Teen accused of killing grandfather: ‘This is not me’
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) - A teenager accused of killing his grandfather said it was an act of self-defense.
In a jailhouse interview Tuesday, 17-year-old Khai Ressler said he shot 57-year-old Oscar Curtis Adams because he was fearful for his life Saturday evening.
"He attacked me. I mean, I've known him all my life," Ressler said about the man he explained his grandmother married when he was 12. "That's my grandfather. I love him. I love him dearly, you know, just alcohol, you know?"
The teenager described a chaotic scene at his grandparents' home. Deputies found Adams with a fatal gunshot wound to his head after responding to a domestic disturbance call March 4 at 218 Angel Island Road. Ressler was taken into custody later that night.
He said Adams was intoxicated and the two had gotten into a fight that escalated when he threw a glass of liquor in Adams' face and it broke, cutting his eye.
"I didn't think it would break," he explained, saying that's what immediately led up to the shooting. He said he went into a room and closed the door, hid and called his mother.
"I was trapped in a room and he was coming at me and knocked the door down," Ressler said, explaining that was when he shot Adams with his grandmother's 22 mm at close range.
He said it's a decision he regrets, but incoherently blamed first responders for Adams' death.
"I just want to say to all the first responders who came in that house and could have saved his life, but chose not to because you wanted to act like you were military…that's all I got to say," Ressler said. "They were like let's clear the house, let's clear the house, but nobody was actually clearing the house. Nobody was going to save his life by putting a finger in his bullet hole. Nobody tried to help him."
He said he tried his best to save Adams, but couldn't because he was too heavy. Ressler insisted that his clean record up to this point is proof that he is innocent.
"I am not guilty," Ressler said. "This is not who I am at all. This is not me. I'm not a bad person. You can ask anybody. I'm loving. I give whatever I can. I always play nice with kids. I have a kayak and a cat. I'm just a normal person."
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