LITTLE
FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota homeowner who shot two unarmed
teenagers in the midst of an apparent Thanksgiving Day break-in told
authorities he feared they had a weapon, but acknowledged firing "more
shots than I needed to" and appeared to take pride in "a good clean
finishing shot" for one teen, according to investigators.
Byron David Smith, 64, was charged Monday with two counts of second-degree murder in a criminal complaint that was chilling for the clinical way investigators said he described the shootings.
Smith told investigators he shot 18-year-old Haile Kifer
several times as she descended a stairway into his basement, and his
Mini 14 rifle jammed as he tried to shoot her again after she had
tumbled down the steps.
Though Kifer was "already hurting," she
let out a short laugh, Smith told investigators. He then pulled out his
.22-caliber revolver and shot her several times in the chest, according
to the complaint.
"If you're trying to shoot somebody and they
laugh at you, you go again," Smith told investigators, according to a
criminal complaint filed Monday.
Smith was also charged in the death of Kifer's cousin, 17-year-old Nicholas Brady.
Minnesota
law allows a homeowner to use deadly force on an intruder if a
reasonable person would fear they're in danger of harm, and Smith told
investigators he was afraid the intruders might have a weapon. However,
Smith's actions weren't justified, Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel
said.
"The law doesn't permit you to execute somebody once a threat is gone," he said.
Smith told investigators he was fearful after several break-ins at his remote home in Little Falls,
a central Minnesota town of 8,000 people. The sheriff's office had only
one report of a break-in, on Oct. 27. Smith reported losing thousands
of dollars in cash, gold coins, two guns, photo equipment and jewelry.
Wetzel
said that while the shootings happened on Thursday, Smith waited until
Friday to report the deaths, explaining that "he didn't want to trouble
us on a holiday."
In the
complaint, Smith said he was in his basement when he heard a window
breaking upstairs, followed by footsteps that eventually approached the
basement stairwell. Smith said he fired when Brady came into view from
the waist down.
After the teen fell down the stairs, Smith said he shot him in the face as he lay on the floor.
"I want him dead," the complaint quoted Smith telling an investigator.
Smith
said he dragged Brady's body into his basement workshop, then sat down
on his chair. After a few minutes, Kifer began coming down the stairs
and he shot her as soon as her hips appeared, he said.
After
shooting her with both the Mini 14 and the .22-caliber revolver, he
dragged her next to Brady. With her still gasping for air, he fired a
shot under her chin "up into the cranium," the complaint says.
"Smith described it as 'a good clean finishing shot,'" according to the complaint.
The
next day he asked a neighbor to recommend a good lawyer, according to
the complaint. He later asked his neighbor to call the police.
A prosecutor called Smith's reaction "appalling."
"Mr.
Smith intentionally killed two teenagers in his home in a manner that
goes well beyond self-defense," Morrison County Attorney Brian
Middendorf said after Smith appeared in court Monday morning. Bail was
set at $2 million.
Defense attorney Gregory Larson declined comment.
John Lange, who described himself as Smith's best friend, said Smith shouldn't be in jail.
"You have a right to defend your home," Lange said. "He's been through hell."
But
Liberty Nunn, a Little Falls resident who said she knew Nicholas
Brady's older sister, said Smith could have simply shouted at them to
stop. She said she hopes Smith goes to prison "for a very, very long
time."
"Those are two young lives that were taken," she said. "It's just not right."
Minnesota
sentencing guidelines call for a range of roughly 21 to 30 years in
prison for a person convicted of a single second-degree murder count.
Smith's brother, Bruce Smith, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune his brother had retired after a career as a security officer with the U.S. State Department.
Bruce
Smith declined to talk to an Associated Press reporter Monday outside
his brother's home. A makeshift barricade blocked the driveway and a
board leaning against it bore the spray-painted words "Keep Out."
Brady's
sister, Crystal Schaeffel, told the Star Tribune that Kifer had stolen
prescription drugs from her home before. Little Falls police records
show Crystal Schaeffel reported a theft Aug. 28, but the department said
the report was not public because that investigation was continuing and
because it named juveniles.
Schools
in Little Falls, about 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis, made
counselors available, though classes weren't in session Monday. In
nearby Pillager, where classes were in session, a few students sought
help from school counselors and local clergy members available at the
school Monday morning, said Superintendent Chuck Arns.
Fucking wow.
THIS is the face of someone the antis just love to rant about. This worthless douchebag motherfucker is one of the biggest threats to our 2nd amendment rights, bar none. Why, you might ask? Simply because he's completely not someone you can sympathize with.
Ok, shooting someone who's home invaded you, I have no problem with. Those that really know me might even say I'm rather in favor of it.... But once they're down and NOT PHYSICALLY A THREAT, you're supposed to stop shooting. Walking up to someone and FIRING A FINISHING ROUND INTO THEIR HEADS is NOT self defense, I don't give a flying fuck what anyone says.
