WACO, Texas -- Before he disappeared three weeks ago, Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy told a friend he was concerned about threats to his safety and fired guns with his roommate, Carlton Dotson, that the two had acquired for protection, according to newspaper reports.

Daniel Okopnyi told the Washington Post that Dennehy said in a June 14 telephone conversation that "someone is out to get me." But Okopnyi said the person who had allegedly threatened Dennehy wasn't Dotson.

	Dotson

	Dennehy

"Patrick told me that he and Dotson got the guns to keep themselves safe," Okopnyi, who lives in the Fort Worth area, told the newspaper. No phone number was listed for Okopnyi; he could not be reached by The Associated Press.

Just hours before Dennehy disappeared, he and Dotson were seen shooting guns on a farm police recently searched, the property owner told The Dallas Morning News.

Wednesday editions of the newspaper reported the property owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Dennehy and Dotson were on the farm June 10. Dennehy reportedly was last seen on June 11, according to the AP. Dotson is being investigated in Dennehy's possible slaying but he has not been arrested or charged.

On June 27, Waco police asked the FBI to help search about 50 acres of the land located about 21 miles north of town, but cadaver dogs found no sign of the 6-foot-10, 230-pound Dennehy. The property owner did say the search team found shotgun shells as well as shell casings from different-caliber pistols. Authorities still consider this a "missing persons" case.

The property owner told the Morning News the two players liked to fish and sport shoot on the farm. The owner and his wife met Dennehy and Dotson after the players responded to an ad for pit bulls. The owner notified authorities after hearing about Dennehy's disappearance.

"I really don't know how to react," the man told The Morning News. "I'm really not going to speculate or jump to conclusions. All I know is that they are both good boys."

The Morning News also reported that the McLennan County Sheriff's Department is assisting and sent a helicopter Tuesday to survey Hill County, especially lakes and gravel pits.

An affidavit filed Monday in McLennan County, Texas stated that Dotson, Dennehy's former roommate and teammate, was being questioned by authorities.

Dotson has hired an attorney, he told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

"I want everyone associated with this to know my prayers are with them," Dotson told the newspaper, which did not cite his whereabouts. The Morning News said Wednesday that police believe Dotson is still in Hurlock, Md.

Grady Irvin Jr., Dotson's lawyer, told the newspaper his next step is to "spend time with authorities to see if we can be of assistance." Irvin, a St. Petersburg, Fla., attorney who represents athletes, did not return a call early Wednesday from AP.

On Tuesday, public information officer Larry Holze of the Waco Police Department said Dennehy will not be talked about in past tense until he is confirmed to be dead.

"This is still being worked as a missing persons case," officer Steve Anderson added at a news conference in Waco. "There's still the glimmer of hope that Mr. Dennehy will show up and say, 'This is where I've been the whole time.'"

Anderson stressed that the investigation will not be rushed and that authorities will "leave no stone unturned" as they try to solve the case. No arrests have been made, he added. "We are talking to numerous individuals," he said. "There are several people of interest."

On Monday, a police informant told authorities in Seaburg, Del., that Dennehy, who has been missing nearly three weeks, was shot in the head by Dotson with a 9 mm handgun.

According to court documents, the informant said Dotson told a cousin that he and Dennehy were shooting guns in the Waco area and that Dennehy pointed a gun at Dotson as if to shoot him.

But Dotson instead shot Dennehy, the informant said. Dotson said he then drove home to Hurlock and got rid of the guns along the way, the informant said.

The search warrant affidavit released Monday was filed June 23 in 19th District Court in McLennan County in Texas.

Dennehy's mother, Valorie Brabazon, told ABC's "Good Morning America'' from her Carson City, Nev., home on Tuesday that she remains hopeful.

"Our son is still alive, and we're keeping a positive attitude about it and keeping our hopes up. And we know God is with him,'' she said.

Anderson said a Waco investigator interviewed Dotson on Friday, but he didn't know whether police had spoken to him since the search warrant affidavit was made public Monday.

Last week, Dotson told The Dallas Morning News police asked him not to discuss the case and that he had learned of Dennehy's disappearance from Dennehy's girlfriend.

"I had to talk to police today, and I told them everything I can tell them and everything I knew,'' he said from his home in Hurlock, Md., a rural community on Maryland's eastern shore.

Hurlock police captain Chris Flynn said his office was ready to help Texas authorities if needed, but they had not received any requests.

