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.”

  • SheeEttin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

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

      • Objects in Space@infosec.pub
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        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@sh.itjust.works
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        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@lemmy.sdf.org
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          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.

    • Laticauda@lemmy.ca
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      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.

    • Freeman@lemmy.pub
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      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. )

      • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
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        Don’t you think it might’ve been different if it was your own home (instead of a rented dorm/apartment), and instead of roommates you had a wife and possibly other family members in the home?

        • Freeman@lemmy.pub
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          This is true, and nuance is key.

          But at the same time, at least in my college town, the houses on and around campus, certainly within 2 miles, were generally

          1. Quite often used as rentals for college kids, VERY few families actually lived there, in fact i never remember seeing families in them.

          2. Working class adults were more or less segregated further off campus, largely due to the riffraff.

          So yes, it would be a bit different now as I do not live near a college campus. But if i did, and it was often that there were drunk college kids, the witching out after the bars let out would usually be times when ruckus was occuring. So situationally, i would be much less likely to use a gun in a case like that. I would likely have it on me while I assessed the situation but much less likely to use it.

          Thats just me though. And FWIW i did live in houses off campus in my later years, and much of the same bullshit would occur. Maybe it was just a different time. I was not much of a partier, and took some hard sciences so often I was leaving the library when the drunks let out. And some of the shit they would pull…Lets just say I would never live near other college kids again.

  • Tedesche@lemmy.world
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    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.

    • visak@lemmy.world
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      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).

      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        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.

      • paintbucketholder@lemmy.world
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        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.

        • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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          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.

        • Microw@lemm.ee
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          Exactly this. I am from Central Europe and if someone tried to break into my home, I wouldnt assume by Renault default that they have a weapon. Because burglars here aren’t armed.

        • Stumblinbear@pawb.social
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          You know that guns aren’t the only way to hurt people, right? People can be killed quite easily

    • Fades@lemmy.world
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      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

      • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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        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.

    • astral_avocado@lemm.ee
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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!!

    • bookmeat@lemm.ee
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      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).

      • karlthemailman@sh.itjust.works
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        Donofrio broke a glass window on the front door “and reached inside to manipulate the doorknob,”

        How much more “immediate” do you need? A complete stranger is trying to break into your home to do god knows what is the epitome of a clear and immediate danger to me.

        What would you have done? Opened the door and welcomed them in?

        • Fades@lemmy.world
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          So declare your firearm and say fuck off or I will shoot, don’t just shoot. As a gun owner myself I would NEVER fire without trying to give verbal commands. I couldn’t see anywhere in the article any reference to discussion between the door window breaking and firing.

          What the hell??

        • bookmeat@lemm.ee
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          Opening the door may have saved everyone in this case.

          Did they try to communicate with the person? Look through the widow to see whether the person is armed? Flee? Get a non lethal weapon like a bat, knife, pepper spray? Hide? There was time for the home owner to go get a gun before the window broke. I assume, since this is USA, that it was already loaded (😂) so I’m sure it didn’t take too long, but did they try ANY of those things? Unlikely, and that’s unfortunate.

            • bookmeat@lemm.ee
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              You ever use a bat or knife to kill a person? Way harder than squeezing a trigger, friend.

              • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                Which is why if you attack someone with those (and don’t kill them, if you do it’s just murder) you get charged with assault with a deadly weapon, friend? See how that plays out for you in court.

                Though you are right even if you were far off base from my point, it is easier to defend yourself with a gun than a bat or a knife.

                • bookmeat@lemm.ee
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                  Again, you’re wrong. It’s easier to kill people with a gun than a bat or a knife. My point is that this case shouldn’t be a situation calling for the castle doctrine (based on the text) because other avenues for dealing with the situation existed and were possible. In that case, I’d rather be charged with assault than murder.

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      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.

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
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    Oh shit something very similar to this happened to my mom once. She’s an older woman who lives alone and terrified of everything. Yes, she owns a gun.

    One night ~ 2-3 am a man knocked on her door and demanded to be let in. She’s terrified, grabs the gun. He moved around to different doors, knocking and banging and yelling to be let in. He started shaking the door handles. My mom called 911 and was hiding in a bathroom. They asked her to just wait, police were on the way.

    Finally she goes out, sees the guy at a window, and pointed the gun at him…but the gun has a laser pointer when you squeeze the handle. So she screamed back that the red dot on his chest was about to be where she was going to shoot him.

    He ran off. Police show up, say they found the kid - 20 - drunkenly stumbling around the neighborhood. The bar had just closed and he thought he was at his friend’s house. A week later he sent her a $20 gift card to a local restaurant with a note that said “Thank you for not shooting me.”

    The cops said if she had shot him, she would have been legally within her rights.

    Agree or disagree with any or all of this, I’m sorry for the family of the person who was killed. It’s just a terrible situation all around.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      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.

      The headline made me instantly rage (as intended). Reading the article made me reconsider. The real answer is to not have guns in the hands of the public. But then only criminals will have guns. Stfu.

      • Leo_agiad@sh.itjust.works
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        The U.S. spends a tremendous amount of its energy on paranoia, checks and balances, and being remarkably resistant to large-scale changes of the status quo, particularly with respect to rights attendant to private property.

