Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — Police say they walked into a bloody, chaotic scene the night two former Auburn University football players and another man were shot to death at a party.
The officers testified Friday as the trial opened for the man charged in the killings, 24-year-old Desmonte Leonard.
Police described getting reports of multiple gunshots at an apartment clubhouse on June 9, 2012, and arriving to find one former player dead in a flower bed.
Another man was dead on a sidewalk, and a third man was fighting for life in a pool of blood.
Prosecutors told jurors in opening statements that Leonard began shooting after a verbal dispute escalated into a fistfight.
The defense concedes Leonard was the gunman but says he fired in self-defense. They're citing Alabama's "stand your ground" law.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
