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.”
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.
We’ll only ever hear one side of this story because the other witness is dead.
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.
Editing to add this from the article:
“evidence gathered at the scene, review of surveillance video that captures moments before the shooting, audio evidence, and witness statements.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Did I say that?
Or did you say that?
Or ya know, shooting at leg-level? Shooting the hand that was trying to manipulate the door knob?
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?
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.
What makes you think they didn’t do that? Why is your default assumption that they just started firing?
Maybe the part where I read the article and it says nothing about an attempt to confront before shooting?
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
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, so even if the guy just made a really bad choice that ended in tragedy, I don’t blame the shooter for thinking it was a robbery, and not wanting to risk the supposed robber having a weapon. It’s not an easy choice to make in that situation.
When I was in college I had this happen multiple times. In different apartments but they all looked similar.
Even had one dude peeing on the floor in my bathroom because I roommate was next door and didn’t lock the door. Dude was in the right apartment number, just off one building.
Even had a couple get aggressive and try to fight me.
Still, never shot anyone over it (and I was and am a gun owner. )
Ouch. Yep, that’s justifiable homicide
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 entering may have a mistaken claim of right.
Breaking and entering isn’t a felony in your state???, huh…
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.
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.
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.
By the way, there is no jury instruction on self-defense unless there’s an offer of proof that the homeowner knew of facts upon which a reasonable person could conclude that deadly force was authorized. Someone breaking your window, without more, is not a threat of deadly force against you, even if you are incredibly fragile and emotional.
Obviously you’re wrong about castle doctrine because this guy isn’t being charged.
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.
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.
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’s 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.
By the way, I fully recognize that what you’re saying is the correct interpretation of the law and tracks with what my LEO friend told me. I just don’t like, haha!
Cheers!
Okay, well, it’s justifiable homicide in South Carolina
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?
He thought he was locked out of his home I’m sure.
Relevant:
According to previously unreported details that police released about the incident Wednesday, Donofrio repeatedly knocked, banged and kicked on the front door “while manipulating the door handle” while trying to enter the home.
A female resident of the home called 911 as Donofrio kicked the door, while a male resident went to retrieve a firearm elsewhere in the home, the news release states. The homeowner owned the gun legally, “for the purpose of personal and home protection,” according to police.
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.
Under those circumstances, I don’t blame the homeowner for using a gun to defend himself and the other female resident. This guy was literally breaking into their home. If it had been me, I would have been terrified and very thankful to have a gun on hand for defense. I’m sure a lot of people here will protest to the shooting, but I would urge them to really think about what they would have done in such a situation. I don’t know what Donofrio’s reasons were for trying to break into the home, but they hardly matter; the fact is, he did try, and the residents of the home had every reason to think they were in danger. If we had multi-shot stun guns that could reliably incapacitate an intruder, I’d say he should have used that rather than a lethal weapon, but current stun guns aren’t that reliable and only fire once before needing to be reloaded. That a life was lost is sad, but I agree that no criminal charges should be filed in this instance. However, I’m not saying that I entirely agree with the Castle doctrine on which this is based, as I’m not intimately familiar with it, but the general notion of being able to use lethal force to defend oneself against a home intruder I do agree with on principle.
I do not agree with the castle doctrine. It’s too easily used to justify lethal force when retreat is an option, however self-defense is a valid justification and from the description given I think that’s completely plausible. An unknown person breaking the glass and potentially armed could be a threat. It sucks that a guy who possibly did nothing wrong has to defend himself in an investigation, but we should have a high bar on lethal actions for civilians and cops (the standard should be higher for cops).
I actually don’t hate castle doctrine tbh, which is commonly confused with the more controversial “stand your ground.” I frankly do not see “a duty to retreat” from one’s own occupied dwelling in the event of an intruder, in my opinion that duty dissipates the second forcible entry has been made to my home.
The common thing I hear is “they usually just want your TV,” but A) The best way to steal a TV is to push a cart, trust me, especially if you still have a 24hr walmart, and B) if you have to rob people of their TV who are also probably living paycheck to paycheck, at least have the common decency to not do so while they’re home and scare the shit out of them. For all they know you could be a rapist or a murderer even if just out of opportunity or “no witnesses,” even by accident with poor gun safety from robbers. Tbh it’s hard for me to agree that some poor family should have to flee their own home or hide in a closet if someone else decides to enter it unlawfully.
I said “option” to retreat not “duty” which is an important distinction I think. And there’s also the option of other reasonable force. I don’t think killing to protect my TV is reasonable, but fighting back possibly even causing injury might be. If I lived in a place where the intruder wasn’t likely to be armed, I’d probably whack his hand with broom handle, and I wouldn’t even feel bad if I broke his wrist because some use of force to keep a stranger from entering my house is warranted. When it comes to lethal force though the standard should be higher, which is why I prefer the self-defense/defense of others test. Did the guy have good reason to think the person breaking in was an imminent danger, that he might be armed and therefore escalation to firing a gun was reasonable? I don’t pretend to know, but I think that’s the test that should be used. That test should take into account that it was his house being broken in to, and that there was another person present he might have wanted to protect, because that definitely affects your perception of danger. We don’t need a set of principles that say you automatically get a pass when it’s your house, I think it’s better to look at each case individually.
