Mastodawn

Fatal shooting of University of South Carolina student who tried to enter wrong home 'justifiable,' police say

https://lemmy.world/post/4207159

Fatal shooting of University of South Carolina student who tried to enter wrong home 'justifiable,' police say - Lemmy.world

The homeowner who fatally shot a 20-year-old University of South Carolina student who tried to enter the wrong home on the street he lived on Saturday morning will not face charges because the incident was deemed “a justifiable homicide” under state law, Columbia police announced Wednesday. Police said the identity of the homeowner who fired the gunshot that killed Nicholas Donofrio shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday will not be released because the police department and the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office determined his actions were justified under the state’s controversial “castle doctrine” law, which holds that people can act in self-defense towards “intruders and attackers without fear of prosecution or civil action for acting in defense of themselves and others.”

Fredselfish Aug 31, 2023

Kid accidentally enter wrong home this was Not Justified. Mother fuckers the law needs to be repealed and done over then.

Shooting someone just for entering or knocking on your door isn’t an excuse to shoot to kill someone. Should at least give person a warning.

I hope that homeowner never finds peace again and better be glad it wasn’t my kid.

PizzasDontWearCapes Aug 31, 2023

He didn’t just accidentally enter the wrong home, he was forcibly breaking into the home when he was shot. Even breaking a window to open the door from the inside.

Tragic as he was likely just intoxicated and confused, but understandable that the homeowner would use force to defend himself

While the woman was on the phone with police, Donofrio broke a glass window on the front door “and reached inside to manipulate the doorknob,” at which point the male resident fired the shot through the broken window that struck Donofrio in his upper body, according to police

Fredselfish Aug 31, 2023

Glad breaking and entering is now considered worth a death sentence.

Godric Aug 31, 2023

Keep moving the goalposts!

PizzasDontWearCapes Aug 31, 2023

This wasn’t a punishment or sentence.

He was literally breaking through the door to enter the house.

What was the home owner supposed to do? Hope he became non-violent once he got in? Challenge him to a game of chess? Declare a set of non-lethal rules and duke it out?

The homeowner has a right to not be attacked in his own home ffs

slapchop Aug 31, 2023

Idk. Maybe yell, “Hey. Fuck off” and call the police? If it is a drunk person, they probably embarrassingly realize it’s the wrong house. Or if they keep trying to get in after, then shoot?

Also the home owner wasn’t attacked. His window was.

PizzasDontWearCapes Aug 31, 2023

You may want to read the article - they did call the police. Unfortunately it takes less time for someone to violently smash through a door than for the cops to arrive.

Interesting that you summize that they were apparently silent as this guy smashed their door

And, would you really play the odds that someone violently entering your house would suddenly have a moment of clarity when they entered? He was messed up enough to think shattering his own window was a viable option to get into his house.

Concetta Sep 1, 2023

But they never tried yelling at him, did they? Even after he had a firearm, the article says nothing about calling out with a warning first or anything. That seems insane to me.

Fosheze Sep 1, 2023

It also doesn’t say they didn’t. Are we going to just list off a bunch of things the article doesn’t say?

entropicshart Aug 31, 2023

Go read the article before you comment.

keeb420 Aug 31, 2023

He mightve thought he was trying to enter his house. However breaking a window and reaching for the lock is a good way to get either shot or arrested for b&o even if he is drunk as a skunk.

xxkickassjackxx Aug 31, 2023

Bro banged on the door and broke a window to try to get in. He was literally forcefully entering a locked house, he didn’t just wander into an unlocked door by mistake.

No telling what the kid was trying to do or would have done if he got in. Home owners have to assume the person trying to kick in the door and breaking a window is there to do harm. Justified self defense to anyone with two brain cells to rub together.

legion02 Aug 31, 2023

By all accounts he thought he was entering his own home, thought he was breaking his own windows, etc. Seems to me like a little more dialog and this kid’s still alive and a broken window is the worst part of the event. With castle doctrine laws the way they are mistakes and misunderstandings are much more likely to become fatal.

starman2112 Aug 31, 2023

Have you ever tried to reason with someone drunk enough to not recognize their own house? “A little more dialogue” would have gone in one ear and right out the other. Here’s my hot take of the day: the biggest mistake made that night was someone getting blackout drunk.

