Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (CNN) -- Baltimore Orioles pitcher Alfredo Simon surrendered Monday to police and was jailed in the northern Dominican Republic town of Puerto Plata after being accused in the shooting death of a 25-year-old man on New Year's Day.
"In truth that young man was my friend, like a brother," Simon said of the victim, Michael Esteban Castillo. "It wasn't a thing like we began arguing and I started shooting. It was some accident; it happened by accident," Simon said, speaking at the police station where he turned himself in. "That's why I came here -- to open my soul," he said.
Simon, who surrendered to Dominican National Police, is also accused of wounding Castillo's 17-year-old brother, Starlin. The injuries to the brother are not life-threatening, police said.
Simon's lawyer, Carlos Olivares, said the major league baseball player may not have been to blame.
"A group of 14, 15 people shot up in the air, including my client," he told reporters. "So, they planted the thesis that it could have been him".
He said Simon fired the gun into the air and then left the park where the killing occurred oblivious to what had happened.
"He understood that nothing had happened at the moment. And 45 minutes later, when he was eating at a some restaurant or discotheque, somebody tells him, 'Hey, you're the one who killed so-and-so,'" Olivares said.
A ballistics report is expected to determine if the fatal bullet came from the athlete's gun. CNN
