A father shot and killed a 23-year-old stranger who broke into the family home and threatened his 11-year-old daughter while she was playing with her siblings in the garden on Father’s Day.
The suspect allegedly entered the backyard of a home where children were playing in Wilson Mills, North Carolina on Sunday.
A father of three shot and killed a stranger who broke into his family home and brutally threatened his 11-year-old daughter as she played with her siblings in the garden on Father’s Day.
Police said the suspect entered the backyard where the children were playing outside, running with the frightened children to tell their parents, before attempting to accost the girl.
The 23-year-old suspect tried to follow the children inside and brutally shook the door handle before the homeowner fatally shot the intruder.
Police Chief AZ Williams said the case appears to be a case of a father protecting his family.
Members of the Wilson Mills Police Department and Johnston County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a property around 9 p.m. Sunday on a report of a breaking and entering of a man with a gunshot wound.
Members of the Wilson Mills Police Department and Johnston County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a property around 9 p.m. Sunday on a report of a breaking and entering of a man with a gunshot wound. Photo: Parker Street, where the incident is said to have happened
Police said the suspect entered the backyard where the children were playing outside, before he tried to accost the girl, running with the frightened children to tell their parents.
The sheriff’s office said the homeowner cooperated fully with detectives and has not been arrested.
The incident happened in the 100 block of Parker Street in Wilson Mills, ABC11 reported.
North Carolina’s Stand Your Ground Lodge
In North Carolina you can use deadly force and not have a duty retreat if any of the following are true:
1: The person using force (the non-aggressor) believes that force is necessary, including but not limited to the use of deadly force, to prevent imminent death or great violent harm, and the belief is reasonable.
2: There is authority under criminal law, specifically NCGS §14-51.2, to use force including deadly force.
According to NCGS §14-51.3, the use of force, if deemed reasonable, provides legal protection against criminal prosecution and civil liability.
Versions of the law are in effect in at least 28 states.
The identity of the suspect has not yet been released and Williams said the family did not know the attacker.
He told ABC11 it was one of the first violent incidents in his five years with the department.
The Sheriff’s Office visited the scene and is investigating the incident.
Under the Stand Your Ground law in North Carolina, the use of force to defend oneself or others is permitted if reasonable.
In April, a black teenager was shot twice in the head by a white homeowner after mistakenly going to the wrong house to pick up his younger siblings.
Ralph Yarl, 16, was attacked outside a home in Kansas City, Missouri, a block away from the property where his siblings were waiting to be picked up.
At 10 p.m. he pulled into the driveway of the house, rang the doorbell and was immediately shot in the head.
The shooter, Andrew Lester, 85, has now been charged with first-degree assault for shooting Earl.
Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson revealed on April 17 that the attack had a racial motive.
After the shooting, the city’s police chief said investigators were considering whether Missouri’s ‘stand your ground’ law could factor into the case.
In New York, where 20-year-old Kailyn Gillis was fatally shot after pulling into the wrong driveway, the law requires people to retreat before using deadly force in public.
Under the ‘Castle Doctrine’, New Yorkers are allowed to defend their homes with deadly force if they reasonably believe there is a threat.
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