Las Vegas, Nevada

From Las Vegas’ KVBC.com of January 22, 2007

Homeowner shoots would-be burglar

A local homeowner shoots and kills a possible burglar. Metro says it happened around 9:30 Sunday night, at a home near Vegas and Buffalo.

Police say a person called 911 saying several men were trying to break in through a window. That's when police say the homeowner fired a gun several times. One of the burglars died at the scene.

The others ran away, but police were able to arrest a 20 year old man. Matthew Carpenter faces attempted burglary charges.

The homeowner was not arrested. The District Attorney will decide if he acted in self defense or if charges should be filed.

From the Las Vegas Review Journal of January 24, 2007

Father who killed would-be teen intruder feared for family's safety

Raymond Hill's 12-year-old daughter shook him awake with news no father wants to hear: Someone was trying to break into their house.

It was Sunday about 9:30 p.m. The 34-year-old father reached into his night stand and pulled out his .40 caliber handgun, loaded it and went downstairs, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report.

While walking downstairs, he saw through a window two people in the backyard of his house on the 1600 block of Night Breeze Drive, near Buffalo and Vegas drives. Someone tried to open his locked back door. He waited and saw one of the suspects taking off a screen from his rear window, police said.

Hill then took aim and fired through the window, police said. One person fled from the backyard, but the other didn't. Hill shot 15-year-old Damien Clary through the head, killing him, authorities said.

Police found the teen's body just outside Hill's rear window. Officers also caught a second suspect, Matthew Tyler Carpenter, 20, who was biking away from the house after the shooting, police said. Hill's wife identified Carpenter as one of the men she saw in the backyard, police said.

Authorities booked Carpenter into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary. Detectives interviewed Carpenter, who told them that he and two others went to the house intending to break in, police said. Carpenter thought the house was empty, police said.

Carpenter also admitted to smoking marijuana and methamphetamine and drinking two shots of alcohol, police said.

Police didn't arrest Hill, who told them he was "fearing for the safety of his family and himself," police said. Once they've completed their investigation, police will forward their findings to the Clark County District Attorney's office, which will decide whether charges are filed against the homeowner.

State law defines justifiable homicide as a person killing someone as they're trying to commit a felony in his presence or in a dwelling.

A neighbor, Lorenzo Hernandez, 41, said he had heard of at least one burglary on Night Breeze since the summer, but didn't believe crime was rampant in the area.

He added that he too owned a gun and supported his neighbor's decision to shoot the would-be intruder.
"I think if someone was in my backyard, I'm likely to do the same thing," he said.