MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Gayle Renard Blount took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday, telling jurors he shot his ex-fiancée, Bridget Knighton, in May 2021 because he felt threatened.
Blount, 55, who is on trial for attempted first-degree murder, admitted to firing his weapon multiple times at Knighton inside a Miami Gardens apartment on May 21, 2021.
On Tuesday, Knighton testified that Blount showed up at her Miami Gardens apartment despite a restraining order that prohibited him from contacting her. She said it was the third time that day he had shown up uninvited.
According to Knighton, Blount became enraged after an argument and went to his car to retrieve a gun.
She testified that, while sitting on a sofa, Blount pulled out the gun from his sweatpants and pulled the trigger multiple times, hitting her eight times.
“I shot my gun,” Blount said in court Wednesday. “I was aiming at her lower extremities.”
“How many times?” a prosecutor asked.
“Three or four times,” Blount responded.
Blount claimed he reacted out of fear after Knighton allegedly made a threatening remark.
“When I pushed her to the couch she said, “I got something for your a--,” he said. “She reached for her purse and I believe she was reaching for a firearm.”
“When he pulls out the firearm from the sweatpants, what does he do then?” a prosecutor asked Knighton. “Does he make a statement to you? And what is that statement?”
“‘Look what you made me do,’” she replied.
Knighton also described what happened after she was shot.
“He washed his hands and took the dish towel and wiped the gun down, while I was laying in the floor, bleeding,” she testified.
Blount admitted their relationship was contentious but denied setting out to kill Knighton that day.
“We had up-and-down ways, but she wasn’t a bad person,” he said. “(I) aimed low because I wasn’t trying to kill her.”
When asked why he didn’t help Knighton after shooting her, Blount said, “I was freaking out, pacing. I couldn’t believe what happened.”
Last week, Knighton testified that she underwent 11 surgeries and still suffers from chronic pain.
She also described how the physical toll of the attack has left her with long-term disability, including the need to use a cane for walking.
The defense has rested its case. The jury was also dismissed for the day and will return for closing arguments and jury instructions on Thursday.