The Interview
DOI: 25 DECEMBER 1999
[TRANSCRIPT - CONT'D]
[Marr]
Okay, Jay, You ready for this?
[Ruta]
Yes.
[Marr]
So… Let’s just do it.
[Ruta]
I entered the room, and there were three people inside. Two men and a woman. Well, girl.
[Marr]
[papers rustling] Laney Hawton, her brother Cary Hawton, and the girl’s boyfriend, Shane Mathers.
[Ruta]
Yes. The brother, Cary, was who I noticed covered in blood. I had my weapon on him, well, on both of them.
[Marr]
Both men?
[Ruta]
No, the brother and sister.
[Marr]
Were they side by side?
[Ruta]
No. They were… [throat clearing] kissing.
[Marr]
Kissing? Beside a dead body? [shuffling noise] I don’t understand. Was he… was he comforting her? Was she comforting him?
[Ruta]
No.
[Marr]
Jay…
[Ruta]
[breathing] That kiss would have made a porn star blush, Shailene. I couldn’t see the girl at all, just the back of her head. But the brother... Jesus…
[Marr]
Holy Mary Mother of God…
[Ruta]
And that’s when the boyfriend, Shane? Launched at them.
[Marr]
With the intent to harm?
[Ruta]
Without a doubt. You should have seen his face, Shailene. He had that look, you know the one… the one you only ever see once or twice a decade. On the ones that deserve the death penalty.
[Marr]
So he attacked Laney and Cary?
[Ruta]
Cary. It was definitely just for Cary. But I intercepted.
[Marr]
And then what…
[Ruta]
Shane punched me. Hit me like a sack of bricks. Doc says he may have fractured my eye socket. I saw stars, Shailene. Literal stars. And that’s when it happened.
[Marr]
I need you to be specific, for this part, Jay.
[Ruta]
My weapon accidentally discharged.
[Marr]
It was not an intentional discharge? For the record.
[Ruta]
No. Like I said, doc says the guy fractured my face. I stumbled back in surprise, I guess, and squeezed the trigger as I tripped.
[Marr]
Well shit.
[Ruta]
Yeah.
[Marr]
I’m so sorry, Jay.
[Ruta]
I should have just gone home early like Brian. I’m so sorry…
[Marr]
Me too, Jay. Me too.
[Ruta]
Shailene?
[Marr]
Yeah.
[Ruta]
Did he make it?
[Marr]
I’m sorry, Jay. He was pronounced dead on the scene by the second team of paramedics. [unintelligible noise] This interview is over. Carl? Turn the tape off, please.
[end of tape]