New Orleans, Louisiana

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune of January 10, 2007

Resident shoots burglary suspect

He saw man leaving his FEMA trailer

A man, returning to his FEMA trailer in eastern New Orleans, shot a suspected burglar as he left the temporary home.

The burglar, who was not identified, remained hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday night.

Police said no charges would be filed against the resident.

According to police, the resident returned to his home Tuesday in the 6700 block of Deanne Street, near Babylon Street, at about 8 p.m. and found a vehicle he did not recognize parked at his FEMA trailer. Suspicious, he removed his gun from his truck, then saw a man leaving the trailer. The resident told police the man made a "threatening movement" and he shot him.

Police did not find a gun on the wounded man.

Police did not know if the resident had a permit for his gun.

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune of January 11, 2007

Burglary suspect dies of gunshot wounds

A Metairie man who was shot leaving a FEMA trailer in eastern New Orleans that he is suspected of burglarizing died early Thursday, police and the coroner's office said.

Ryan Smythe, 20, died of multiple gunshot wounds at a local hospital about 4 a.m., said John Gagliano, chief investigator for the Orleans Parish coroner's office.

(More)

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune of January 13, 2007

Victim's cohort held in homicide

A 26-year-old man has been arrested on a murder charge in an incident in which his alleged accomplice in an eastern New Orleans trailer break-in Tuesday night was shot to death by the trailer resident, police said.

Randy Albert, whose address was not provided by police, was arrested Wednesday night and booked with first-degree murder, police spokesman Officer Garry Flot said Friday. He is suspected of being the getaway driver in the burglary.

Police said Albert and Ryan Smythe, 20, burglarized a FEMA trailer in the 6700 block of Deanne Street Tuesday about 8 p.m. The 29-year-old resident returned as Smythe was leaving the trailer and fatally shot him. Albert fled in the getaway car, according to police, but was arrested the following night.

Smythe died of multiple gunshot wounds at a local hospital Wednesday about 4 a.m.

Police cleared the resident, whose name wasn't released, declaring his act a justifiable homicide.

Though Albert didn't fire the shot that killed Smythe of Metairie, he was booked with murder under a provision of the law that holds him culpable for the death because it happened while he was in the process of committing a felony, police said.