Actor Ryan O'Neal has defended himself after his weekend arrest for investigation of assault, saying he grabbed a gun and fired only after his adult son swung a fireplace poker that grazed him several times.
O'Neal told The Los Angeles Times that the incident occurred after he arrived home with a group of friends, including his former girlfriend, Farrah Fawcett. The group had been celebrating Fawcett's 60th birthday and the fact that she was cancer-free after four months of treatment.
The 65-year-old actor said his son, Griffin, 42, had been visiting and grabbed a fireplace poker and started swinging it.
He "aimed at my head, I ducked, he hit his own girlfriend in the head," O'Neal told the newspaper. "I got a little nervous at that point and fled to my room . . . and I got my gun," he said.
O'Neal said his son began to come up the stairs with the poker. "So I just fired it into the banister, and that scared him and he fled," he said.
Sheriff's deputies arrested O'Neal for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm. He was booked and released on a $50,000 (U.S.) bond.
Griffin O'Neal, an actor himself, has a long history of trouble with the law. He is the brother of actress Tatum O'Neal.