Renisha McBride's Alleged Shooter to Be Charged With Murder

abcnews ^ | November 15, 2013 | Christina Ng

[Uncle Chip]

The man accused of shooting 19-year-old Renisha McBride in the face outside his suburban Detroit home will be charged with second degree murder, manslaughter and possession of a firearm during a commission of a felony, the prosecutor said today.

McBride was believed to be seeking help after being involved in a car accident.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy identified the alleged shooter as Theodore Paul Wafer, 54, of Dearborn Heights.

"We do not believe he acted in lawful self defense," Worthy said at the news conference.

Worthy said that Wafer is not yet in custody and will be turning himself today. She said he has been cooperative with police and is expected to be arraigned later today.

Worthy said that witnesses reported that McBride was "bloodied, disoriented and appeared to be confused" after the accident in the early hours of Nov. 2 and left the scene on foot.

"Hours later, her lifeless body was found by the police near the porch" of the suspect, Worthy said. "[She was] found with a very large gunshot wound to her face."

Evidence suggested that she knocked on Wafer's locked screen door and that he opened his front door and was inside the house when he fired a shot through the open door, but a still closed and locked screen door, the prosecutor said.

There was no evidence of forced entry to the home, Worthy said.....

Worthy said her office "obviously" did not feel that the defendant acted in lawful self defense.

McBride's toxicology report released by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office on Thursday indicated that she had a 0.218 blood alcohol level, which is more than twice the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Michigan.

The report also indicated presence of marijuana in her system and the recommendation for a "confirmatory recheck."

[Steve_Seattle]

The story is confusing about the 911 call. It might be that the "hours later" applies from the time of the accident until the time of the shooting; in other words, the woman was wandering around for hours after the accident until she got to the man's house. And she STILL had a massive blood alcohol level.

That's why this sucks - he's at home minding his own business, she's out getting plastered on booze and pot, she crashes her car, and then he gets drawn into it when she shows up at his house, he gets rattled, makes a mistake by shooting her - deliberately or not - and is now screwed.

[AppyPappy]

I’d love to hear his rationale for blowing her away through a screen door instead of just closing the door.

[Uncle Chip]

He has the entire spectrum covered. He said that the gun accidentally discharged but he was in fear of his life — so the gun must have read his mind and acted accordingly.

[Moonman62]

My only sympathy for the accused is - he was at home, minding his own business, and the woman was out carousing, smoking pot, drunk driving, crashing her car, leaving the scene of the accident, and drawing him into a situation he never asked for, and now HE’S the criminal. He made a mistake, in my opinion, but this whole thing sucks.

Which is why he should have clammed up, except for saying he was in fear for his life, which he probably was. Now it's a racial issue and he won't have a pleasant time in prison.

[DoughtyOne]

The man accused of shooting 19-year-old Renisha McBride in the face outside his suburban Detroit home will be charged with second degree murder, manslaughter and possession of a firearm during a commission of a felony, the prosecutor said today.

Public attorney to self: "Gosh, I sure hope some of that sticks..."

Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony?

If you can't get him for second degree murder or manslaughter, give up ya nut-ball. Why include it? If you convict on the greater charges, you've got him. If you don't, there was no commission of a felony. It makes no sense to toss that out there.

[hoosierham]

I agree that anyway you look at it,he is going to pay a price for something initiated by her stupid behavior of driving drunk.None of this would have happened if she hadn’t chosen to drink and drive. But that is not what her family or the black community organizers want to hear.

Nor is summary execution the usual penalty for drunk driving.(Usually it is some innocent person that gets killed by the drunken driver.)

And that is why going to the door with finger on the trigger of a shotgun is usually a very bad idea.

This man’s legal bills alone are going to be punishing.

[FreedomOfExpression]

But I would call for help, and I would never shoot her through a locked door unless she had a weapon that she was starting to aim at me.

A locked screen door which he shot through, is quite different than a locked entry door.
It doesn't take too much to force screen doors open or to push your way through them.

[Steve_Seattle]

I see that MSNBC is now leading with this story. I suppose this is just the next Zimmerman-type case, one that will drown out all the black-on-white shootings and attacks that Freepers hear about but which the MSM ignore.

[Steve_Seattle]

"A locked screen door which he shot through, is quite different than a locked entry door. It doesn't take too much to force screen doors open or to push your way through them."

