No charges filed after shooting of university student who entered wrong home | US News
No charges will be filed after the shooting death of a university student who tried to enter the wrong house, police said.
Nicholas Donofrio, a 20-year-old junior at the University of South Carolina, was shot and killed early on Saturday morning after attempting to enter the wrong home on his own street.
On Wednesday, Columbia Police ruled that Donofrio’s death was a justifiable homicide.
The death came only two days after the start of classes at the University of South Carolina, located just two miles away from the crime scene. Donofrio had just moved in to another house on the same street days earlier.
According to police, the student ‘mistakenly went to the wrong home and attempted to enter by repeatedly knocking, banging, and kicking at the front door while manipulating the door handle.’
When that didn’t work, Donofrio broke one of the home’s windows before reaching in to open the door from the inside.
Donofrio’s attempt to enter the the two people living there – a man and a woman, police said.
The woman called 911 to ask for police assistance, while the man ran to another part of the house to retrieve a gun.
The male homeowner shot Donofrio through the window as he was trying to open the door, striking him in his upper chest.
Investigators are still waiting for the results of a toxicology report to determine if Donofrio was impaired or intoxicated during the incident.
After a short investigation, police in Columbia, South Carolina determined the gun was legally owned.
‘This is a heartbreaking case for all involved,’ Police Chief WH ‘Skip’ Holbrook said.
He added that investigators ‘maintained contact with the Donofrio family throughout the investigation.’
South Carolina has comprehensive legislation protecting gun owners who use lethal force when fearing for their lives, commonly known as a ‘stand-your-ground’ law.
After consulting with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, investigators determined the homeowner acted in self-defense, and their name would not be released to the public.
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