Forensic evidence against a teen athlete accused of attempting to shoot another man dead includes a single microscopic particle of what can unequivocally be called gunshot residue.

And a reference to “shooting at close range” retrieved from the phone of accused Blaine Simmons is almost identical to lyrics from a song by US rapper Lil Wayne, a court heard.

Mr Simmons, 19, denies attempted murder plus the use of a firearm in the March 19, 2013 attack on Somerset resident Lo’Torean Durrant.

The jury at his Supreme Court trial heard evidence yesterday from forensic scientist Allison Murtha.

Ms Murtha said that out of the series of swabs taken by police from Mr Simmons’ hands, clothing and cell phone — as well as a car he travelled in on the night in question, and from towels he is accused of using after showering — only a single particle, retrieved from the accused’s BlackBerry phone, fits all the characteristics of gunshot residue, or GSR.

GSR is composed of the elements lead, antimony and barium, Ms Murtha told the court. A specialist in trace evidence at the US firm RJ Lee Group, Ms Murtha described identifying particles containing one or both elements, deemed to be “associated with GSR” and “consistent with GSR”, respectively.

“In this case, there is only one finding of GSR — and that was lifted from the white BlackBerry cell phone,” defence lawyer Marc Daniels said.

Ms Murtha responded that there had been only one three-component particle gleaned from the evidence sent by the Bermuda Police.

Asked by Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves how forensics experts treated a case in which no GSR was found, Ms Murtha replied: “A lack of evidence is not evidence.”

The absence of GSR can’t eliminate the possibility that a gun was fired, she explained.

Much of the trial has centred on whether the GSR trace could have been caused by accidental contamination of the evidence by firearms officers who dealt with the matter.

Mr Durrant was shot as he fled from a masked figure who apparently waited for him outside his Somerset residence.

The bullet passed through his body as he tried to get back into a taxi cab that had just dropped him at home. It lodged in the vehicle’s door.

The driver drove straight from the scene to Somerset Police Station, and Mr Daniels has questioned whether officers might have inadvertently picked up GSR from either the vehicle or the driver.

The driver has estimated that Mr Durrant’s attacker shot from about ten feet behind the victim.

According to Ms Murtha, the heaviest concentration of GSR would be deposited within six feet of the firearm.

Asked if the plume of smoke could have been blown into the taxi, Ms Murtha called it “possible” — but added: “It’s not likely.”

Projectiles and casings sent by Bermuda Police for overseas testing show that Mr Durrant was shot with a .380 calibre 9mm automatic, the court heard.

The court also heard from Detective Constable Nigel Richardson of the Bermuda Police Service’s forensic support unit.

Dc Richardson told Crown counsel Maria Sofianos that he’d taken an image of interest off the BlackBerry 9320 Curve provided to him as part of the investigation.

“It’s an image of a man silhouetted against a window,” Dc Richardson said, adding that it had been renamed with “Blaine” followed by “shoot close range I’m gone need a shower”.

However, Mr Daniels then asked the witness to listen to an excerpt from a song off the 2010 album by Lil Wayne, “The Truth”. “Verse two starts off: ‘I’m sending shots, it’s happy hour; I shoot from close range, I’m a’ need a shower’,” he said.

The trial is expected to continue through this week.