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November 27, 2012

Man says he ‘fired more shots than I needed’

The Associated Press Associated Press

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — 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 Haile Kifer, 18, several times as she descended a stairway into his basement, and his Mini 14 rifle jammed as he tried to shoot her again.

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.

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.

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