RoboRay Aug 31, 2023

Not being allowed to defend yourself until the intruder finishes breaking in to your home and shoots you simply means self-defense isn't allowed, because at that point you're probably already dead.

wahming Aug 31, 2023

The homeowners were awake, and calling the cops. Sounds like the kid was drunk to the point he wasn’t engaging in conversation.

tider06 Aug 31, 2023

Not by all accounts. Specifically not by the accounts of the people who were inside the home that was getting broken into at 2am.

legion02 Sep 1, 2023

In none of the accounts do they mention trying to speak with him before shooting. Just call 911 and wait with gun pointed towards door.

tider06 Sep 1, 2023

Which is what they did, until the intruder broke into the home through the window.

legion02 Sep 1, 2023

You have a source on that? I’ve yet to see a reference to them attempting to communicate with anyone but 911.

tider06 Sep 1, 2023

As many sources that you have that say that didn’t.

legion02 Sep 2, 2023

I can’t find anything saying the couple wasn’t high on meth so I guess it’s safe to assume they were.

tider06 Sep 2, 2023

Yeah, that’s basically what you’re doing.

starman2112 Aug 31, 2023

You have to judge it from the perspective if the person living there. They hear someone banging on their door, trying to get into the house, breaking the window and forcing their way in. They had absolutely no reason to believe this was a simple misunderstanding, and every reason to believe their life was in danger.

FoundTheVegan Aug 31, 2023

This was at 2 AM and he broke a window to get in . This is WAY MORE than just knocking. I would agree that mistakes or even simple burglary don't deserve the death penalty, BUT... if he was aggressive enough to be smashing things in the middle of the night after banging on the door and windows, then what would he also be aggressive and mistaken about when he got inside?

Cold_Brew_Enema Aug 31, 2023

Hey doofus did you even read the article? He was breaking into the home. Maybe read the fucking article before spouting bullshit, next time.

SheeEttin Aug 31, 2023

Donofrio repeatedly knocked, banged and kicked on the front door “while manipulating the door handle” while trying to enter the home.

Donofrio broke a glass window on the front door “and reached inside to manipulate the doorknob”

Yeah, that’s more than just trying to walk into the wrong house when you’re blackout drunk, so I can see why they would consider it justified. But that’s the word of the police, so we’ll see if a different story comes out later.

AbidanYre Aug 31, 2023

We’ll only ever hear one side of this story because the other witness is dead.

Objects in Space Aug 31, 2023

No, they have physical evidence, audio evidence which probably means camera or video doorbell and the kid died on the front porch of someone else’s house. Seems like the story told itself. The simple explanation is he tried breaking into the wrong house thinking it was his own.

Not saying he deserved to die over his mistake, it’s tragic and sad that the situation occurred.

krayj Aug 31, 2023

What would the other side of the story be? That he was breaking into his own house, but that the gun was fired from someone that had already broken into his own house and was wrongfully residing there? The facts are pretty basic here.

PopularUsername Aug 31, 2023

You are reading as though it is undisputed facts. One reason it is undisputed is because the victim is dead. For one it would be nice to see how likely it was he actually broke glass or reached inside. Was it clear video from a camera at the door? Or some grainy footage from a neighbor across the street? It doesn’t say.

Cleverdawny Aug 31, 2023

Ouch. Yep, that’s justifiable homicide

【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】Aug 31, 2023

Not in my state. No deadly threat, no clear intent to commit a felony. Breaking in is not enough for precisely this reason: the person may have a mistaken claim of right.

Cleverdawny Aug 31, 2023

Okay, well, it’s justifiable homicide in South Carolina

Dkarma Aug 31, 2023

Breaking and entering isn’t a felony in your state???, huh…

【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】Sep 1, 2023

Only if done with criminal intent. You know, you’re allowed to break into your own house.

If you think it’s your house and it’s not, your mistaken claim of right negates the intent. You might assume your lock broke or something and your only intent is to get inside and take your drunk ass to sleep.

This is scenario where you wake up and find a trespasser asleep on your couch, you can’t just murder them, even if you can see evidence that they broke the window to get in.