I said “option” to retreat not “duty” which is an important distinction I think.
Right, but the castle doctrine specifically is a set of principles which when incorporated into the laws lessens the “duty” to retreat inside one’s own home, which is why I said “duty.” Castle doctrine then actually gives one the “option” because while you’d have no “duty to retreat,” you still “could if you wanted,” while with the inverse the “option” to “not retreat” is taken from you.
And there’s also the option of other reasonable force.
I think it’s a reasonable assumption that if they break into my house while I’m in it, they’re at least willing to harm me to accomplish whatever goal they had and the goal becomes inconsequential, and therefore it is reasonable to defend myself to the fullest extent necessary. In the time it takes to play the “Hello sir yes it’s dark and 3am and you just woke me up but do you have a weapon of any kind or are we about to engage in a bout of fisticuffs” game I could be stabbed, I’m not taking that chance frankly.
If I lived in a place where the intruder wasn’t likely to be armed, I’d probably whack his hand with broom handle, and I wouldn’t even feel bad if I broke his wrist because some use of force to keep a stranger from entering my house is warranted.
And you’re welcome to so, but I personally would rather not incur undue risk, I’d rather have the option to defend the safest-for-me way I can, which happens to be a firearm. With castle doctrine we’re both happy, you can broom-whack and I can stay safe, options.
When it comes to lethal force though the standard should be higher, which is why I prefer the self-defense/defense of others test.
That’s what I mean, imo if you’ve entered my occupied dwelling “for the TV bro I promise,” me responding with deadly force is self defense. It isn’t about the tv, contrary to what he or detractors of castle doctrine will tell you, it’s about the fact that if he couldn’t wait until I get to work or just steal one from walmart he’s clearly willing to do me harm, he could very well be armed, and we’re in a private secluded location where nobody could hear me scream, yeah “so anyway I started blasting.”
I think that set of principles is right, someone breaking into your house while you’re inside it is a bigger threat than it’s naysayers would have you believe.
An unknown person breaking the glass and potentially armed could be a threat.
That’s a valid statement.
It also demonstrates a wider problem: gun proliferation is so incredibly high that the default assumption is always going to be “that person might have a gun,” and this will always prompt a much lowered threshold to use one’s own gun in return.
Exactly this. I am from Central Europe and if someone tried to break into my home, I wouldnt assume by
Renaultdefault that they have a weapon. Because burglars here aren’t armed.Do Renaults often figure into your thinking? ;)
Oh shit
And are your rapists armed?
According to most stories in the newspapers, no.
Then an unarmed intruder can still be a serious threat.
It doesn’t really matter if they have a gun or not from the perspective of someone who’s home is being broken into. Any physical violence is dangerous and can result in death. People breaking into homes aren’t getting shot because they “might have a gun”. They’re getting shot because it’s unreasonable to expect a victim to accept any further risk by trying to talk the aggressor down or subdue them some other way once they’ve broken in.
No disagreement. I’m a commie pinko by American standards, which is to say slightly left by European standards. I support gun regulation but it won’t solve the proliferation until we face up to this weird fetishization of guns we have.
You know that guns aren’t the only way to hurt people, right? People can be killed quite easily
No, I did not know that.
That’s amazing.
I can’t tell, did they announce at all or just fired the moment he broke the window??
Surely this could have been avoided by asking questions first…. What the fuck
Idk man, I’m liberal as hell and even I have problems with that line of logic. Man’s smashing up their house, putting myself in the invadees shoes I’d be worried about warning the home invader(s) and making them use their weapons.
I’m not saying I think everything is fine and dandy in this situation, mfs are using guns way to much in America. But since the occupants had a gun for self defense AND their home was being broken into, I find it hard to blame them for defending themselves.
Same, progressive who believes people have the right to defend their house once someone is clearly trying to force their way in.
I’m uncomfortable with that loophole only because of you’ll recall, several years back a black lady knocked on a stranger’s for because her car broke down in front of that house and got ventilated without discussion.
That’s wack as shit, and I have to wonder how police would determine a frame-up if that particular trashbag had broken the window to make it seem like the lady was breaking in.
Only solution that comes to mind is a ring-like device which only records to local storage.
Absolutely, I think there should be certain objective things that have to happen before “fearing for your life” is a valid defence.
Someone breaking your window after trying to enter forcefully through your door is where I start thinking it’s okay to use a deadly weapon to defend yourself.
Someone knocking on your door (regardless of the time of day) is not a reasonable situation to fear for your life, at least to the extent where you attack the person.
I’m uncomfortable with that loophole only because of you’ll recall, several years back a black lady knocked on a stranger’s for because her car broke down in front of that house and got ventilated without discussion.
