After meeting with the grand jury today for two hours, Gilbert Arenas and his lawyer, Kenneth L. Wainstein, released statements describing their version of what happened on December 21.
In his statement, Arenas took responsibility for bringing in four unloaded guns to the Wizards' locker room and bringing them out to play a practical joke on Javaris Crittenton. He also apologized for the joke and for letting down his team and the NBA.
Via Bullets Forever and the Washington Post Wizards Insider blog:
As I have said before, I had kept the four unloaded handguns in my house in Virginia, but then moved them over to my locker at the Verizon Center to keep them away from my young kids. I brought them without any ammunition into the District of Columbia, mistakenly believing that the recent change in the DC gun laws allowed a person to store unloaded guns in the District.
On Monday, December 21st, I took the unloaded guns out in a misguided effort to play a joke on a teammate. Contrary to some press accounts, I never threatened or assaulted anyone with the guns and never pointed them at anyone.
Joke or not, I now recognize that what I did was a mistake and was wrong. I should not have brought the guns to DC in the first place, and I now realize that there's no such thing as joking around when it comes to guns -- even if unloaded.
I am very sorry for the effect that my serious lapse in judgment has had on my team, my teammates, the National Basketball Association and its fans. I want to apologize to everybody for letting them down with my conduct, and I promise to do better in the future.