ORLANDO, Fla. – A man accused of fatally shooting former NBA player Adreian Payne at an Orange County townhome went to retrieve his gun from his home before firing it at the victim, new records released by the Orange County Sheriff’s office show.
The shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. Monday in the Econ Landing neighborhood on Egret Shores Drive near Curry Ford Road and State Road 417. Sheriff’s officials said Payne, 31, was found with a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
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The suspected shooter, Lawrence Dority, 29, stayed at the scene and cooperated with the investigation. He was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder and taken to the Orange County jail.
An affidavit for an arrest warrant obtained Tuesday shows Dority called 911 after the fatal shooting and told the dispatcher “he act like he got a gun, and I shot him” and “he reached for his gun, I ran inside my house, and I shot him.”
During an interview with deputies, Dority said he saw the “shape of a gun” on the right side of Payne’s shirt where Payne was moving his hand. Dority described Payne as intimidating due to his size — Payne was 6 feet 10 inches tall — and claimed his actions were justified, according to the affidavit.
However, records show Payne did not have a weapon and there was no gun in his vehicle.
A witness told deputies she saw Payne and Dority speaking by a vehicle and said he was not threatening Dority in any way.
Dority made his first appearance in court Tuesday where a judge denied him bond. His private attorney, Harold Thompson, argued for $75,000 bond and said it was a “textbook stand your ground case.” The state argued self-defense is questionable based on Dority allegedly going into his home before the shooting.
Payne, who played college basketball at Michigan State, was a first-round pick of the Atlanta Hawks in the 2014 NBA draft. Payne played in 107 NBA games, averaging four points and three rebounds, over four seasons with Atlanta, Minnesota and Orlando. The Hawks drafted him No. 15 overall in 2014, traded him to the Timberwolves, and he averaged 6.7 points and 5.1 rebounds as a potentially promising rookie.
In 2017, Payne signed a contract with the Orlando Magic, spending the majority of the 2017–18 season with the team’s G-League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family during this difficult time,” Orlando Magic spokesman Joel Glass said in an email.