SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) After accidentally shooting to death a limousine driver, former NBA star Jayson Williams wiped down the shotgun, put the victim's hand on the weapon, and instructed those present at his mansion to tell police it was a suicide, a witness testified Monday.

``He killed himself. We all gotta say he killed himself,'' Dean Bumbaco quoted Williams as saying.

Asked if he knew that statement was untrue, Bumbaco replied, ``Absolutely.''

Bumbaco, testifying at Williams' manslaughter trial, said he went into the bedroom immediately on hearing the gunshot, saw the shotgun fall to the floor, then watched the defendant fall to his knees and pound the floor.

``My God, my life is over,'' Williams said, according to Bumbaco.

As a wounded Costas ``Gus'' Christofi gasped for air, Williams picked up the gun, wiped it with a towel, put it down and then told another guest, Kent Culuko, to wipe it again and he did, Bumbaco said.

Williams then wiped the gun a third time and went to the victim.

``Mr. Williams tried to put the gun in his hand _ I don't know if he got it in _ and tried to close his hand around the gun,'' Bumbaco said.

He soon saw Williams coming down the hallway naked and wet. Williams handed his navy blue pinstriped suit to another guest, John Gordnick. ``J.G., get rid of these,'' Williams said, according to Bumbaco.

Bumbaco, a landscaping contractor, was the first witness who was in the house at the time of the shooting to testify at the trial.

Williams, 35, faces eight charges in the shooting, including aggravated manslaughter and witness tampering, that carry up to 55 years in prison.

The defense maintains that the shooting, in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2002, was a complete accident, and that the shotgun was prone to malfunction. The prosecution agrees that Williams did not intend to kill anyone but charges that his actions showed recklessness.

Christofi, 55, had driven Williams' friends in a van from a Harlem Globetrotters show in Bethlehem, Pa., to a restaurant and then to the 65-acre Williams estate.

Williams retired from the New Jersey Nets in 2000 after a decade in the NBA, unable to overcome a broken leg suffered a year earlier in a collision with a teammate. He was suspended from his job as an NBA analyst for NBC after the shooting.