AlaskanAtHeart
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No charges in shoot-the-burglar case By CHRISSI COILE ccoile@ktbs.com
http://www.ktbs.com/news/local/3342811.html
Police have filed no charges against a business owner shot and killed a suspected burglar late Wednesday night after a burglar alarm alerted him to trouble in his shop.
The district attorney will review the case to see if charges are warranted.
Shreveport police said 74-year-old Dudley Hay's alarm company called shortly before midnight to notify him of motion detection coming from his tax service and gun-cleaning and repair shop, located next door to his house on Rightway Avenue.
Hay got a gun and went to investigate on his own and found guns stacked together and a man hiding in a bathroom at the back of the building, police said.
Hay told police the intruder stood up and confronted him. He fired one shot, hitting 19-year-old Eric Bryant of Shreveport in the chest and killing him, police said.
"The man knew he had a lot of weapons in there and he didn't know if the suspect was armed or not," Police Department spokeswoman Kacee Hargrave said.
Hay was questioned and released with no charges filed. Police said they will forward the case to the district attorney's office for a decision on whether the shooting was justified.
Hay did not call police after the alarm company call, deciding to go check on it himself.
Police said there had been false alarms at the business before.
"They've been false, so he just figured it was another false alarm call," Hargrave said.
Reached at his home, Hay would not agree to an on-camera interview, telling a KTBS reporter, "I'm too damn upset to talk about it."
Bryant had no adult criminal record, police said.
Louisiana's shoot-the-burglar law allows property owners to defend themselves.
"You can shoot if you reasonably think you're going to be killed or injured and you have to do it to protect yourself or your family member," District Attorney Paul Carmouche said.
In the 28 years Carmouche has been district attorney, his office has never prosecuted a property owner who shot a burglar inside his home or business. The ones who were charged had shot people who were outside their home and did not pose a threat.
Story Created: Jul 13, 2006 at 8:27 AM EST
Story Updated: Jul 13, 2006 at 8:31 PM EST
No charges in shoot-the-burglar case By CHRISSI COILE ccoile@ktbs.com
http://www.ktbs.com/news/local/3342811.html
Police have filed no charges against a business owner shot and killed a suspected burglar late Wednesday night after a burglar alarm alerted him to trouble in his shop.
The district attorney will review the case to see if charges are warranted.
Shreveport police said 74-year-old Dudley Hay's alarm company called shortly before midnight to notify him of motion detection coming from his tax service and gun-cleaning and repair shop, located next door to his house on Rightway Avenue.
Hay got a gun and went to investigate on his own and found guns stacked together and a man hiding in a bathroom at the back of the building, police said.
Hay told police the intruder stood up and confronted him. He fired one shot, hitting 19-year-old Eric Bryant of Shreveport in the chest and killing him, police said.
"The man knew he had a lot of weapons in there and he didn't know if the suspect was armed or not," Police Department spokeswoman Kacee Hargrave said.
Hay was questioned and released with no charges filed. Police said they will forward the case to the district attorney's office for a decision on whether the shooting was justified.
Hay did not call police after the alarm company call, deciding to go check on it himself.
Police said there had been false alarms at the business before.
"They've been false, so he just figured it was another false alarm call," Hargrave said.
Reached at his home, Hay would not agree to an on-camera interview, telling a KTBS reporter, "I'm too damn upset to talk about it."
Bryant had no adult criminal record, police said.
Louisiana's shoot-the-burglar law allows property owners to defend themselves.
"You can shoot if you reasonably think you're going to be killed or injured and you have to do it to protect yourself or your family member," District Attorney Paul Carmouche said.
In the 28 years Carmouche has been district attorney, his office has never prosecuted a property owner who shot a burglar inside his home or business. The ones who were charged had shot people who were outside their home and did not pose a threat.
Story Created: Jul 13, 2006 at 8:27 AM EST
Story Updated: Jul 13, 2006 at 8:31 PM EST
