Norfolk,Va. - A man jailed over the weekend for allegedly shooting at three Norfolk police officers spoke from jail on Monday.
Amos Martinez Howard says he's been wrongly accused. Howard says he was the one assaulted by police.
The three on-duty uniformed officers were stopped at a stop sign in an unmarked vehicle in the 1700 block of Vernon Drive around 12:30 a.m. Saturday when a man began firing a handgun multiple times, striking their vehicle.
One officer returned fire and the man fled the area. After a foot case, 20-year-old Amos Howard was arrested.
Howard has been charged with 3 counts of Attempted Malicious Wounding, 3 counts of Use of a Firearm, 3 counts of Assault on a Police Officer, 1 count of Shooting into an Occupied Vehicle, and 1 count of Conspiracy.
There were no injuries as a result of the shooting.
Howard is currently being held in the Norfolk City Jail without bond where he spoke to NewsChannel 3 on Monday.
Howard says he ran from the area because he heard someone yell out that police were there and he was banned from the area when he was 16.
"I couldn't get away. I got caught. I thought I was going to jail for trespassing," he says. "I was grabbed, thrown to the ground, punched. I was kind of woozy and I was put in the car."
Howard says he was hanging out with friends when it all happened and admits that he has been in trouble before.
"Trespassing. I have two failure to appears. I go to court on the 5th for a possession of marijuana charge and I have a possession of alcohol charge," he says.
But he insists he wouldn't shoot at police.
"It's not right. I'm scared for real,"he says.