I don’t know the specific case you’re talking about, but that isn’t actually the law, that is a failure of our justice system, the shooter could have gotten convicted for that (based off your description I should add, if I’m missing details that would exhonerate the homeowner, like an outside gate already having been breached, then that’s another matter). In my area, you are required to have signs of forced entry before you can defend yourself in this manner, and if someone shot through the door my DA would certainly try the case, but then the jury can decide if “guilty or not guilty,” and that’s how you end up with both false convictions and “false releases” like the one you mentioned. Unfortunately however I’m unaware of a more fair system than the one we have, but I’m open to ideas.
Could have been avoided? Maybe. But at some point the onus is on the person breaking into your house to…idk, not do that? Like there’s a spectrum between what you can do, what you should do and what you have to do and asking some questions first is certainly something you can do. Maybe even something you should do, but protecting your family from someone who is breaking into your house is something you have to do. This isn’t Ralph Yarl who got popped twice for standing on the porch, or those girls who were still in the car and backing out of someone’s driveway when they got clipped. Dude tried to break into the house by kicking the door in, that didn’t work, so he tried a different way of breaking into the house which would have worked had he been left to it.
I’m usually pretty firmly against preemptive violence as self defense but this seems rather cut and dry to me. I would have done the exact same thing the homeowner did here, and I think that it’s doubly good that the homeowner wasn’t charged.
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Wow you’re telling me the tidal wave of liberal shitposting on Reddit was wrong about this and they should have waited for the actual facts? I don’t believe it!!
I agree with you, I do. It should be legal to protect your property. The problem is when you have a gun, everything looks like a shooting. If you didn’t have a gun, how would you handle the situation? You could leave. You could lock yourself in an interior room and wait for the cops. You could fight them Kevin style. All of those options, at the end of the day, would give you a better chance of not killing somebody.
It’s not about protection of property to me. I don’t care about that. I care about people having the right to use all reasonable options for defending themselves against violent attackers. And to your point, might this person’s death have been avoided if the occupants of the home had fled or hid somewhere? Certainly. But should they be legally required to do so? No, not in my opinion. Reason being, I don’t think the impetus should be on victims to take their attackers’ well-being into account when it’s the attackers that are creating the problem in the first place. Telling a person who is scared for their life that they need to fight the impulse coming from their amygdala to fight back against a violent attacker is totally unreasonable. If a person is coming at me with their fists and I have a gun, I don’t think I should have to refrain from firing my weapon and take the hits my attacker is throwing, just to make sure he doesn’t die. What if I die? What if I lose an eye or get my face scarred up? What if he takes my gun and shoots me? No. No, fuck that, if someone is attacking me, they’ve given me permission to defend myself in whatever way seems reasonable to me, and I’m not risking my own life or even just serious injury because someone else has anger management problems. They’re the problem; they’re the threat to society; if they die, yeah that sucks, but it’s their fucking fault, not mine for defending myself against their violent behavior.
I’m so sick of people having all this empathy for violent criminals, and way too little for their victims. You want to tell other people to react in a calm, collected, pacifist manner when they’re being attacked, to risk their own lives and wellbeing for the sake of their attacker’s? Tell you what, you get yourself attacked somehow when you’re not expecting it and demonstrate how cool, calm, and pacifist you are under fire; you show the rest of us how easy that is. You do that, and maybe I’ll consider what you have to say, but until then, you’re just a hand-wringing, pearl-clutching bystander who has their priorities messed up and doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.
That’s fine but where’s the line. If someone pulls up in your driveway, is it OK to shoot them? If they knock on your door? What if you have an argument and they throw popcorn at you? The last one was deemed reasonable in Florida. If you have a legitimate conflict with someone, is it just a matter of who kills who first? If someone breaks into your home, this case, he broke the glass and was trying to open the door. Can you shoot them? Do you need to warn them first? What if they were just outside walking around creepily. Is it OK to kill them? Can i provoke someone then when thry come at me, can i kill them? Where’s the line? This is a real question because right now the rules don’t make sense.
Violence is the line.
Does that include popcorn?
Of course not.
That’s good to hear. Unfortunately, the courts make the issue confusing.
Those other options also put you at a greater potential for being harmed yourself. Your goal should always be to not get harmed
You could fight them Kevin style…would give you a better chance of not killing somebody.
The guy at the door was not an immediate threat to life or limb, save his own. Firing a gun was not justified without threat, IMO. But I guess in the USA you can murder people to save your property (not your life).
I love not living in america
It’s glorious.
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Just for curiosity’s sake, if it was the middle of the night and someone started pounding on your front door and yelling, then tried to kick your door in, then broke your window, reached in and started trying to unlock your door from the inside, what’s the civilized non-American response to that?
You engage them in conversion, explain to them simply they are at the wrong house, and keep pushing that point
Source: I had this situation happen to me at uni, explained to the side he had the wrong house, showed him the house number, and he calmly left.
