Guns found not part of Dennehy shooting

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WACO, Texas -- Neither of the two guns that have been recovered during the investigation of the shooting death of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy killed him, and one pistol is not connected to the case, a law enforcement source said Monday.
McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch, who is heading the investigation, declined to comment on the possible whereabouts of the gun that was used to shoot Dennehy or about any other aspect of the inquiry.
"We're not going to comment on anything in this case. We're not comfortable in doing that," Lynch said.
Dennehy, 21, a 6-foot-10 forward for the Baylor University basketball team, was last seen alive June 12. His body was found July 25 and his head July 27 near a rock quarry 5 miles southeast of Waco. The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that he died from gunshot wounds to the head.
Carlton Dotson, 21, Dennehy's former roommate and teammate at Baylor, has been accused of killing Dennehy and is being held without bail at the Kent County, Md., detention center. An extradition hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 19.
Forensic tests on a firearm found near Dennehy's body showed that it was not the gun used in the slaying, said the law enforcement official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.
The Dallas Morning News has quoted Dotson as saying in a jailhouse interview that Dennehy tried to shoot him first. "If someone points a gun at you and shoots and it doesn't go off, what would you do?" the News quoted Dotson as saying.
The source would not say Monday whether the gun found near the body was Dennehy's or whether it was defective in a way that would cause it to misfire.
On July 17, a 9mm pistol -- wrapped in plastic and hidden in a small hole under a rock -- was found on the grounds of an apartment complex near Baylor in Waco. Police thought the gun, loaded except for one chamber, might be connected to the Dennehy case. According to a search warrant affidavit, Dotson told a relative that he shot Dennehy with a 9mm gun.
But the source said tests showed that the gun was not related to the case.
Police clear two others
Investigators are becoming more convinced that Dotson acted alone and have, for the most part, cleared two men -- acquaintances of Dennehy's and Dotson's -- who lived in the apartment complex where the 9mm gun was found, the source said.
They have also talked to and cleared the person or people who helped Dotson get from Virginia Beach, Va., where Dennehy's Chevrolet Tahoe was found abandoned, to Hurlock, Md., Dotson's hometown.
However, members of Dennehy's family have said they strongly believe that other people were involved, citing threats against Dennehy that he had reported before he disappeared.
In an interview last week, the victim's mother, Valorie Brabazon, said: "I'm leaving it up to God. With God's will, everybody will be revealed who's involved in my son's death."
Dennehy will be buried Thursday in San Jose, Calif.