Posted on 11/26/2012 9:37:12 AM PST by Uncle Chip
On the outskirts of Little Falls, Minn., Crystal Shaeffel walked down the long driveway on Sunday, past the "keep out" sign, to see the house where her teenage brother and her cousin were shot to death on Thanksgiving Day.
She was met in the driveway by the brother of Byron David Smith, the man who is in the Morrison County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder after telling deputies he shot the pair when they broke into his house, where he lived alone. He is to make his first court appearance on Monday.
The bodies of Nicholas Brady, 17, and his cousin Haile Kifer, 18, both of Little Falls, were discovered on Friday when authorities began investigating a missing-persons report and after a car parked down the road from Smith's home prompted a neighbor to report suspicions that something was wrong.
.....
A series of break-ins had made Byron Smith, a 64-year-old retired U.S. State Department worker, frustrated and fearful, his brother said Sunday.
In the rear of the house, which sits on the bank of the Mississippi River, surrounded by tall pines and birches, is a shattered bedroom window, now boarded over. It was where, Bruce Smith said, the teens used a lead pipe to break the glass, crawl in, walk down a hallway and go downstairs, surprising Byron Smith as he tinkered in his basement workshop over the lunch hour.
Byron Smith never called 911 but let the bodies lay in his home for just more than 24 hours while the teens' families tried to find them. Bruce Smith said his brother was distraught and didn't know what to do.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Better just to shoot the weapon out of the bad guy’s hand.
The police might have wondered why they were shot in the basement if they broke a window in the upstairs bedroom to get in.
I'm guessing the homeowner may have been experiencing early-onset dementia, or was otherwise not tracking well.
"Pillager" -- you just can't make this stuff up.
Smith attempted to shoot her again, but his rifle jammed, prompting Kifer to laugh.Yes, I would think he went a bit beyond self-defense, if this is what he said.Upset, Smith, pulled out a revolver he had on him and shot her "more times than I needed to" in the chest, he said.
Smith dragged Kifer next to Brady as she gasped for her life. He pressed the revolver's barrel under her chin and pulled the trigger in what he described as a "good, clean finishing shot" that was meant to end her suffering.
See #25, and linked article, for more details. He appears to have admitted that after wounding them, he deliberately finished them off.
He was in the basement, and shot each of them as they came down the basement stairs.
I thought about that too.
Then it looks like they’ve ALL 3 won stupid prizes.
No death penalty in MN, so he’s got that going for him.
If you read all the stories, you will see that he went a tad far and so will probably go away for a long time.
He heard the first person coming down the stairs and shot him through the body. Then shot him again in the head at close range. The girl was coming down the stairs a short time later and he shot her as soon as he could see her hips. When he went to shoot her again, the rifle jammed. So he took out a pistol and shot her in the head from close range.
If that is a correct account of what happened I think he is in big trouble.
This is from his statements.
From self-defense to 2nd degree murder with a pull of the trigger.
Against a 65 year old guy, a muscular 17 year old guy (from the picture in the article), even unarmed, is a mortal threat since he likely can beat an old guy to death. If the old guy is in bad physical condition, even an 18 year old girl can be a threat.
Once they're shot and on the ground, though, the plausible threat is greatly reduced. He should have just held them at gunpoint and called police.
Oooh!
I hate hearing that!
When the threat is stopped, render aid.
This at least requires calling 911.
He shot them both in the hip before they got down the stairs. So he didn’t know or care who they were.
The first shot in the hip might have been self-defense, but the succeeding ones were most definitely murder.
Why would they go to the basement? I have to wonder if he didn’t know who they were because of some drug deal gone bad.
Dump the body on the porch of a neighbor you don't like.
LOL.
I know you jest, but that’s probably be thought of in newspaper/TV stations all over the Twin Cities.
I predict this will be used by the DFL to further more criminal protection laws.
This stinks to high heaven, it looks like these two petty criminal teens ran into a psycho killer.
I am all for defending one’s life and property, and the lives and property of third parties,for that matter. But waiting a day to notify the authorities raises a red flag. If this part of the story is accurate, something is very wrong here.
I am all for defending one’s life and property, and the lives and property of third parties,for that matter. But waiting a day to notify the authorities raises a red flag. If this part of the story is accurate, something is very wrong here.
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