Facebook slaying suspect claims self-defence

Derek Medina has been charged with murder over the death of his wife Jennifer Alfonso. Photo / AP

A man who shot his wife to death and then posted gruesome photographs of her corpse on Facebook has told investigators he acted in self-defence because she was viciously attacking him, according to a statement.

Derek Medina said in his August 8 videotaped statement to Miami-Dade County Police detectives that he only shot 27-year-old Jennifer Alonso because he feared for his own life.

Medina claimed Alonso first started throwing boxes, shoes and mascara at him, began punching and hitting him and then pulled a knife after their argument moved downstairs to the kitchen.

Medina said he disarmed his wife and put the knife in a drawer, but said she began hitting him again. That's when he says he started shooting, estimating he fired seven or eight times.

Asked why he turned himself in to police, Medina replied that it was "cause I'm not a killer. And it was self-defence."

Medina, 31, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder with a firearm in the August 8 shooting at the South Miami home shared by the couple.

An autopsy report indicates that Alonso was on her knees when she was shot and suffered defensive wounds to one arm, which could contradict Medina's story that she was the aggressor until the very end. Medina also told police he had been an amateur boxer who had a 25-0 record in the ring.

Still, he said his wife was punching him hard in the throat and temple.

"I felt like she was, you know, she was trying just to take me out," Medina said.

Instead of calling police, Medina took the photo of Alonso's body and posted it on both his and her Facebook pages, he said, so that both of their families would see what had happened. He then went to an aunt's house.

"I pretty much informed them that I just killed my wife and she was abusing me," he said he told family members before turning himself in at a police station.

- AP