"We have nothing at all right now to indicate (Dotson's) a suspect. He's just a citizen. It's a missing person's case,'' Flynn said.

Dotson's aunt, Pat Waters, said Tuesday that Dotson had returned to Hurlock for the summer and was at her house Sunday -- but they didn't discuss Dennehy. She did not know where he was Tuesday. Waters said Dotson is "probably scared. He's not a person that talks a lot."

Dotson, who was raised by his grandmother in the family home where Waters lives, led his high school team to a state championship in 1999. Waters said her nephew "put Hurlock on the map.''

Chris Flynn, captain of the Hurlock, Md., police department, said his office was ready to help Texas authorities if needed, but they had not received any requests.

"We have nothing at all right now to indicate (Dotson's) a suspect. He's just a citizen. It's a missing person's case,'' Flynn said.

A source close to the team told ESPN.com that Dennehy and Dotson were going to be roommates for the 2003-04 season, but that was before Dotson and Baylor coach Dave Bliss mutually agreed that Dotson wouldn't return.

During a May conversation, Bliss told Dotson that there were five players ahead of him at his position, including Dennehy. Dotson's scholarship wasn't renewed, according to The Associated Press, and the 6-foot-7 forward was expected to transfer to a lower-division NCAA school before next fall for his final season of college eligibility.

A source said Dotson told investigators that his reason for not returning to Baylor was lack of playing time, not any sort of disagreement with Bliss or others in the program.

Dennehy's family reported the 6-foot-10, 230-pound junior missing June 19. His sport utility vehicle, its license plates missing, was found last week in a mall parking lot in Virginia Beach, Va.

Waco police asked the FBI to join the investigation Friday and said several Baylor players had been questioned and were "potential suspects."

Tom Stanton, Baylor athletic director, released a statement late Monday confirming that Dotson was a former player, but said he couldn't discuss the case.

He said he wanted to stop "negative suggestions about his (Dennehy's) temperament."

"We saw a young man who got along well with his teammates and was extremely [eager] to compete this year," Stanton said. "Patrick has been a model student-athlete since coming to Baylor. That's why these incredible events have stunned and upset us all."

Dennehy transferred to Baylor last fall in hopes of making what he called a fresh start.

He played two seasons at the University of New Mexico, where he averaged 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds his sophomore year.

He was cut from the team after losing his temper during practice, two months after he argued with a teammate during a game, kicked a chair and stormed out.

He accepted a scholarship to play basketball at Baylor, the world's largest Baptist university with more than 14,000 students, and told friends he had become a born-again Christian. He was a B student and rarely missed a class.

"It's a fresh start," Dennehy said in May 2002. "I feel great. It's a new coach, a new team, a new set of personalities."

At Baylor, he was not eligible to play basketball for a year, but he practiced with the team and sat on the bench during games.

Dotson, a 6-foot-7 forward, averaged 4.6 points and 2.5 rebounds in a reserve role with Baylor last season. He came to the Waco school after spending two seasons at Paris (Texas) Junior College.

Brian McDonald, 21, a Baylor junior from Houston who had taken classes with both Dotson and Dennehy, said Monday "it sent chills through my body" to hear that Dotson, dubbed "Dottie" by friends, could be involved in Dennehy's disappearance.

The players and their other roommate were fun-loving, well-mannered and never argued, neighbor Kristal Wilson, 21, said Monday.

"They were just really funny guys," Wilson, a senior from El Paso, said, fighting back tears. "I'm sure it's upsetting for everybody. It's a tragedy."

Friends and family said it was uncharacteristic of Dennehy to disappear for days on end without calling someone.

The players' other roommate, Chris Turk, who is not on the basketball team, told police he last saw Dennehy before leaving for a trip June 11. When Turk returned five days later, the apartment looked normal but Dennehy's dogs had not been fed, he said.

Dennehy's girlfriend in Albuquerque, N.M., 20-year-old Jessica De La Rosa, said he seemed fine during their last phone conversation the night of June 11.

When Dennehy did not call his mother and stepfather at their Carson City, Nev., home on Father's Day, June 15, Valorie and Brian Brabazon got worried. They called his friends and then the university.

Mr. Brabazon also said that someone had recently broken into Dennehy's SUV and stolen money from him, and that Dennehy had told Baylor coaches he was scared.

Information from The Associated Press and SportsTicker was used in this report.