There is no duty to retreat in the home, but deadly force is still only authorized to counter deadly force.

In places authorizing deadly force to repel a felonious entry, the intent to commit crimes once inside supplies the justification for force. You cannot know the intention from the mere fact that they are breaking in. That’s why you can’t blindly fire through the door at someone trying to break your door in.

If the person ignores commands to stop, ignores warnings, threatens you, says something like “this is a robbery,” or has a weapon, that’s a different story; there, it’s reasonable to infer their criminal intent.

Dkarma Sep 1, 2023

What you’re saying flies in the face of mens rea. The person who’s state of mind is examined here is the homeowner. If they perceive their life is in danger they’re allowed to use force. In your state there may be a duty to retreat but even there there are exigent circumstances.

Good luck convincing a jury this guy knew the person who had just smashed his window and was trying to unlock the door from the outside wasn’t quite literally breaking and entering.

【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】Sep 1, 2023

Nope. I’ve stated the rule correctly. Again, breaking and entering without more is insufficient justification for deadly force. Castle doctrine is inapplicable to mere breaking and entering. There has be something else, warnings or commands to stop that get ignored, something.

In my examples the homeowner has no basis to conclude that there is any threat.

The test is both subjective and objective. Otherwise, insane people could murder anyone that knocked on their door and claim they were in fear for their life.

Dkarma Sep 1, 2023

Obviously you’re wrong about castle doctrine because this guy isn’t being charged.

【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】Sep 1, 2023

Yeah some backwards country sheriff, ignoring law, bastardizing castle doctrine.

vqsv Sep 2, 2023

What if this guy throws an empty beer bottle through the window and it strikes an occupant or uses the wood splitting axe on the front lawn to smash the door frame? Does the nature of the entry matter at all? Not trying to argue with you, just trying to understand. I had a similar conversation down this line of thought with a friend who is a cop in a state without castle. I left that conversation somewhat bewildered by how much an intruder can get away with in proximity to my person before I am legally able to use or even brandish a weapon on them.

【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】Sep 2, 2023

Beer bottle, no. No deadly threat. Person is still outside.

If they have an axe in their hand they have a weapon, you can infer their intent to do crimes once inside. No question as to reasonableness of fear for safety. I’d still warn a bunch of times and command them to stop, and I’d only shoot if it was clear they were coming inside.

The thing to remember is that it’s all evaluated from the standpoint of self defense of your person, not property. Deadly force is never authorized to protect mere property.

vqsv Sep 2, 2023

I guess where I have the hardest part with this is around the “infer” — I personally feel it’s a bit too much to ask an occupant to attempt to read an unfolding situation clearly, accurately, and quickly enough when things are going down in real-time. “Someone is forcing entry into my dwelling, but do they intend to harm me or simply watch Netflix with me?” I guess I just disagree with the law, but then again my mind always goes to the most unsettling scenarios and probably not those that are statistically most likely. For instance, when you wrote elsewhere about waking up and finding an intruder in your home asleep on your couch, my mind immediately went to: “Ok, but what if I wake up and find an intruder fully alert, not touching anything, but standing in the doorway of my daughter’s bedroom and staring at her as she sleeps?” The amount of time and the element of surprise that I would lose to correctly deduce this person intentions (assuming they wouldn’t try to deceive me, which is a whole ‘nother rabbit hole) could mean the difference between life and death/injury, given how easy and quick it is to kill someone with a concealed weapon. And though I suppose the same could be said of anywhere outside my home, too, I have to believe that I am statistically in more danger from someone who has forced entry into my home than someone just passing by me at the supermarket. I fully recognize that what you’re saying is the correct interpretation of the law and track with what my LEO friend told me, by the way. I just don’t like, haha! Cheers!

【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】Sep 2, 2023

Thank you for recognizing. It sounds complicated but it’s really not, and I think you do like it, without fully realizing it.

To your point, you can jump to reasonable conclusions without having to be a mind reader.

On finding an alert intruder, you give clear commands. Should be able to be pretty sure of their intent pretty quickly after that.

Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do, and you get murdered in your sleep, very rare though. One thought there is to outsource the job of issuing commands and waking you up to a burglary alarm. If you wake up to a stranger who is not warded off by a blaring alarm, that tells you a lot about what they’re doing.

octopus_ink Jan 24, 2024

If I roll out of bed to the sounds of someone banging on my door, trying my doorknob, then breaking a window to get in - I’m probably going to believe that shots will start flying through the door in my direction if I confront them at that point, and/or that they intend to harm me or my family, not that they will politely go away if I ask them to, especially in the fog of having just awakened.

I’m not a gun owner, but if I had one, I doubt I’d consider a warning in that case. Without the escalation to smashing my window I’m likely to handle it differently.

Same thing happens in the middle of the day while I’m wide awake, maybe I interpret it differently. Maybe.

I agree that deadly force isn’t appropriate to protect property. I don’t agree that protecting property is what was likely going through this person’s head.

Potatos_are_not_friends Aug 31, 2023

Yikes. This is terrifying.

I feel bad for the owner who had to make a split second decision on what to do.

Because not much difference between rowdy drunk kid and a mentally deranged person. And making the wrong choice could mean your whole family is in danger.

tider06 Aug 31, 2023

20 years old is an grown man, not a kid.

Hard to imagine I’d not do the same thing if that happened to my house with my family home.

Concetta Aug 31, 2023

Would you have possibly tried, I dunno, yelling first? Seems like if you’re already armed there wouldn’t be much danger in say “WHAT THE FUCK ARE DOING?”. It says nowhere in this story they actually tried stopping him, just that they phoned the cops, window broke, they shot him.

tider06 Sep 1, 2023

It also doesn’t say if they didn’t. We have no reason to believe that they didn’t yell at him.

But yeah, if someone pounds on my door at 2am, then tries to force the door open, then smashes my window to try and unlock the door, I’m not waiting til they get inside to see if they are peaceful.

Not risking my life or the lives of my wife and kids on wishful thinking. It’s a tragedy that the guy lost his life, it really is. But he didn’t exactly leave a lot of wiggle room for the homeowners in the house he was invading.

Concetta Sep 1, 2023

So what you’re saying is literally you have a gun drawn down, you are ready to fire, and you still do not attempt yelling first?

Jackie's Fridge Sep 1, 2023

Or ya know, shooting at leg-level? Shooting the hand that was trying to manipulate the door knob?

tider06 Sep 1, 2023

Did I say that?

Or did you say that?

Orionza Sep 2, 2023

That’s what I’m thinking. Call the police first?! That’s a normal response. Not reach for a gun and shoot the person to death. And the student didn’t get inside. I thought an intruder who could be killed was someone who made it inside. So anyone outside the door is fair game, even if they’re knocking and banging?

Hildegarde Sep 2, 2023

A female resident called 911 as Donofrio kicked the door, while a male resident went to retrieve a firearm elsewhere in the home

They literally did that.

Donofrio broke a glass window on the front door “and reached inside to manipulate the doorknob,” at which point the male resident fired the shot through the broken window

Breaking a window and then attempting to open the door is enough to justify killing in self defense under local laws, even if the intruder has not entered the building yet.

The article is specifically written to have a headline that implies someone got away with murder, to get traffic. The point of articles like this is to profit, not to inform.

Man shot while breaking and entering, is a much less profitable headline.

Stumblinbear Sep 2, 2023

What makes you think they didn’t do that? Why is your default assumption that they just started firing?

Concetta Sep 2, 2023

Maybe the part where I read the article and it says nothing about an attempt to confront before shooting?

Stumblinbear Sep 2, 2023

Ah yes, police are known to release all information immediately and also news articles are absolutely known to do the same. Thanks for reminding me!

Dem-Bo Sain Aug 31, 2023

It doesn’t say if the people in the home ever told him to stop. Did he know there were people in there? If he did, why did he break the window?

【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】Aug 31, 2023

He thought he was locked out of his home I’m sure.

Laticauda Aug 31, 2023

Yeah, that sounds like the guy was trying to break in. Like, before you get to the point of destroying your own property, you should have already double checked which unit you’re at, whether a family member has a spare key, or whether someone you know can let you stay the night so you can call a locksmith in the morning. It’s entirely reasonable for someone inside to think that it’s an attempted break-in.