"I'm Not the Shooter!" Bouncer Says

Stephen Sakai, the bouncer for Chelsea club Opus 22 who witnesses say shot four men, killing one of htem, tells both the Daily News and Post that he was not the shooter. And more over, he's "not the person [the NYPD is] making" him out to be: He's actually calm and loves Chaucer, Taosim and karate! And that he didn't shoot Gustavo Cuadros on Tuesday night, though he did have a gun in his possession - it was actually a "mystery gunman" in the crowd who fired the shots. And then there are the rumors that Sakai had implicated himself in three other murders from last year: Apparently the police questioned him for 21 hours, but Sakai says the cops made him sign a blank piece of paper before he could talk to a lawyer.

The tabloid reporters enjoyed their visit with Sakai, as they got to be afraid. The Daily News' depiction from Austin Fenner, "I worried about my safety and wondered how deadly and effective his martial arts skills might be. But Sakai apparently had no beef with the reporter who simply asked him what went down. He was a man at peace." But the Post writes, "At first, Sakai, 30, appeared normal, but the longer the 40-minute interview went on, the more he grew deceptively unhinged. " Hmm - maybe they need to get him some books on Taoism and Caterbury Tales fast.

And the Post thrills with Police Commissioner Kelly saying that the Daily News had it wrong about there being DNA connecting Sakai to one of last year's murders.