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American Morning

Investigation of Fatal Shooting at Home of Former Basketball Star

Aired February 21, 2002 - 07:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now to the investigation of a fatal shooting at the home of former pro basketball star, member of the New Jersey Nets, Jayson Williams. No charges have been filed. But police are now investigating whether Williams' handling of a shotgun may have resulted in the death of a limousine driver, Costas Christofi. Yesterday, the local medical examiner did call the incident a homicide, but police are investigating it so far as an accidental shooting.

Today's "New York Post" says Williams almost shot New Jersey Jets football player Wayne Chrebet, or New York Jets football player Wayne Chrebet, in an incident on the shooting range at his sprawling New Jersey estate, at which New York Giant Jason Sehorn was also present.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports now on this developing story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NBA All Star rebounder Jayson Williams seemed like a regular guy, a popular guest on David Letterman's show.

JAYSON WILLIAMS: Both of us are over paid, me and you, Dave.

DAVID LETTERMAN: Well, speak for yourself.

FEYERICK: The ex-New Jersey Nets star and NBC sports commentator now avoiding the spotlight he always courted after a limo driver was shot to death in the bedroom of Williams' 40 room estate.

Fifty-five-year-old Costas Christofi, Gus to his friends, buried with a burning question -- why did this happen?

ROSE ADAMS, VICTIM'S WIFE: Nobody's going to know the truth except who was there that night. And I just hope somebody's honest and tells the truth.

FEYERICK: It's unclear whether Williams has told his story to prosecutors. His lawyer hasn't returned CNN's many phone calls. Neither has the prosecutor. Reports first labeled the shooting a suicide. The Hunterdon County medical examiner now ruling a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the chest and abdomen at intermediate range. Authorities have told several news organizations that Williams had shotguns in his home. He also had a skeet shooting range on his property. Williams loved the sprawling estate he and his father built, calling it Who Knew, always eager to show it off. That night, Christofi was hired to drive Williams and his friends around, taking them to dinner outside Philadelphia, according to the limo company.

Williams gave a late night impromptu tour of his home to his friends, including four of the Harlem Globetrotters, according to a spokesman for the team. The spokesman says by no means were our players involved. Beyond that, no one's talking.

(on camera): Prosecutors are now trying to find out exactly who pulled the trigger and whether or not it was an accident.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAFFERTY: Jayson Williams retired from professional basketball two years ago after a career ending leg breaking collision.

"New York Times" sportswriter Mike Wise has covered Jayson Williams during his NBA career and he joins us now from Salt Lake City -- Mike, thanks for getting up early. Good to have you with us.

MIKE WISE, SPORTSWRITER, "NEW YORK TIMES": No problem. Thank you.

CAFFERTY: What was your initial reaction to this report?

WISE: Shock and disbelief in a lot of ways. You know, having covered Jayson for a number of years, having gotten to know him better than I know a lot of players, he's just not a malicious person and it just, it really, you know, threw me for a loop.

CAFFERTY: Yes, a lot of people reacted, I think, the same way. However, in reading some of his family history, when he was a youngster particularly, he was no stranger to gunfire. They, his own book recounts several incidents, one where his dad shot a kid who had refused to pay a bet to Jayson after he lost to him in a pool game. The father came to the pool hall, hit the other kid with a pool cue and then shot him in the buttocks.

One of Jayson's brothers shot the other one over some sort of disagreement with a .410 shotgun and Jayson's mother once fired, apparently, three shots at his father, who was in the bathroom, because dad apparently had been wandering astray.

And then, of course, there's that well publicized incident when Jason Sehorn and Wayne Chrebet were down at Jayson's home and apparently he wasn't, according to these accounts of the incident on the shooting range, he wasn't real careful when it came to handling firearms.

WISE: I mean this is a, this is a character portrait of him that's been going on for a while. You know, having not been around him and never been around him and his firearms, I don't know exactly, you know, how true or untrue that is.

I will say this, this was a guy that broke into the NBA, came up from the Lower East Side in New York, really didn't have a lot going for him early in life until basketball came to him and he basically broke out of a very bad situation to make it in the NBA.

Yes, was he reckless and stupid when he was younger? He'll admit that. This was a person...

CAFFERTY: Won't we all?

WISE: ... who also turned his life around later.

CAFFERTY: Yes. He, at one point, you alluded to it. He started down the wrong road. He and Charles Barkley were out making the New York nightclub circuit big time for a while. But he apparently at one point recognized that this was the wrong choice and changed his life rather dramatically. He seemed to be pretty much on the straight and narrow during the last few years of his career with the Nets.

WISE: Yes, one of the great moments was at the 1998 All Star Game in New York. You know, he had this, I guess, reputation as a young knucklehead that came into the league, never got his bearings until later on. And when he did, it was one of the great success stories in the league.

So, you know, it's just hard for me to reconcile that person with somebody who was involved in the death of another man. I've got to think this is an accidental shooting. I couldn't think of anything else when I heard about it. But, you know, the facts will come out later.

CAFFERTY: All right, Mike, I appreciate you joining us. Thanks very much. Nice to have you on the program.

WISE: No problem.

CAFFERTY: Mike Wise of the "New York Times."

I played in a couple of golf tournaments with Jayson Williams and I agree, there's not a malicious bone in the kid's body.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Really?

CAFFERTY: When you meet him he's a nice, pleasant guy. You'd never get any sense that he would be capable of doing this kind of thing certainly in anger. A nice man.

COOPER: It's a sad story either way.

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