445
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@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."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

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@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] vinceman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago

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@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] Stumblinbear@pawb.social 0 points 1 year ago

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

[-] vinceman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago

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

[-] Stumblinbear@pawb.social 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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!

You're taking the worst possible interpretation and running with it. I recommend not doing that

[-] Orionza@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

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@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

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.

this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
445 points (95.5% liked)

News

23649 readers
2235 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS