SELF DEFENSE?

Ex-NBA Player’s Killer Claims ‘Intimidating’ Baller Reached for a Gun First

Lawrence Dority allegedly told a dispatcher that Adreian Payne “act[ed] like he got a gun” so he ran inside, grabbed his own gun, and shot Payne first.

The man accused of killing ex-NBA player Adreian Payne has claimed he only did so in self defense after Payne appeared to reach for a gun. Payne and his girlfriend turned up at Lawrence Dority’s Florida home around 1:30 a.m. Monday after Dority’s girlfriend, who is in a volatile relationship with Dority, asked them for help, an arrest affidavit says. Dority allegedly confronted Payne outside the house and later told detectives that he saw the “shape of a gun” under Payne’s shirt. He claimed the 6-foot-10 baller told him, “I’ll smoke you bra” and was “intimidating” in size so Dorrity walked inside, grabbed a gun, then came back outside and fired one shot in self defense. Payne, who played four seasons with Atlanta, Minnesota and Orlando, was actually unarmed. Dority has been charged with first-degree murder.