'It scared me': Selena Quintanilla's killer Yolanda Saldivar claims she did not 'mean to hurt anyone'

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS: Yolanda Saldivar has broken silence on Selena Quintanilla's death nearly three years after the murder.

Saldivar, who is serving a life sentence, is speaking out from behind bars in Oxygen's docuseries 'Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.'

Inside Selena Quintanilla's tragic death in 1995

Quintanilla, who was popularly known as the Queen of Tejano Music, was shot and killed by Saldivar in 1995.

The incident took place at a hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas, when the 63-year-old shot the award-winning artist who was only 23 years old, according to OK Magazine.

Amid allegations of embezzlement from the singer's clothing boutique and fan fund clubs, Saldivar has maintained that she never intended to hurt Quintanilla.

"I was convicted by public opinion even before my trial started," the convicted killer said in a clip of the two-part documentary.

"They have been fed a narrative that is not correct, that I was an embezzler, that I was an assistant. My right as a citizen of the United States to be innocent until proven guilty was reversed on me. I was guilty and needed to prove my innocence," Saldivar added.

"They've never proven me that I stole a single cent from her. If I was an embezzler like [Selena's father, Abraham Quintanilla] claimed, why didn't he ever press charges on me?" she continued.

"He didn't because he never had that evidence," she further added.

Yolanda Saldivar says she bought the gun for her protection

Claiming fears for her safety, Saldivar admitted she bought a gun and claimed that she kept the weapon for her protection.

"I didn't feel safe. It was my own self-defense that if anything came my way, I was going to protect myself. I was fearful," she claimed.

"At no point did I mean to hurt anyone. I did not know when my gun went off. I did not know that it hit her because I thought that she just ran," she added.

"It scared me, it scared her. All I can say is that there was never, ever any intention to do her any harm," Saldivar continued.

"I know that people were hurting, I know. And I know that they loved her, no doubt. And I know that the people till this day still hurt for her. I do, too," she further said.

Speaking about her family, Saldivar said they had been "devastated" about the incident and her conviction.

"My sister, my brothers, and my parents said, 'We're going to vow to tell the truth, but you have to tell us the whole truth, no matter who it hurts. We have to get justice for you. We cannot let lies and untruths stand,'" Saldivar shared.