The homeowner was the one who opened the door, and he presumably could have closed it and locked it.

[FrdmLvr]

He feared for his life, that’s why he got his gun. He took the safety off, he was nervous and had been wakened from a deep sleep at 4 am. The gun went off. Both could have happened in the same incident.

[Steve_Seattle]

"McBride was believed to be seeking help after being involved in a car accident."

Which she apparently caused herself under the influence of marijuana and a .21 blood alcohol content. I guess that qualifies as "being involved in" a car accident.

[hoosierham]

The possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony is just another little tool to dissuade gun ownership.It was supposed to deter criminals from carrying guns. Overlooked seemed to be the fact that criminals don’t obey laws in the first place.Occasionally the “possession” charge is good for a few more mandatory years for a violent criminal;it also is a throwaway charge in the plea bargaining process;charge the accused with every possible variation and hope he’ll plead to the major charge.Voila! Another win for justice?

[Beagle8U]

“He could have closed the door and called police and life squad.”

Response time for the police in that area is measured in hours.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

A locked screen door which he shot through, is quite different than a locked entry door. It doesn't take too much to force screen doors open or to push your way through them.

That's true. But, he opened the door, not her.

[Uncle Chip]

Well let’s face it — if you use a gun to defend yourself and then later a court of law determines that you should not have used that gun to defend yourself, then according to the court you used that gun in the commission of a felony.

[Beagle8U]

“What’s your assessment on this and the neighborhood???”

The neighborhood is mostly white, but the case will be tried in Wayne county.

[DannyTN]

"A locked screen door which he shot through, is quite different than a locked entry door. It doesn't take too much to force screen doors open or to push your way through them."

At which point it would be appropriate to shoot. But not before. Until she's tried to force her way through the screen door, and there would be evidence of that forced attempt at entry, he can't claim self defense.

He had best plead "temporary pansy scared out of my wits" insane plea. Unless of course there is evidence of attempted force entry they aren't telling us about.

[Above My Pay Grade]

I generally give the homeowner a big benefit of the doubt in this type of case, but based upon the facts I have seen so far, this does not seem like a good shoot.

1) If he was so afraid for his life, why did he open the door?
2) If the screen door was still locked, he should have easily been able to close the main door. Why didn’t he?

Now I understand that being woken up in the middle of the night, by a drunk banging on your door can be disorienting and is a difficult situation. But, it doesn’t seem like the situation had reached the point (or would ever have reached the point) where he needed to use lethal force.

He could have closed the door, called 911 and been prepared to shoot if the individual either got inside or was about to do so.

Given the stress of the situation, I don’t think this should be 2nd degree murder, though. Seems more like manslaughter.

I read earlier that he claimed the gun “went off” accidentally. I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually was a negligent discharge, where he got nervous and accidentally pulled the trigger, but even if that is the case it would still be some sort of manslaughter or negligent homicide.

Of course the young woman contributed to her own death with her extreme drunkeness and illegal drug use.

Her BAC tested at .218, which means it must have been around .25 (over 3 times the legal limit) when she had the car accident a couple of hours earlier. While she was probably not a real danger to the shooter, she was clearly a danger to society.

[Above My Pay Grade]

I think the 2nd degree murder is probably on overcharge, but I think a manslaughter charge can be supported. She was unarmed, outside of his house, the screen door was locked which means he could have closed the front door as well. I don’t see how he could have reasonably believed his life would be in grave danger if he didn’t shoot.

We don’t have all the facts, and I am not 100% sure he is guilty, but to me it looks like a case a jury should decide.

[Above My Pay Grade]

>>>He feared for his life, that’s why he got his gun. He took the safety off, he was nervous and had been wakened from a deep sleep at 4 am. The gun went off. Both could have happened in the same incident.<<<

I don’t doubt that he had some fear for his life when he picked up the gun, but given the facts I have seen, I don’t see justification for pullng the trigger.

Guns generally don’t “go off” people pull triggers, whether intentionally or negligently.

If he pulled it intentionally, he should do serious time for a higher level of manslaughter. (I don’t agree with 2nd Degree murder, as he was put into a bad situation with a drunk at his door at 4AM)

If he accidentally pulled the trigger, he should probably do something like 1 to 3 years for negligent homicide, or whatever the equivalent in MI is called.