Homeowner: Shooting was self-defense after finding girlfriend with other man(TN)

knoxnews.com ^ | 15 September, 2011 | Staff

[marktwain]

A West Knox County homeowner told law enforcement officers he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot a man who he discovered in bed with his girlfriend Thursday morning.

As of yet, no charges have been filed in connection with the shooting, which initially was reported as a domestic disturbance at 7:14 a.m. at 9325 Wells Station Road in the Nicholas Landing subdivision, according to Martha Dooley, Knox County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

Officers arrived at the Ball Camp area residence to find a man dead of multiple gunshot wounds, she said. Authorities have yet to release the victim's name, pending positive identification.

Homeowner James Szczuka, 49, told detectives he awoke this morning and went into the bedroom of his 24-year-old girlfriend, Dena Harris, where he found the man asleep in bed with her, Dooley said.

Szczuka told authorities the man became aggressive and threatening when he woke him up. The man allegedly refused to leave.

Szczuka grabbed a .40-caliber handgun, which he has a permit for, and shot the man when he allegedly "came at him," according to Dooley.

[marktwain]

Domestics are often nasty. His home, in bed with girlfriend, would not leave? Does the girlfriend get charged as an accomplice?

[Dr. Sivana]

Does the girlfriend get charged as an accomplice?

It never happens, either because the pertinent parties do not consider women to be responsible moral agents in these matters, or maybe the gods plopped her in the bed like they did with Helen of Troy.

[Pearls Before Swine]

...maybe the gods plopped her in the bed like they did with Helen of Troy.

So the Iliad was a set-up?

[org.whodat]

Does not pass the smell test!!!

[mac_truck]

Lol! What makes this jealous old fool think the 24yo woman sleeping in another bedroom of his house with another man was his ‘girlfriend’?

Manslaughter.

[avenir]

In flagrante delicto.

[avenir]

In flagrante delicto.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

He pointed HIS “gun” at me first!

(If breast milk has been called a “dangerous weapon” by cops...)

[Jim Hill]

Turns out the “victim” had a lengthy criminal record and was just released from jail.

http://m.knoxnews.com/news/2011/sep/17/man-found-shot-to-death-in-knox-home-had-lengthy/

[Dr. Sivana]

So the Iliad was a set-up?

From Wikipedia:

While Helen tells Priam about the Greek commanders from the walls of Troy, both sides swear a truce and promise to abide by the outcome of the duel. Paris is beaten, but Aphrodite rescues him and leads him to bed with Helen before Menelaus could kill him. Pressured by Hera's hatred of Troy, Zeus arranges for the Trojan Pandaros to break the truce by wounding Menelaus with an arrow.

Yup sounds like a setup to me. That Paris bloke was one lucky dude, goes from facing death after losing a duel to being plopped into the chambers of the most beautiful and stately (and willing) woman in the whole Mediterranean.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Yeah, but Helen was already in Troy. Aphrodite saved Paris for another day, but it wasn’t the first time he’d been with Helen.

Didn’t he meet her on his own somewhere else and bring her back to Troy, precipitating the whole mess?

[Dr. Sivana]

If Paris got slain, as he should have, things could have settled down. In any event, skunks like Paris were not worth the shedding of Hector’s blood, not to mention the ruin of Troy itself. But heck, when your bio-dad is top god in the form of a swan, I guess people act differently around you.

[Chode]

the girlfriend sleeps in another room???

[G Larry]

49 yr old man
24 yr old girlfriend
....sleeping in another bedroom?

...and why does the reporter note the homeowner grabbed a weapon he “had a permit for”?

Will there come a day when the reporter adds, “a right guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment”?

[Colonel Kangaroo]

According to WATE's website, this is the deceased:

And this is the the girl:

[org.whodat]

LOL, has nothing to do with it. Most smart older men that have a twenty four year old available sleeps with it.

[.45 Long Colt]

There is no handgun permit required in TN. Perhaps he has a concealed carry permit, but that’s an irrelevant detail.

[Semper Vigilantis]

Sounds to me like the 24 YO needed some place to stay while her boyfriend was in jail.

[DUMBGRUNT]

A Texan I was with in Viet Nam had a similar story.
Beats the interloper and throws him out the window... from the sixth floor!

The judge said join up or jail.

Whilst humping some hot and airless valley he would often say “I should have taken the jail”.

[marktwain]

Beats the interloper and throws him out the window... from the sixth floor!

Wow! He defenestrated him! I seldom get to use that word! ;-)