"More shots than I needed"

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Saw this in the paper this morning ...

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/minn-man-says-fired-more-shots-needed-183741818.html

I am not crazy about what the guy did, but I don't blame him. If the kids don't break in - they don't get executed.
That said, I think he's going to jail.

Thoughts?

 

[Captain Obvious]

Are we going to believe the word of some psycho who took pride in their kill shot?

 

[Kato]

Saw this in the paper this morning ...

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/minn-man-says-fired-more-shots-needed-183741818.html

I am not crazy about what the guy did, but I don't blame him. If the kids don't break in - they don't get executed.
That said, I think he's going to jail.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that its his word against nobody's. ... Do we really know that the kids broke in to his house? Why did the girl go down the steps after hearing the shots that killed the boy? Why didn't she run or hide? Why would a teenage girl, who'd already been shot and is lying bloody at the bottom of the stairway laugh at this guy? Why did he wait a whole day before calling the cops, leaving two dead teenagers in his basement. Were they even shot in his basement?

There are way too many questions about this case, and right now a lot of people seem to be trusting the word of a guy who, whether he was defending his home or not, executed two kids.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

I don't think there's any dispute the kids broke in to his house. I didn't see that disputed in the story.
If there is - I missed it.
The fact the guy waited a day to call the cops, however, raises some big, bright red flags.

 

[Kato]

Perhaps they did actually break in, but I'm curious to see what comes out of some further investigation. There are parts of this story that don't add up.

 

[Chef2]

The kid from Grinnell saw this thread title and threw a tennis shoe at his computer.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I don't think there's any dispute the kids broke in to his house. I didn't see that disputed in the story.
If there is - I missed it.
The fact the guy waited a day to call the cops, however, raises some big, bright red flags.

One story had it where the guy didn't want to bother the cops on Thanksgiving.

So what we have here, apparently, is two kids making the mistake of breaking into a home of an armed guy who's not exactly the sanest among us.

 

[Azrael]

Two kids break into a house in broad daylight? One walks down the basement stairs a few minutes after hearing a series of rifle shots from the basement? Multiple shots to kill each kid? Calls the cops a full day later?

This story is likely going to turn out much creepier than we think.

 

[Beaker]

Sounds like a Grade-A whacko.

 

[heyabbott]

Check the female (or male if he's a priest, scoutmaster, teacher or coach) for signs of forced entry.

Burglary on Thanksgiving Day? What's this guy doing home alone on Thanksgiving or did his family just step over the bodies to get to the stuffing?

 

[waterytart]

Check the female (or male if he's a priest, scoutmaster, teacher or coach) for signs of forced entry.

Burglary on Thanksgiving Day? What's this guy doing home alone on Thanksgiving or did his family just step over the bodies to get to the stuffing?

Think about how he sounded. He's a guy about whom the family says, "Uncle Byron? I suppose if he asks to come, we have to let him, but I'm sure not inviting him."

 

[Dark_Knight]

Gun-slinging Texans see no problem with this story.

 

[Small Town Guy]

The girl letting out a "short laugh." Or a gasp from being shot?

He definitely sounds like one of those guys everyone in the town knows is a bit strange.

Rural life can be so odd. When my grandpa left the farm and went into a hospice, the house was unlocked for an entire year. I'd go out there sometimes just to look through some old stuff or walk around the lake, but anyone could have walked right in at anytime and helped themselves to anything in the place.

My sister moved out there when he died and a year later I lived with her and her family for about three months. I'd spent countless weekends out there growing up, but sleeping there every night and having read In Cold Blood way too many times was a different experience. Of course my brother-in-law had about a dozen guns so I guess that should have made me feel safer. In his hands, somehow it didn't.

A few years ago in Minnesota there was a case where a drunk guy put his car in the ditch out in the country and broke into a home to steal a car. Eventually he was confronted by the homeowner with a shotgun, got the gun away from the guy and killed him, the guy's son, and shot the mom, who lived. The killer's defense was that the shotgun fired accidentally each time. He was convicted.