Subway Gunman: Prime-Time Celebrity

• Share

Although New York "Vigilante" Bernhard Goetz is reputed to be publicity shy, he was anything but reticent last week. Goetz seemed to be everywhere, telling his increasingly disputed story about shooting and wounding four black teenagers who approached him on a Manhattan subway last Dec. 22. He appeared on local television news shows, wrote a bylined article for the New York Post, and ate take-out Chinese food with Barbara Walters in his 14th Street apartment for ABC's 20/20. ABC broadcast segments of a tape made by New Hampshire police on which Goetz is heard saying, "I knew in my heart I was a murderer."

Goetz may tell his story next week to a second grand jury investigating him. The tactic is unorthodox; if he testifies (no date has yet been set), he waives immunity and anything he says can be used against him later in court. The grand jury, which was convened last week on the basis of new evidence, heard testimony from a subway passenger who contradicted Goetz's account of the shooting. Two of the gunman's victims, Troy Canty and James Ramseur, also appeared after they were granted immunity.

One of Goetz's attorneys, Joseph Kelner, was not happy about his client's recent volubility. The more Goetz talks, admitted Kelner, the more difficult he is to defend.