        In the current period of bullet trains, wind farms, and unisex bathrooms, it is incredibly inconvenient, even dangerous in its own right. It looks like an operating system bug, but only because it is holding up a feature that the real owners of America don’t like advertised.

        There is a reason the dollar is still the global reserve currency- because the entire system was set up to make private property despot-and-revolution-resistant, and the smart money knows it.

        The world is heading into a major demographic shift that is going to hit everybody’s social model like a brick through a plate glass window- too many pensioners and not enough taxpayers, and no one has built the roomba that cooks and cleans for grandma yet. We will get to watch a preview in China and Russia quite soon. The pitchforks are going to come out again, and politicians will blow with the wind.

        But if you own land/stuff in America, you will still own land/stuff in America.

        I’m not saying it is right, or just. It is simply some useful perspective on what such an awkward, irritating, distributed, recursive system might have been designed for, because it certainly wasn’t designed for speed.

        The term “storm canvas” comes to mind, and with it a reminder to keep an eye to windward.

    • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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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?

        • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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          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.

      • Aux@lemmy.world
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        You can bang on a reinforced steel door all you want until the police comes.

      • kicksystem@lemmy.world
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        1. Talk to the person
        2. Call the police and tell the person the police is coming
        3. Block the person from coming in
        4. If he comes in anyway use tools like baseball bat, hammer or kitchen knife to defend yourself
    • Compactor9679@lemm.ee
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      Amd we love not having you, too many imigrants already. If its so bad, why people keep trying to get in?

      • Aux@lemmy.world
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        But there’s one thing in which America is homogenous - school and mass shootings.

  • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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    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.

    • nelly_man@lemmy.world
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      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.

    • GentlemanLoser@ttrpg.network
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      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.

      • Kofu@lemmy.ml
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        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?

    • astral_avocado@lemm.ee
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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.

      • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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        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.

  • Silverseren@kbin.social
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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.

    • Microw@lemm.ee
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      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.

      • TheFrirish@jlai.lu
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        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”

      • Silverseren@kbin.social
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        That is completely incorrect and shows you didn’t read the article. The guy physically was breaking the door open.

      • Malfeasant@lemm.ee
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        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.

      • random65837@lemmy.world
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        No one was actually breaking into their home though.

        He very LITERALLY broke into his home. Are you dillusional?

    • holycrapwtfatheism@kbin.social
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      Genuinely curious if you had someone smashing your window and trying to enter your house forcefully what your response would be.

      • blazera@kbin.social
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        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.

      • Laticauda@lemmy.ca
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        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.

        • Resolved3874@lemdro.id
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          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.

          • Laticauda@lemmy.ca
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            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.

            • Resolved3874@lemdro.id
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              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.

      • Kythtrid@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        They are. The amount of people who confidently say they’d shoot before attempting to communicate has me terrified; like they want a reason to eacalate the situation.

    • TimeMuncher2@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      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.

      • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        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?

        Home invasions happen in countries that have strict gun laws. I’ve lived in a bad apartment complex (one apartment was a trap house, a neighbor was stabbed on his way home from work, several vehicles were stolen and mine was vandalized), and a neighbor tried to get into my apartment late one night. I didn’t own a gun at the time, but I absolutely would have stabbed him with a kitchen knife if he had broken a window and stuck his hand inside. Instead, I asked him if he was okay and explained that he was at the wrong apartment.

      • wahming@monyet.cc
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        1 year ago

        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.

      • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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        1 year ago

        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.

      • bi_tux@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You don’t need a gun to kill someone, it’s creepy enougth to assume the intruder has ‘just’ a big knife

  • rtxn@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    usa_anthem_kazoo_earrape.mp3 playing in the background. This shit is abnormal in the rest of the world.

  • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    Well, I guess South Carolina is going on my list of places that are too dangerous to ever visit.

  • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    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.

  • entropicshart@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Good - one less idiot walking the earth.

    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.

    He wasn’t “trying to enter” he was literally breaking into the home.

    I would’ve let off more than one shot at that point.

    • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Good - one less idiot walking the earth.

      A college student gets drunk and makes a mistake, and you gleefully execute him for being an “idiot”. He doesn’t get a trial by a jury of his peers. He doesn’t get to explain his story. A frightened home-owner hopped up on adrenaline and his righteous belief he can blow away anyone who scares him just executes him on the spot. That’s a terrible system of justice.

      Americans are nuts.

      • Fosheze@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Makes a mistake? That’s one hell of a mistake, he was litterally breaking and entering. Just because he was drunk is he no longer responsible for his actions? He chose to go get shitfaced and then he went and tried to break into a home when the residents were home in a castle doctrine state. The only more reliable method of getting shot that I can think of is walking around the woods in a deer costume durring hunting season.

        Also how about we stop victim blaming the home owner here. Yes it would have been better if the guy had lived. There’s no question there. But the residents did exactly what they should have with the information they had at their disposal. They called the cops first but, when the dude broke the window and it became aparent that the police would not get there in time, they did what they needed to do to protect themselves while minimizing the chance of them being harmed. Letting a clearly agitated and potentially armed assailant actually enter their home just on the off chance that assailant was actually friendly would have been beyond stupid. The homeowner not mag dumping on the guy actually shows far more restraint than we typically even see from our police.