Cool, cool. Now, what if the intruder isn’t a drunk college kid but someone looking to do you harm? You open the door, he pushes inside because he already knew that he wanted to do harm to the people inaide this house number, and then what?
Not everyone is a drunk kid.
Phone the police, and then shout back asking what he wanted.
What’s the average police response time in your area? Is it less than 30 seconds? Because that’s how long it would be until dude is physically in your home.
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wow, you’re so afraid of people
Literally from the article:
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”
Well, maybe they handle mental illness better where you are (seriously, I bet they do). But here, we let them walk around untill they kill someone. So that is who you are protecting yourself from. And there are a lot of them just waiting to snap.
my husband is mentally ill and you have no idea how offensive you are.
There are all sorts of mentally ill people. I am referring to the ones who get arrested for violence and released over and over… not all mentally ill people.
I like your implication, here, that all mentally ill people are the same
- Talk to the person
- Call the police and tell the person the police is coming
- Block the person from coming in
- If he comes in anyway use tools like baseball bat, hammer or kitchen knife to defend yourself
You can bang on a reinforced steel door all you want until the police comes.
Did no one read the article?
He smashed the window and began undoing the lock from the inside
No one ever reads the article. What do we want, context?
I’m not gonna call it the world’s best home defense shooting, but I’m not gonna call it some kind of injustice.
There are no windows in a steel door.
Reading comprehension is hard
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”
You dumb?
Don’t cry to me because you didn’t read the article lol
Amd we love not having you, too many imigrants already. If its so bad, why people keep trying to get in?
We love not having you!
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But there’s one thing in which America is homogenous - school and mass shootings.
We love not having you
We hate having these garbage laws to protect rooty tooty point and shooty more than our actual citizens
Those ARE citizens dipshit!
Personal accountability. Don’t enter a mental state where you can’t identify your own house.
Should I just allow someone to kick my door in?
“banged and kicked on the door” ≠ “kick door in”
He was drunk and frustrated. He was likely kicking the base of the door trying to be loud enough to wake a roommate to open the door since he couldn’t get his key to work and was confused. Castle doctrine should not have applied here as he was likely not an obvious threat. The shooter could probably have talked with him through the door or, heaven forbid, actually opened the door and talked with him to figure out what was going on and helped the obviously inebriated young man home.
Castle doctrine is intended for when someone is making an obvious threat with deadly intent. The way it is being implemented here you can shoot a proselytizing baptist dead on your porch because they were there to attack your soul.
He did more than make noise:
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
Regardless of what you think about gun laws, I think the resident had good reason to be concerned for his safety.
Yes, my only issue is what lead up to this point. Once he broke the glass, maybe I can see it being justified. But did he call the police? Did he actually talk to the guy or stand inside and ready himself to shoot him? Was there a non-lethal option? Could he have broken his wrist by pistol-whipping?
Regardless of your stance on fun laws, I am sure we can agree that there have been far too many people shot through a front door this year to be comfortable. There was the girl who was selling Girl Scout cookies, the woman who was trying to deal with a neighbor who had violently assaulted her children with malice and a weapon, the guy who was lost and stopped to ask for directions. The list goes on. This country is founded on the idea that you can walk up to someone’s front door and knock on it. Barring posted signage to the contrary, it is a universal right of anyone to be able to walk up a driveway and knock on the door without fear of reprisal. Castle doctrine has been getting applied too broadly in recent years and needs to be reigned in. It needs to have reasonableness applied as to it being a last resort. It should also not extend beyond the castle walls. There were many reasonable actions that could have been taken in this case that obviously were not. A non-lethal shot? Hell, even a warning shot would have likely been enough to warn a drunk off. I am not saying that this is murder, or even manslaughter, but a life was unnecessarily snuffed out. This needs to be something. This idea that you can shoot someone on your front porch is reprehensible.
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heaven forbid, actually opened the door and talked with him to figure out what was going on
Problem is, if he is trying to hurt you, you’ve just given him access to do so easily so that you can “make sure” he actually wanted to hurt you. And maybe you have the privelege to do dangerous shit like that, maybe you’re 7’8" 300lbs and have adamantium bones, but some of us do not. Some of us are 5’6" 150lbs soaking wet, some of us are women, some of us are handicapable, not all of us are as priveleged as you to be able to fight off 1-5 guys with unknown weapons (even just knives) singlehandedly so they can brag about it, personally I’m incapable of doing that and I don’t want to put myself in harms way simply because the guy breaking into my house might have the wrong house or might want to rape and murder me in quiet seclusion.
Where the fuck were his friends? Sounds like he was blackout drunk. No one was sober enough to look out for him?
Folks, if you friend gets this smashed, don’t let them wander off by themselves. All manner of bad could happen. Simply falling in a bad enough spot may be enough. People have been known to drown in their own vomit.
If we did a better job of looking out for each other, it wouldn’t come to these shitty situations in the first place.
