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Homeowner charged in porch shooting

Knocking on a door is not a break-in, says prosecutor

The Columbian
Published: November 16, 2013, 4:00pm

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. — A suburban Detroit homeowner was charged Friday with second-degree murder in the death of a 19-year-old woman who was shot in the face while on his front porch nearly two weeks ago.

Theodore P. Wafer, 54, of Dearborn Heights, also faces a manslaughter charge in the death of Renisha McBride, who was killed in the early-morning hours on Nov. 2, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.

Police say McBride was shot a couple of hours after being involved in a nearby car accident. Family menbers say she likely approached Wafer’s home for help.

The shooting has drawn attention from civil rights groups who called for a thorough investigation and believe race was a factor in the shooting.

But Worthy insisted Friday that race wasn’t relevant in her decision to file charges and wouldn’t compare the case to Martin’s death.

What happened between when McBride crashed into a parked vehicle several blocks north of Wafer’s Dearborn Heights neighborhood and the shooting remains unclear.

Police received a 911 call from Wafer about 4:42 a.m., in which he tells the dispatcher: “I just shot somebody on my front porch with a shotgun, banging on my door.”

They found McBride’s body on the porch.

Evidence shows McBride knocked on the locked screen door, Worthy said, and there was no forced entry. The interior front door was open, and Wafer fired through “the closed and locked screen door,” said Worthy, who declined to discuss details about the investigation.

“We do not believe he acted in lawful self-defense,” she added.

Under a 2006 Michigan self-defense law, a homeowner has the right to use force during a break-in. Otherwise, a person must show that his or her life was in danger.

“There is no duty to retreat if you’re in your own home,” Worthy said of Michigan’s law. “Someone who claims lawful self-defense must have an honest and reasonable — not ‘honest or reasonable’ — belief of imminent death or imminent great bodily harm of himself or another person.”

Wafer was arraigned Friday on the murder and manslaughter charges as well as a felony weapons charge.

One of Wafer’s lawyers, Matt Carpenter told the judge his “client has a very strong defense.” Asked later about the defense, Carpenter said, “Because of the time, her condition.”

A toxicology report released Thursday showed McBride, a 2012 Southfield High School graduate, had a blood alcohol content of about 0.22 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving. Her blood also tested positive for the active ingredient in marijuana.

Wafer is a 10-year employee at a local airport and has a clean record — except for having been in court for past drunken-driving cases, Carpenter said.

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