Wizards player calls gun incident 'a mistake'

Washington Wizards leading scorer Gilbert Arenas

Washington (CNN) -- Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas admits he drew guns in the team locker room in a highly publicized December 21 incident, but says he was only kidding around.

"I took the unloaded guns out in a misguided effort to play a joke on a teammate," Arenas said in a statement released Monday. "Contrary to some press accounts, I never threatened or assaulted anyone with the guns and never pointed them at anyone. Joke or not, I now recognize that what I did was a mistake and was wrong."

Citing NBA sources last month, the New York Post reported that Arenas and Javaris Crittenton both brandished firearms in the team's locker room.

Authorities continue to investigate the incident.

Crittenton's agent, Mark Bartelstein, told CNN Monday that his client "hasn't done anything wrong. I'm extremely confident he'll be exonerated."

Asked if Crittenton brought a gun into the Verizon Center that day, Bartelstein said, "I'm not going to get into details." He said Crittenton has not met with authorities, nor has such a meeting been requested or scheduled.

Arenas, a three-time NBA All-Star, spent Monday afternoon in a voluntary meeting with federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington and with D.C. metropolitan police about the incident, according to his attorney, Kenneth L. Wainstein.

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"From the outset of this incident, Mr. Arenas has been fully cooperative with the investigation," Wainstein said in a statement, noting that Arenas relinquished the guns to Wizards security officers and met with authorities to "tell the full story."

"Over the course of a two-hour interview this afternoon, Mr. Arenas answered every question asked of him," Wainstein said in Monday's statement.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on Arenas' statement, citing the ongoing investigation. Arenas said he told authorities that he stored four unloaded guns in his locker the Verizon Center to keep them away from his children.

Arenas said he told authorities that he stored four unloaded guns in his locker the Verizon Center to keep them away from his children.

"I brought them without any ammunition into the District of Columbia, mistakenly believing that the recent change in the DC gun laws allowed a person to store unloaded guns in the District," he said in the statement.

He offered a public apology to the league, his teammates and his fans, saying, "I promise to do better in the future."

NBA spokesman Tim Frank declined to comment on Arenas' comments, deferring to an earlier statement: "There is an active investigation by DC law enforcement authorities, which we are monitoring closely. We are not taking any independent action at this time."

NBA League never told of Wizards locker-room duel

By PETER VECSEY and DAN MANGAN

The Washington Wizards never told the NBA that two of its players drew guns on each other in a locker-room dispute over a gambling debt, sources said yesterday.
It was only after The Post's inquiries more than a week after the Dec. 21 incident that league officials found out about the unprecedented alleged armed standoff between All-Star Gilbert Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton inside the Verizon Center in DC.

That stunning gun duel now threatens to end the Wizard careers of not only the two point guards -- who stand to lose millions of dollars in pay -- but also of general manager Ernie Grunfeld, a former star Knicks player and president.

"This is gonna cost Ernie Grunfeld his job," a former NBA team president told The Post. "Because the buck stops at the top."

Asked about the incident -- and what the Wizards have told or not told the NBA about it to date -- league spokesman Tim Frank said only, "There is an active investigation by DC law-enforcement authorities, which we are monitoring closely. We are not taking any independent action at this time."

Neither player has been suspended.

The Post exclusively reported yesterday that Arenas, 27, went for a gun after Crittenton confronted the veteran guard about failing to make good on a gambling debt owed Crittenton and threats were exchanged.

"I'm not your punk!" Crittenton shouted, according to a league source close to the Wizards.

After Arenas drew a gun on him, Crittenton then brandished a firearm himself, sources said. It is not known if Crittenton had his own gun with him, or if he grabbed one of several Arenas had in the locker room.

Before yesterday's report of the showdown, the Wizards had merely claimed that Arenas had admitted bringing guns to the locker room -- in violation of NBA rules -- and had turned them over to security.

Arenas reportedly told the team he had brought the guns there because he didn't want the weapons near his newborn baby in his Virginia home.

Arenas, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of carrying a concealed weapon in San Francisco in 2003, now is under criminal investigation by the Washington police for having the guns in his locker.

The NBA source noted that the Wizards could void the remainder of Arenas' six-year contract -- which he signed last summer -- if he is convicted of a felony. About $100 million remains on the contract.

In stark contrast, Crittenton is owed just $1.48 million in the last year of a three-year contract.

"A team doesn't have to void the contract. It's their option," the source said. "But if a player is in jail and can't perform services, it stands to reason that the team isn't going to pay him and will cancel the contract."

Arenas refused to talk to a Post reporter outside his Great Falls, Va., home yesterday.

But on his Twitter page, he made several postings during the day in response to the Post's story.

"i wake up this morning and seen i was the new JOHN WAYNE .. lmao media is too funny," Arenas wrote.

Later, he tweeted, "i understand this is serious .. but if u ever met me you know i dont do serious things im a goof ball this story today dont sound goofy to me."

A Washington Post reporter blogged that when he spoke to Arenas after practice yesterday, the player said, "That's not the real story."

Arenas later tweeted to that reporter, "I saw the story. Very compelling. Some real O.K. corral stuff."

In a statement released yesterday, the Wizards said they "take this situation and the ongoing investigation very seriously.

"We are continuing to cooperate fully with the proper authorities and the NBA and will have no further comment at this time," the statement read.
SOURCE

It Was the "OK Corral" in the Wizards Locker Room; Teammates Drew Guns on Each Other Over Debt

Washington (CNN) -- Two Washington Wizards basketball players drew guns on each other during a heated Christmas Eve gambling debt dispute, the New York Post reported Friday.

Law enforcement authorities said they were investigating an incident but gave no details.

Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton both brandished firearms in the team's locker room, the Post reported, citing NBA league sources.

The dispute erupted when Arenas, a three-time NBA all-star, refused to pay up on a debt owed to Crittenton, the Post stated, citing an anonymous league source.

Multiple sources said Arenas drew his gun first, the Post reported. Arenas denied the charge, saying he never pulled a weapon.

Neither Arenas, 27, nor Crittenton, 22, could be reached for comment Friday.

The incident, according to the Post, occurred during a Wizards practice day at the Verizon Center, the team's arena in downtown Washington. It is unclear whether any other Wizards players witnessed the alleged confrontation, the Post said.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank said Friday that there is "an active investigation" being conducted by Washington law enforcement authorities. "We are not taking any independent action at this time," he said.

The Wizards also released a statement Friday saying that the team takes "this situation and the ongoing investigation very seriously. We are continuing to cooperate fully with the proper authorities and the NBA."

A Washington Metropolitan Police Department statement earlier in the week said local law enforcement was assisting the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia "with an investigation into an allegation that weapons were located inside a locker room at the Verizon Center."

"There are a lot of rumors going around," Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Friday. "We need to get it right."