Regardless of how drunk you are, you should not get shot for a silly mistake which endangered no one. Gun laws and this obsession of defending private property in ALL cases is simply stupid. Losing your life because you got drunk is stupid
It wasn’t a “silly” mistake.
I’ve been drunk plenty of times, but I’ve never smashed through a window and reached through broken glass to try to open a locked door. Most drunk people know better than to literally break into a house.
You’re different than other people? I thought we were all the same.
Do you routinely physically break open doors when you’re drunk?
So when people kick in your door, smash windows, reach in to open it, would you call 911? If so, why? Maybe because you fear for your life? Hope you don’t have a family that expects you to protect them.
Well technically, calling 911 on a break in is just outsourcing the shooting, so imo he can’t even call the men with guns to use the guns he doesn’t think should be used.
No, but shooting them is an extreme reaction. I’m a woman alone. If this would have happened to me, I’d have barricaded the door, fled to another part of the house (there’s more than one door in), put more barricades in between us and made absolutely sure I screamed the neighbourhood awake. Once there’s more people to subdue him, the main problem is solved. Damages are to be covered by insurance. Now if he carried a gun, that’s an entirely different matter. Still, I don’t own a gun, never will, don’t think I’ll ever need one. Once a culture sees “shooting someone” as a first solution, things are down the drain imho.
So rely on other people to help. Ever hear of the story of Kitty Genovese? Dozens of people either saw her getting stabbed or heard her screams and nobody intervened or called the cops. Thanks, but no thanks.
They were already on the phone with cops. I’m just buying time until they arrive. And he’s a drunk, as far as we know not a murderer. My first instinct is not to kill anybody who has a slightly bad day.
Fight or flight. Some people run while others don’t. You can run all you want and assume they are drunks I have seen the darker side of humanity and will not assume the person doesn’t mean harm. Hindsight it’s easy to say oh he was just a drunk having a bad day. But when it’s 2am and they break a window to open the door, my first thought isn’t “this guy must be drunk”
Responsibility here would be being charged with murder and serving time
For defending yourself against someone who is physically breaking your door open at 2 in the morning?
What was the threat against his life?
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Someone breaking into your house? You have no idea what kind of weapon (including a gun themselves) someone who is physically breaking into your house has.
No it wouldn’t, don’t be a retard. READ what he did the homeowner had EVERY reason to assume he was dealing with a home invasion.
You make a good example of how many stand your ground proponent’s don’t understand proportional response.
And you dont grasp laws written so morons dont stand their and wait to be murdered in their own home by somebody violently entering it. Dont try to equate an equal force argument with a home invasion in progress. The home invader has already shown intent. The kid died because of his own stupidity and irresponsibility.
At least charged with murder and let a jury hear the particulars.
I agree
Exactly-- no one wants to take responsibility for themselves anymore, and then has the nerve to complain when they are justifiably executed on the spot. Maybe you won’t have that last beer next time
“justifiably executed”. Jesus Christ man how psychotic are you?? Terrifying
You wanna know what’s REALLY justifiable, buddy? Not reading the obvious sarcasm in phrases like “executed on the spot” because the US gun culture is deranged
Every country other than the US has wild break-in issues with fatal robberies happening 24/7 because they don’t have guns.
Produce some data of shut the fuck up
Hmmmm
It’s called what I hoped would be obvious sarcasm lol
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Except that the burden on proof is on OP? Ne made an assumption without proof. To prove it is on him
lol
Perfect.
Goddamn, the United States really is a shithole country, isn’t it? It’s obvious that shooting was the homeowner’s first resort, because this was a drunk guy who thought that it was his own house. Any sign that it was not, like lights going on, or yelling, would have at least made him pause in confusion.
But yeah, Americans be like killing somebody before even issuing a threat is totally justified.
From the article, it’s clear that their first resort was to call the police when he was banging and kicking on the door. The woman was on the phone with the police when he broke the window and attempted to open the door through the broken pane.
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, striking Donofrio in his upper body, police said.
Sounds like a justified shooting. If it were legal where iived I’d shoot at that point.
Drunk guy who broke the window trying to get in. Maybe it wasn’t clear this person was probably harmless and they panicked. Not sure why the people asleep in their home world be expected to flash the lights or whatever you are thinking is a normal middle of the night response to someone breaking into your home.
IDK, I don’t like guns for this exact reason. Too easy to end a life out of panic. But the drunk has the bulk of the responsibility here IMO.
I am sorry but … if I am at home with my wife and kids and drunk stranger aggressively bangs and kicks the door, doesn’t stop when asked, smashes a window and reaches in to get in - I will probably also have my gun ready if the police doesn’t show up fast enough. Some people get super aggressive when drunk - some get confused and silly. There is definitely a difference.
Not American, I live in Europe. No I am not right wing.
None of the articles I’ve seen have said whether the residents said anything before shooting. If they didn’t, they absolutely should have.
