In an interview played to the jury Monday in the Myles Stout second-degree murder trial, a tearful Stout said he didn't know the gun was loaded and that it was an accident that he killed his friend, 18-year-old Myles Compton, in an incident March 9, 2011, at Mountain Shadows.

The jury also saw and heard nine minutes of video in which Stout was alone in an interview room. At one point he said, "I'm not a murderer," and at another he said, "I'm a f------ murderer."

Stout, 21, is standing trial in the courtroom of Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman.

In the interview hours after the tragic shooting, Stout first told Detective David Sowder that Compton shot himself. That was the same thing Stout told a 911 operator. However, Stout, who told the detective he went to McCallie School, changed his story after the detective asked, "Why isn't anybody else saying that?"

Stout then said they were playing around with two guns in the upstairs bedroom of his friend Kevin Driscoll when he went to the bathroom to spit out some chewing tobacco. He said he again handled the gun when he went back into the room and it went off as he pointed it at Compton.

He said, "We were all squeezing the trigger. It was cool."

But then he said a shot rang out when he squeezed the trigger and his friend Compton fell to the floor. "I saw his face go white and his eyes go blank. I tried to stop the bleeding. I did everything I knew how to do, but I couldn't stop it."

Prosecutor Lance Pope noted that other witnesses said Stout left the room and did not help the victim.

Stout told of handling the gun again and setting it down outside, where it "went off again." A gun expert testified earlier that the 40-caliber SIG handgun has numerous safety devices so that it cannot fire accidentally.

The defendant said he knew as soon as the shot went off that "I would not be able to go into the Army. That was my dream since I was 13 years old." He said he already had the unit picked out that he planned to join.

He said he had moved around recently, including once after he had been fired from a job. He said he had been doing better - working every day on construction jobs.

Stout asked Detective Sowder, "How long will I have to go to jail?" The detective said that question would need to be addressed to the lead detective in the case.

When he was alone in the room, Stout said, "I didn't mean to shoot him. I swear. God, you know it was an accident."

He next said, "I pulled the trigger. I killed him."

Stout also said, "I'm sorry, Myles, I'm sorry. I love you, you know it, brother. You know I wouldn't do it."

He added, "How did i do it? Why was the gun loaded?"   

Stout did not take the witness stand.

The jury, which heard closing arguments late Monday, will get the case Tuesday morning.

- Photo2 by Brent McDonald (See video on NewsChannel 9)