Killer Says Victims Teased, Sexually Assaulted Him

Testifying on his own behalf Monday, a Navy man said he killed his best friend and another man after being teased and sexually assaulted.

Christopher Welters, an 18-year-old Minnesota native, is on trial for murder and faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Welters is accused of killing his best friend, Thomas John Gulka, 22, and Thomas Wayne Grant, 24, on March 31. Prosecutors say the two men were shot in the head while they slept in the City Heights apartment all three shared.

Welters gave numerous accounts of the shooting to authorities after he was arrested in Las Vegas as he got into Gulka’s Jeep outside a hotel. On Monday, he testified that the attack was the culmination of his eroding relationship with Gulka.

While at a beach-area bar, Welters said, Gulka put his arm around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek while Welters was talking to a woman.

After the trio returned to the apartment, Welters testified, he expressed his unhappiness about the incident, only to be subjected to a barrage of insults and teasing. After a short time, he said, Gulka and Grant wrestled him to the ground and sexually assaulted him with an unidentified object.

After breaking free, he located Gulka’s 9-millimeter handgun and shot both men after Gulka lunged at him, he testified.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Rice went through the various statements Welters gave to investigators after he was arrested.

At first he told police he shot “two druggies,” then portrayed himself as a hero who took a gun away from Gulka, who was randomly shooting in the apartment, Rice said.

“I was really confused at the time,” Welters said of his conflicting stories.