I just assumed that’s something a normal person would do after reading they also called 911 already. Might be wrong information tho.
Yeah, because drunk, unarmed people are such a threat, that you have to just shoot him.
As if in every other country we don’t have drunks…
Especially drunk people are mostly no threat. Even my grandma always said “oh, a drunk man has no strength”
It kinda sounds hyped up and hysterical from the outside, to be honest
Edit: ah, missed that you aren’t from the US. but still, you would shoot a drunk guy, just because you feel threatened?
There are so many possibilities to defend yourself, I can’t see a gun to be necessary - or even justifiedyou would shoot a
drunkguy, just because you feel threatened?ftfu
How am I supposed to know if someone is drunk or not?
As explained - there ar silly drunks and very aggressive drunks. The chance of this happening here is absolutely non existent and very theoretical. But yes if a very aggressive drunk is forcing his way into my home and not reacting to warnings and I determine him to be a threat to me or my family I totally would shoot him to protect my family - no question. Armed or not - - if he poses a threat the idea is not to be on the same level as him and fight fair …
If it’s just a silly non threatening drunk we can’t even see straight and poses no threat obviously not. This situation is not as easy as my fellow Europeans make it out to be - guess it’s just easier to flame the US.
Wow. Just wow.
I’d type up something of substance but I know you can’t read so it would clearly be a waste 🤦♂️
You clearly are an idiot. I mean like you have zero understanding of anything other than cyberpunk paid expansions. You are a hate filled individual and you have only been here for 3 weeks? My lord are you alone? scared about who and what you are? A big sad fat turd?
👌👍
Any other developed country and there wouldnt be a death involved.
Genuinely curious if you had someone smashing your window and trying to enter your house forcefully what your response would be.
Phone the police and tell him to fuck off? Maybe hit their arm with a bat or something. If I was alone I could even just leave. Not immediately execute them.
Sir this is a reddit clone we have a blind hatred of the police here please choose another option.
You spelled justifiable wrong.
I dont have any guns so probly hiding and calling cops. But also I dont live in any other developed country, Im not blaming the homeowner for fearing for his life in the country with more guns than people. If we were somewhere else, not only would the homeowner not have a gun, anyone trying to break in would be much less likely to have one.
Well where I live there aren’t nearly as many guns so the person breaking in would be less likely to have a deadly weapon and it would be a bit less risky to just call the police and hide, or comply with the (assumed) robber, or I’d feel like I’d have a better chance with using a blunt weapon like a bat to protect myself and drive them off, which would be less likely to kill someone. But where I live there are also a lot less robberies in general.
Doesn’t guarantee nobody would have died if the same thing happened in a place with less gun violence, but it might have reduced the chances. Even if people get into the same kinds of confrontations, if there aren’t guns involved the chances of everyone surviving a violent encounter goes up by a significant percentage. Less guns in a country over-all means less chances for a conflict to have a gun involved.
I mean if I take a swing at someone’s head with a baseball bat I’m probably just as likely to kill as I would be by shooting them. I will say baseball bat to the head probably hits less since it would probably render you unconscious immediately.
I mean if I take a swing at someone’s head with a baseball bat I’m probably just as likely to kill as I would be by shooting them.
You’d be surprised. While one hit can kill, concussion/brain injury without death is generally more common from a single hit. Usually it takes multiple hits to guarantee killing someone, and it’s harder to aim if you’re not like, a baseball player, than most people expect. You’re more likely to get a glancing blow, even assuming you catch the other person by surprise. The type of bat can make a difference in how likely it is to kill from a first hit as well.
Yeah I guess that’s all true. Either way I personally would prefer a gun to a baseball bat for self defense for the simple fact that it puts me in less danger than attacking my attacker with a melee weapon. There admittedly isn’t much in my house that is worth my life but apparently the person breaking in values my things more than their own life.
probably depends on if guns are involved or not.
I’d leave.
I’m in a developing country and such things don’t happen here. Some months back an upstairs neighbour of mine tried to enter into my house when i was inside. He was trying his key and then rang the doorbell and i opened it and he was very confused. Then he looked at my house and realised he was on the wrong floor, said sorry and went away. These things happen if all the apartments look the same. No one needs to die for such small blunders. What’s more disturbing is the amount of people here justifying shooting the kid because he broke a window and was forcing his way inside. They don’t realise they wouldn’t have to fear other people so much if there were no guns available in the first place. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of replies that gangsters don’t obey rules and what not but isn’t that the same in every other country without guns? Maybe Americans like to kill people a lot. No wonder their entire country runs off war and destruction.
In this case, the person was literally breaking into the house, broken window, reaching for the doorknob. The homeowner had every reason to think their home was being invaded. And given how violent crime can get in the states, unfortunately shooting first in such a situation does make logical sense.
The situation sucks, but this case might be more on the system than the shooter.
You don’t need a gun to kill someone, it’s creepy enougth to assume the intruder has ‘just’ a big knife
That type of thing happens in the US as well. It doesn’t ALWAYS end with a gun. I’d say most of the time it doesn’t.
