Professional Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens punched a man over the weekend in Southern California, a fight he said on Monday was self-defense.
TMZ originally posted video of the altercation that unfolded Saturday night in Inglewood after Owens – best known for his years with the San Francisco 49ers before enjoying productive seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles – went to work shopping at a CVS pharmacy.
owen48, said in an interview Monday afternoon that the TMZ video accurately depicted the punches but did not capture what led up to the fight.
After entering the store, Owens said, a customer approached him and identified himself as a San Francisco 49ers fan, and they exchanged pleasantries.
A second customer came and made threats against the 49ers fan before they did all their shopping and walked out, Owens said.
“The guy I ended up fighting, he was basically threatening a guy, a fan of mine who was in the store,” Owens said.
“When we came out, he approached the two of us, and I was trying to stop this guy from jumping on the fan. I tried to defuse or defuse the situation. He was persistent and wanted to beat the guy . I didn’t want that to happen.”
Owens said he and a store employee, who also walked out, initially thought they had calmed the scene and managed to draw the second customer away from the first.
“Then he lunged at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention,” Owens said of the narrowly missed punch. “At that point, I went into ready defense mode. Not only for myself, but also for the other person.”
TMZ reported that the man Owens punched did not call the police.
A representative from Inglewood Police could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
Even two days later, Owens said he couldn’t figure out why the man was so aggressive towards the 49ers fan.
“I don’t know. He was staring at the guy the whole time,” Owens recalled.
“He said the guy told him something. But the fan was on the phone when I was talking to him. When he was talking to me he was on the phone. So maybe he confused the guy saying something, but I don’t know.”
Owens said he splits his time between homes in Southern California and Florida.
owen posted this year a video of a confrontation with a Florida neighbor who had complained about his driving and called the police.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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