Quadruple amputee cornhole pro says he fatally shot person in self-defense

A quadruple amputee professional cornhole player acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a passenger in his Tesla during a heated argument, his attorney has said.Dayton Webber, 27, appeared in Charles County district court via videoconference for a bail review on Wednesday, where Judge Patrick Devine noted that he left Maryland after the 22 March shooting of 27-year-old Bradrick Michael Wells. Devine ordered Webber to remain jailed without bail.Webber, who was extradited from Virginia and is charged with murder, hasn’t entered a plea yet and is due in court for a 6 May preliminary hearing. He also faces assault and firearm charges.Defense attorney Andrew Jezic told the court that Webber acted in self-defense and that he anticipates “a lengthy trial” to prove it.After the hearing, Jezic told reporters that his client was “terrified” at the time of Wells’s killing.“The truth here is that [Webber] would have been a murder victim if he had not acted immediately in defense of his life,” Jezic said.Family members of Webber declined to comment after the hearing.Webber, whose arms and legs were partly amputated when he was 10 months old to save his life after he contracted a serious blood infection, is accused of shooting Wells – of Waldorf, Maryland – twice in the head during an argument, according to police charging documents.Deputy state’s attorney Karen Piper Mitchell said witnesses in the car told authorities the argument was over a gun that a friend of Wells had stolen from Webber – and that Webber was upset Wells was still friends with the thief.She said Webber and Wells had a history of arguing, including a 2024 incident in which Webber ordered Wells to leave his home. While Wells was leaving, Mitchell said Webber fired a shot from a second floor window. Jezic said Webber fired into the air.In arguing that Webber should remain in custody, Mitchell noted that he drove to Virginia after the shooting and owns firearms.Authorities haven’t publicly addressed whether cameras in the vehicle captured any of what happened – or whether self-driving functionality was in use in the Tesla when the shooting occurred.According to the charging documents, Webber pulled over after the shooting in La Plata, Maryland, and asked two backseat passengers to help pull the victim out. But they refused, got out of the car and flagged down police officers, the documents said.Webber fled with the victim still in the car, the Charles County sheriff’s office said. Two hours later, a resident in Charlotte Hall, about 10 miles (16km) away, found Wells’s body in a yard along a road and notified officers.Detectives tracked down Webber’s car in Charlottesville, Virginia, and found Webber at a hospital where he was “seeking treatment for a medical issue”, the sheriff’s office said.Webber was featured by ESPN in 2023 in a story of inspiration, noting he rode dirt bikes, wrestled and played football before becoming a professional cornhole player. The same year, he wrote an essay for the Today show about how he became a professional competitor. He said he learned to grab the bean bag by the corners and throw it using his arms.A YouTube video posted in 2024 shows Webber loading and firing a handgun.