This person broke a window though and was actively forcing themselves into the home. That’s a pretty big difference from “trying a key and ringing the doorbell.”
It’s always going to be a judgement call, for a different intruder theirs would’ve been the right call. It’s not even about guns, there are knives, drugs, etc. They’re all relevant and the kinds of people that are breaking windows can be dangerous.
I forget all the details but a former neighbors son had an extremely traumatic experience when he was out with a trainee as a paramedic and a guy hopped up on some concoction of drugs incapacitated him (I think by throwing him against the wall) and then the dude spun around and beat the trainee’s skull in with some object.
Just because you haven’t heard of it… doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen in your country, but I hope you’re right. Idealistically you’re definitely right, this sort of thing never should happen, but sometimes there’s no good answer; you just do the best you can with the information and situation you’re in.
People are so damned anxious to use their damned guns
Going to call bullshit on that.
The drunk kid smashed a window and kicked the door repeatedly. This wasn’t a quiet kid accidentally wandering into a room.
Hard to shoot someone who’s made an honest mistake when you don’t have a gun…
Honest mistake ain’t busting in a window tho. I’ve locked myself out of my own house before and I’ve never went “I’ll just break a window to get in”
I’d be terrified if someone was trying to break into my house at 2am.
You hear stories about people with dementia doing this all the time. Guess they don’t deserve to live anymore either.
The ex did once. I came home and had to cover a basement window with plywood.
I wouldn’t call breaking and entering into the completely wrong home at 2 am “an honest mistake…”
Just make dishonest mistakes and you’ll get voted as president.
Also hard to shoot somebody breaking in to your home with violent intentions when you don’t have a gun.
And the only way to find out what the intruder’s intentions are is to wait until it’s potentially too late to defend yourself.
This is the US mentality. Yeah, kid was very dumb, kid was in the wrong. Kid should probably be arrested and spend some time in jail to learn his lesson. Nope, death penalty.
The American responses are shocking, no wonder they have a mass shooting near enough every day
The guy was trying to break in, having smashed a window and was working and lock from the inside. He wasn’t just drunkenly banging on the door.
According to previously unreported details that police released about the incident Wednesday, Donofrio repeatedly knocked, banged and kicked on the front door “while manipulating the door handle” in trying to enter the home.
A female resident called 911 as Donofrio kicked the door, while a male resident went to retrieve a firearm elsewhere in the home, the news release says. The homeowner owned the gun legally, “for the purpose of personal and home protection,” police said.
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, striking Donofrio in his upper body, police said.
😭 Some of us are trying. None of our political parties care enough yet. I don’t know how to make them care.
Keep trying, it’s good to be reminded that there are people like yourself who don’t think this should be normal
Arson (50% jk)
They tried that already, during the George Floyd riots. It just further emboldened each side.
What’s it like revolving your life around propaganda?
TIL facts are now considered propaganda
Two things. Site your ‘facts’. I’m willing to bet your sources are highly biased.
Also here’s the definition for propaganda.
ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause.
You weren’t aware of that little fact?
Sorry, I was wrong. It’s a bit under 2 mass shootings a day.
List of all mass shootings: https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/
They define a mass shooting as a shooting incident where 4 or more people, excluding the shooter, are shot. They have 498 mass shootings recorded so far this year.
We are currently on day 255 of the year.
498/255 = 1.95
Or are those facts too biased for you?
When you use a website that has a purpose of further a narrative, yes that’s absolutely biased. That’s like people using NRA stats to argue in favor of guns. So until you can use actual data without spin, your arguments are irrelevant. Your website gets its data from somewhere, what’s the source and do the numbers still line up to your claim?
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I don’t think I could ever get drunk enough to break a fucking window, that’s insane. I don’t understand people’s excuses for degenerate criminal behavior while drunk, I’d pass the fuck out before I got to this point.
Eh, I could see someone getting drunk enough to get into the headspace to do that. You’re drunk, you’re at what you think is your house, but you can’t get your key to open the door, so you just decide to break a window and deal with the fallout in the morning.
I’ve been that drunk. I didn’t manage to kill myself or induce anyone else to kill me, but it’s really just sheer good fortune that it worked out that way.
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If someone is breaking into your home, you should defend yourself and your family with whatever means is available. The amount of people here saying you should have a polite conversation or comply with the robber’s demands (even if that demand is to harm you) is bizarre.
Its not bizarre. Its called reasonable force
So, defending yourself is only valid once you’re actually in the process of being killed? A bit too late at that point. Someone physically breaking into your home is a valid reason to use force in response.
A bit too late at the imaginary non event in your head?
But the definition of threat is what you described. It is a threat against your life which this was not and its why this is tragic because failing to assess caused an unnecessary death.
