Early Reports
Because of the loudness of the shots inside the confined space of the subway car, there were initial witness reports that suggested the gun involved was a .357 Magnum revolver. Goetz alluded to these reports in a December 2004 interview on the Opie and Anthony radio show, saying that the first shot he fired that afternoon had been unusually loud in part because it was the first shot fired by the small-frame .38 caliber revolver after the factory tests, which "cleaned the barrel".
After the incident, rumors spread that Goetz had been threatened with sharpened screwdrivers. This rumor was published as fact by some newspapers including The New York Times; however, neither Goetz nor the men made any such claim. During his subsequent statement to the police, Goetz expressed a belief that none of the young men had been armed. Paramedics and police did find a total of three screwdrivers on two of the men; when Canty testified at Goetz's criminal trial, he said they were to be used to break into video arcade change boxes and not as weapons.
Read more about this topic: Bernhard Goetz
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