Paul Afeaki's troubles didn't end after he was shot by an unidentified motorist three weeks ago. The University of Utah basketball player says he is upset by widespread rumors about the incident.
Reached by phone earlier this week, Afeaki was quick to bring up the subject of the stories surrounding the shooting."There were rumors going around that possibly Nicole (Afeaki's wife) and I got into a fight and she shot me. The police asked me about it two weeks ago. It was routine questioning. It's not true. They asked us if we had been fighting or fooling around with a gun."
Afeaki said there were also rumors that police found a gun in their car.
"We've never owned a gun. Nicole wouldn't let one in the house," Paul Afeaki said.
The tale, along with a complicated web of so-called "supporting evidence," has gone the rounds among fans, coaches, sportswriters and reporters for the past week. Not to mention the Salt Lake Police Department.
"The rumors have been flying; we've checked them out and there is nothing to substantiate them," said detective Charles Oliver.
"It's really gotten out of hand," Afeaki's wife Nicole said.
The rumor goes that the Afeakis were at a downtown restaurant, where witnesses saw them fighting. Sometime after they left the restaurant, Nicole supposedly shot Paul through the shoulder.
The story also claims that police seized into evidence a .45 caliber pistol from the Afeakis' car. Investigators, according to the rumor, analyzed the gun and found that markings on a shell casing found at the scene of the shooting matched the gun.
"We haven't found or seized a gun - that's for sure," Oliver said.