SAN ANTONIO – A teen accused of a deadly shooting at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in San Antonio took the witness stand in his own defense Thursday at his murder trial.
OL Wallace is accused of killing Johnnie Mobley, 61, and injuring four others at a MLK Day celebration in January 2022.
Wallace told the jury that he went to a party at Santa’s Place on the East Side to get some money from his father.
The defendant testified that he noticed a man he didn’t know standing against a wall with a gun. Moments later, the man suddenly started shooting at him.
“I fired back and got behind a pillar,” Wallace said. “I was shooting at him directly at the wall.”
Wallace said after he emptied his gun clip, he ran from the scene and even later tried to sell the gun but instead just got rid of it.
His testimony differed from an interrogation video that was shown earlier on Thursday to the jury.
In the video, Wallace told police that he just started shooting when he heard gunshots fired at him and ran through a parking lot, shooting blindly.
Another differing detail is what he did with the gun, which he said during his interrogation that he threw the gun in a yard as he ran away.
Wallace’s testimony came right after his father took the witness stand.
OL Wallace Sr.’s testimony had to be halted after questions implicated him of being another possible shooter in the incident.
An attorney was called in to help Wallace Sr. continue his testimony in which he then denied of being involved in the shooting.
Closing arguments are expected on Friday morning and then the jury will decide if Wallace is guilty or not guilty of murder. If found guilty, he faces up to life in prison.