So, again, someone physically breaking open your door, who has unknown weapons themselves including a potential gun, should be something you do nothing about? Just let them in and hope they don’t mean to kill you?
that’s what you’re saying not me. Use my words, not yours
No one was actually breaking into their home though. Literally nothing would have happened to that home owner if he had been less trigger-happy and tried to comminucate with the kid.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”
He broke the glass and tried to open the door from the inside. If I were inside that house, I’d certainly feel threatened.
That is completely incorrect and shows you didn’t read the article. The guy physically was breaking the door open.
But he literally broke a window and reached around to open the door from the inside. After trying to kick the door in.
It’s a tragedy, but the homeowner was 100% justified.
The problem is you can’t judge people’s actions on what we know after the fact, you have to look at what the person knew in the moment, and for the residents, it sure seemed like someone was breaking into their house, and it’s not reasonable to expect to have a dialogue with a burglar.
No one was actually breaking into their home though.
He very LITERALLY broke into his home. Are you delusional?
usa_anthem_kazoo_earrape.mp3playing in the background. This shit is abnormal in the rest of the world.No wonder Americans are so infatuated with the second amendment!
Well, I guess South Carolina is going on my list of places that are too dangerous to ever visit.
Probably a good idea if you tend to drunkenly break into homes in the middle of the night
I don’t, but I also don’t want people to think they can just shoot me with no repercussions.
No one does. There’s some relevant context here that you seem to be ignoring.
I don’t think it’s nearly as relevant as you seem to think it is.
You’re missing punctuation after the word think.
So clever.
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for all the non-Americans, here are the things you don’t understand about why we say it was justified.
Mental illness is rampant here. The high productivity expectations have a serious toll on people. There aren’t enough doctors to be even close to handle the scope of it. Many doctors offices are getting bought up by large companies who can and do pick the most lucrative clients.
Our justice system releases mentally ill people who are clearly dangerous because they haven’t committed a big enough crime YET.
And people don’t look out for one another much anymore. Combined with a misguided sense of independence, drunks are left to do things that friends in other countries would put a stop to.
This is why we fear random people, this is why drunk people manage to get into circumstances uncommon elsewhere. This is why we say the shooting was justified. We all think about how badly it could have gone if he didn’t shoot, and it wasn’t just a drunk guy at the wrong house.
As an American I’m thoroughly unconvinced
Same, this sounds like what the homeowner/killer is going to be telling himself the next day to rationalize it (if he even thinks about it that deeply).
what in all of this makes you think the homeowner is a cold blooded killer who doesn’t give a second thought about killing. Like where does that even come from. I mean its possible, but seems pretty unlikely.
America is a big place. Maybe your area is better. Or maybe you aren’t aware of it in your area. But the number of neighbors in my area who have had mentally ill people (probably homeless) come to thier door sayimg they live there or what not is pretty high. And I am out in the suburbs. Combine that with the yearly stories of a mentally ill person with a history of random violence arrests who kills someone and it’s no suprise people fear. A large part of the population lives in areas like this or in cities. But not everyone for sure.
Mental illness is rampant here.
All the more reason why you guys shouldn’t have so many guns.
true, but that ship has sailed.
If enough people want it changed, it can be changed, right?
have you seen American politics? Having the majority vote doesn’t even win the presidency. And all these anti abortion laws recently… all the polls show a majority don’t want them. The government works for business, not the people. If enough corporations want it to change, then it can be changed.
We can agree that it’s not going to change soon, yeah
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In this case dude tried to kick the door in, then he broke a window, reached in and started trying to unlock the door. What would you have done?
What would you have done?
Not shot someone.
That’s an easy position to take when the house he’s breaking into doesn’t contain your children.
Again, my first response is never going to be shooting someone, ever.
In Canada, where I live, that would be a crime.
Absolute bullshit and you know it!
Bud you are full of shit.
I hate saying that because you have the marathon symbol and I love old school bungie with a passion, but if someone tries to kick your door down and break your window, if you are not scared for your life then you are just as drunk as he is.
At no point would I think “I should murder this guy.”
In fact I have had three break-ins, and I managed to not kill anyone each time.
Do you think the homeowner said “I want to murder this guy”?
Get off it dude, you’re being a silly goose
Nor did I say you should murder the guy.
When you have someone unresponsive breaking into your house, you have no idea what their intentions are.
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Guns are a lethal weapon, there are no safe places to shoot someone outside of a video game.
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I choose to be shot in the pinky toe then
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Yup, lot of video game playing, “I would have done x instead”, captain hindsight people in here. You NEVER point a gun at something you don’t intend to kill.
Remember the dream of this place possibly not being infected by the likes of Reddit? Why can’t dreams ever come true…
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Dude I’m with you. There’s a ton of shitty gun owner stories but this isn’t really one of them.
He wasn’t just “oh excuse me, wrong house” - he broke the window trying to unlatch the door. Pretty sure if I had a I bat I would have broken his arm, if I had I knife I would have stabbed him. Not saying shooting is necessarily a proportionate response but anyone who says they wouldn’t be scared shitless is a liar.
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