Not content with insanity claims, admitted terrorist gunman Naveed Haq’s defense added he wasn’t Islamic anymore - he had switched to Baptist Christianity.

The trial of Haq, 32, of Tri-Cities, continues before a King County Superior Court jury this week after Haq family members testified for the defense through Friday, May 2.

Haq admittedly walked into the office of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on Third Ave., and began a shooting rampage that killed Pamela Waechter and wounded five others.

Prosecutors allege Haq planned the July 2006 attack to make a political statement against Jewish people and U.S. foreign policy.

Defense attorneys characterize Haq as far from devotedly Muslim, he did not dislike Jews, and he has a long history of mental illness – he should be acquitted as insane, they said.

Haq brother Hasan Haq, 26, told jurors he never heard Naveed disparage Jews, but he did disparage Middle Eastern men and was unhappy with his religion, ethnicity and name.

He was elated one day when someone mistook him as Hispanic, prompting his furious but brief effort to learn Spanish, Hasan Haq said.

Family members who testified last week said they watched Haq’s mental health decline through the 1990s, “becoming very apparent something was not right with him,” Hasan said.

"It came to the unbearable state with me," he told jurors. "I couldn't stand it anymore, and seeing the effect it was having on my folks was very difficult."

According to family, Haq spoke against Middle Eastern countries, defied Islam by drinking, smoking, eating pork sausage pizza and raiding the kitchen as others fasted for Ramadan.

"He would rant about Islam to me," Hasan said. "I knew he wasn't well, so I took it."

Family members said Haq changed his views toward Christianity – and he had himself baptized – years before killing Waetcher and injuring the five other Jewish center victims.

Haq's father said his eldest son "used to make fun of our faith" for the frequent prayer, fasting and other practices. "He was always searching for the right religion," Mian Haq testified.

Bruce Bennett, Haq’s psychiatrist, said the man had been delusional, believing police had him under surveillance, and Haq's prognosis was "poor, at best.”

He stopped short of recommending continual hospitalization for Haq. "I think Mr. Haq will need to be on medication the rest of his life," he said.

Haq's mother sobbed, delivering an emotional diatribe to jurors of disbelief her son could kill. "I cannot believe in my heart that he did all the things you're telling me," Nahida Haq cried.

“He's a victim of the circumstances,” she added. “He's incapable of doing any of these things.”

Earlier court testimony established as uncontested matter of fact Haq forced his way into the federation offices and gunned down receptionist Layla Bush at the front desk on the afternoon of July 28, 2006.

Bush said she tried to do her job, call 911, but the pain to her side immobilized her. “I realized I couldn’t move, so there was nothing I could do even if he was reloading,” she said.

The young woman leaned on a cane as she took the stand, and described with her hand how Haq pointed the gun at her and shot her, causing permanent injuries.

After a few minutes of shooting, Bush saw Haq returning. “We made eye contact, and he shot me again,” Bush said. “I believe he was trying to kill me.”

Carol Goldman didn’t realize what was going on when fellow employee Charyl Stumbo cried out for her to call 911. Haq gunned her down, though, before she had a chance.

The gun “was pointed directly at me,” she said. “I got out of my chair and dove underneath my desk, trying to get out of the line of sight; I was trying to stay alive…scared out of my mind.”

Then came a burst of shots in the hallway, one person whimpering, another person screaming, and then footsteps running down the hallway again. Goldman reached for her phone and called 911.

As Haq continued his murderous rampage, he shouted out anti-Semitic statements in furious Islamic jihadist fashion.

One of those shot down was Pamela Waechter, unavailable for testimony or further comment because she bled out and died that day.

Though an act of terrorism – violence against people intended to intimidate a wider social demographic – prosecutors opted against seeking a death penalty.

Haq is charged with murder, attempted first-degree murder and malicious harassment – the state's hate-crime law, as well as numerous other charges.

If convicted of the murder charge, Haq faces life in prison without parole.

Haq is of Pakistani descent, and was raised in the Muslim faith.

Jurors have been hearing testimony for several weeks, after the start of active trial proceedings in mid April.