Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain to a single weapons charge in District of Columbia Superior Court on Friday, according to the Associated Press.
Arenas, who publicly admitted to storing four firearms inside his locker at the Verizon Center following a Dec. 19 dispute with fellow teammate Jarvais Crittenton, was charged on Thursday.
The incident started after the two men quarreled over a card game during a flight back home from Phoenix. Crittenton’s offer to settle the matter in a fistfight was rejected by Arenas who stated he would rather “burn his Cadillac Escalade or shoot him in the face,” according to the AP. Crittenton responded by saying he would shoot Arenas in his “surgically repaired left knee.”
Two days later, Arenas placed all four of his firearms on a chair in front of Crittenton’s locker with a note that said “Pick 1.”
According to court documents that did not name Crittenton because he has not been charged, stated “the other player” reportedly picked up one of Arenas’ firearms and threw it across the room and brandished his own firearm.
Authorities obtained a search warrant Thursday and seized Arenas’ gold-plated Desert Eagle .50 caliber semi-automatic, a 500-magnum revolver, a pistol and another semi-automatic, the AP reported. They also searched Crittenton’s home but did not find the weapon in question. There is an ongoing investigation.
Arenas publicly stated that he placed the guns in his locker in an attempt to keep them away from his younger children, not knowing the severity of carrying a weapon without a license.
In a public statement, his lawyer, Kenneth Wainstein, said Arenas “accepted full responsibility for his actions, acknowledged that those actions were wrong and against the law, and has apologized to all who have been affected by his conduct.”
Arenas initally joked about the incident on his Twitter account and with reporters, stating, “I’m a goofball and that’s what I am.” He could face anywhere from six months to two years in prison, probation or both.
Currently, he remains free but is suspended from the NBA indefinitely, without pay. His sentencing is scheduled for March 26.
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