A panhandler who nearly shot a pregnant woman on a Brooklyn bus ride bizarrely claimed that he acted in self-defense when he was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court early Sunday.
A lawyer for Sean McTerrel, who shot a man in the hand while being wrestled to the ground, argued that the beggar, who was charged with attempted murder, had not been the aggressor.
McTerrel was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail after the violence, which started when he was hounding people for money on a morning bus in Brownsville.
McTerrel, 47, pulled out a 9mm pistol on the B12 bus Friday at around 10 a.m. and pointed it at Jowainza Moloney before the two fought over the weapon, according to prosecutors.
The maniacal man fired off four shots, one of which struck Moloney in the hand and another which just missed the neck of a 27-year-old pregnant woman, Carlina Nichols, cops said.
The quick-thinking bus driver pulled up to the 73rd Precinct Station House, where Moloney wrestled McTerrel to the ground despite his injury.
McTerrel’s lawyer asked for any video, insisting it would prove his client’s claim.