The federal agent charged with killing a man in a McDonald's restaurant in Hawaii was protecting himself and others, his attorney said Thursday.

State Department Special Agent Christopher Deedy made his first court appearance Thursday on charges of second-degree murder in the Nov. 5 shooting of Kollin Elderts, 23, of Kailua.

During the brief hearing, a district judge agreed to turn over the case to Circuit Court, where Deedy is expected to be arraigned Monday. Circuit Court has jurisdiction in the case after an Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday.

"The reason this started was because Mr. Elderts was harassing and bullying others," Deedy's Honolulu attorney, Brook Hart, said in an interview before the hearing.

He didn't provide details but said Deedy was protecting himself and others from a man "who aggressed on him."

"This isn't a matter of a man who took out a gun and started shooting in a McDonald's," Hart said. "It's not a willy-nilly misuse of a firearm."

Deedy, a 27-year-old agent from Arlington, Va., was in Honolulu to help with security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.