Antajuan Wilson told detectives it’s all about respect.
But when a Columbia man started “talking slick” with a gun, Wilson snatched the gun and fatally shot him on a Wilde Lake sidewalk, according to his April 12 confession played before a Howard County jury Thursday in Circuit Court.
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Wilson, 19, admitted to shooting Bryan Adams but said it was in self-defense, after the 20-year-old victim threatened to shoot him.
The confession was played under objections from Wilson’s attorney, who cited her client’s multiple requests for an attorney during the interrogation and the detective’s refusal to grant him a phone call.
Wilson has appeared calm and confident throughout the four-day trial, occasionally smiling at the jury and engaging in stare-down tactics with one of the state’s key witnesses.
But the teen hung his head and sunk lower into his chair while the confession filled the courtroom.
Wilson told police he armed himself with a knife about 11:15 a.m. April 9 and went to confront Adams and his two friends who had yelled at him for staring at them outside a Crown gas station moments earlier.
“I couldn’t let him just talk like that. … I’ve built my life on not lettin’ nobody disrespect me,” Wilson said in the interview.
After saying he snatched Adams’ gun away, Wilson told police he hadn’t intended to kill Adams.
“I’m not no killer. I’m not no murderer,” he said.
“Kill or be killed, you know what I’m saying?
“What would y’all do if someone pulled a gun on you?”
Adams’ two friends testified earlier this week that Wilson pulled the gun — not Adams.
Detective Justin Baker testified that Wilson had asked him what the difference was between first- and second-degree murder and what he would have to do to claim the shooting was in self-defense.
After Baker answered the questions, Wilson had asked to speak with the detectives and subsequently made his confession.
Following the police interview, Wilson was recorded making phone calls to his mother and an apparent girlfriend, telling them he was “going away for a long time.”
Wilson faces up to life in prison.
The trial is expected to conclude today.
