Meanwhile, Charlton has remained in the Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail since his arrest July 22.

Following the hearing, Dalcamo said his investigation continues but he declined to say if anyone else could be charged.