Saint John jury watches police interview of accused Zakkary Reed

After initially denying he knew Alexander Bishop and was anywhere near 170 King St. East at the time of Bishop's fatal shooting, Zakkary Reed's story began to change during a videotaped interview with police that was played at Reed's trial on Tuesday. 

So far, the jury has only seen about two-thirds of the roughly three-hour interview with Reed, that was conducted less than 12 hours after Bishop's death. 

Reed is on trial for the first-degree murder of Bishop. 

On Tuesday morning, the 13 jurors heard about Reed's arrest less than four hours after the shooting. 

Three members of the Saint John Police Force's Emergency Tactical Services team pulled over a cab that Reed was riding in. With guns drawn, Reed was taken into custody without incident, Const. Ben MacLeod said.

At 5:22 p.m. that day, Reed was led into an interview room by Det. Const. Duane Squires, the lead investigator in the case. 

Reed repeatedly denied everything. 

"I didn't kill anyone," he said several times. 

He denied being anywhere near 170 King St. East. In fact, he said he hadn't been there in a week or two. He also insisted he was "over north" the entire night before, including into that morning. 

"What would you say if I said we got video evidence of you uptown?" asked Squires.

"Doing what?" responded Reed.

""Walking, running, kicking out a door," said Squires. 

Reed initially maintained his story. He also denied knowing Bishop — then later denied saying that he didn't know Bishop. He said he did know him but hadn't seen him in a while. 

As Squires pressed on, Reed said, "I'm not beefing with Bishop," and "I wasn't even there." 

Squires then reminds him that there's video footage of him in the area at the time. 

"You got a video of me killing Alex Bishop?" Reed asked in response. 

Reed goes on to tell the officer about his drug use and that's he's been looking into getting help. 

He told Squires that he once tried to cut off his own arm with a large knife while he was in a drug psychosis. 

"Seven days. No food. No sleep. On meth. Like four or five years ago," Reed said.

After adamantly denying even being in the apartment, Reed suddenly said, "I went there to get my dog." 

He said, "Bishop wasn't happy that I showed up at the time I did."

Reed said Bishop pulled a small, little-calibre pistol." 

"Pointed it right at my face and said, 'You get the f--k out or you can be f--king carried out.'"

Reed said he turned to leave. 

"As I was leaving, I heard a gunshot and I thought I was being shot at so I took off running. I know Bishop's unstable."

Squires suggested that Reed missed a part. He told him he believed Reed shot first.

Reed maintained that he didn't. 

When the trial broke for the day on Tuesday, jurors had watched approximately two hours of the three-hour interview with Reed. 

It's expected that jurors will watch the rest of the recording when court resumes on Wednesday morning.