Citrus Heights, California



From Sacramento's The KRACChannel.com of February 6, 2004

Brothers Fear For Safety After Shooting



A man arrested Monday for the death of a neighbor at a Citrus Heights apartment complex learned Thursday morning he won't face charges in the killing.



Authorities said Tim Collins ... and his brother, Sean ..., got into a fight with some neighbors."



Three people of these people ran right past me and targeted him directly," Sean Collins said.



Sean Collins said he thought his brother was going to be killed, so he pulled a gun and shot a 20-year-old neighbor dead.



It was an apparent case of self-defense, police said. Sean Collins was released just two days after he was arrested on murder charges. The case was all but closed.



"Unless we turn something up that would point in the direction of a presentable, prosecutable case, then yes it would be over," said Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Lou Fatur.



But now, the Collins brothers and others in the apartment complex fear there will be retaliation from friends and relatives of the man that was killed.



Three police cars were sent to the complex Thursday afternoon. The Collins brothers were escorted out and taken away for their safety.

UPDATE: From the March 23, 2004 Sacramento Bee:

CITRUS HEIGHTS - No charges will be filed against a man who shot and killed a 17-year-old neighbor in a dispute at their apartment complex last month, officials said.

Prosecutors decided that a case against Sean Collins, 42, in the Feb. 2 slaying was "unprosecutable," said Lana Wyant, special assistant deputy district attorney.



...



Collins was arrested at the scene but released a short time later. Investigators said Chepelyuk lived next door with a group of young men and women who feuded with the brothers.



"In our view, it looked like a defense of others," Wyant said Monday, adding witnesses didn't adequately answer investigators' questions.