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# Businessman claims self-defense in shooting
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/businessman-claims-self-defense-in-shooting/
- Published: 2003-06-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:18:55.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Crime, Pico, #archive-import, Homeless

*Michael Bell says he shot homeless man after he jumped him*

A Santa Monica businessman acted in self defense when he shot and killed a transient last July outside of his auto repair shop, his lawyer said Thursday.

Opening arguments were made in the murder trial of Michael Ward Bell, a Pico Boulevard merchant who is facing one count of first degree murder for killing Andre Watson, a homeless man.

Bell, 54, of Los Angeles, sat still in the courtroom, dressed in a black suit and prison-issued black slippers as attorneys presented snapshots of their cases to the jury of nine women and five men.

> “Had Mr. Watson not died, then perhaps Mr. Bell would not have lived through this.” — — JOHN RAPHLING Public defender

The trial, which is expected to last 14 days and will include testimony from dozens of witnesses, is being heard by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steven Van Sicklen at the Airport Courthouse by LAX.

Watson apparently spent most of the day on July 1 hanging out on the street near BT Automotive in the 2600 block of Pico Boulevard before he began harassing and eventually attacking Bell, said John Raphling, Bell’s public defender.

“This case is not about who did it,” he said. “Mr. Bell did shoot the gun. He pulled the trigger.”

Raphling said Watson suffered from paranoia, psychosis and schizophrenia. Just eight days ear-lier, Watson had been ordered off of Santa Monica Beach by police officers for allegedly threatening two teenage girls with a box cutter, Raphling said.

On the day of the shooting, Watson and Bell allegedly got into a heated argument after Watson made a gesture indicating he wanted to

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 13, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061303.pdf?ref=smdp.com)