Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire man shoots two burglars is charged with murder

Charges: Rifle jammed, she laughed, so he killed her with a pistol

A 64-year-old man was charged Monday with murdering two teenagers who broke into his home on the outskirts of Little Falls, Minn., shooting each of them at close range in the head after he had already wounded them.

Byron David Smith was charged in Morrison County District Court with two counts of second-degree murder without premeditation in the killings of Nicholas Brady, 17, and his cousin Haile Kifer, 18. Smith is scheduled to appear in court later Monday.

The criminal complaint says that Smith shot the two as they came down his basement stairs several minutes apart on Thanksgiving Day. The complaint adds that he shot them numerous times.

He then waited a day before asking a neighbor to alert authorities, the document added. Smith showed investigators the bodies, was arrested and has remained jailed since.

According to the complaint, Smith told investigators:

He heard glass breaking around noon Thursday while he was in the basement. It was the latest of several break-ins that he's experienced. Brady started coming down the stairs, and Smith shot him with a rifle by the time he saw the intruder's hips.

Brady fell down the stairs and was looking up at Smith when the homeowner shot him in the face.

"I want him dead," Smith explained to the investigator for the additional shot.

Smith put Brady's body on a tarp and dragged him to an office workshop.

A few minutes later, Smith heard footsteps above him. As in Brady's case, Kifer too started down the stairs and was shot by Smith by the time he saw her hips, sending her tumbling down the stairs.

Smith attempted to shoot her again, but his rifle jammed, prompting Kifer to laugh.

Upset, Smith, pulled out a revolver he had on him and shot her "more times than I needed to" in the chest, he said.

Smith dragged Kifer next to Brady as she gasped for her life. He pressed the revolver's barrel under her chin and pulled the trigger in what he described as a "good, clean finishing shot" that was meant to end her suffering.

Smith acknowledged leaving the bodies in his home overnight before calling a neighbor to askabout a lawyer and to request that authorities be notified.

I saw this on the news last night. A 64 year old man may be charged with second degree murder after shooting two burglars in his home. This was the eigth burglary.

Sounds to me like the only thing he'll be defending for the rest of his life will be his cell.

If the account above is accurate, he deserves it.

AP article. http://enews.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20121126/1bdb6bbe-7c98-46a3-a5ce-83e414cfe213
The guy was an idiot. Did they deserve shooting? Sure, they broke in. You break into my house, you get shot, period. But his actions during the shoot and especially afterwards will sink him.

A criminal complaint says Smith told investigators he shot Schaeffel when the teen had partially descended the stairs, then fired again into the teen's face as he lay on the floor looking at him.

"I want him dead," the complaint quoted Smith telling an investigator.

He then described sitting down again in his chair, and in a few minutes, the second teen -- Kifer -- began walking down the steps. Smith said he shot her and she also fell down the stairs. He said he tried to shoot her again, and when his Mini 14 rifle jammed, she laughed at him.

Smith told investigators that made him mad: "If you're trying to shoot somebody and they laugh at you, you go again," he said, according to the complaint.

Smith said he then pulled out a .22-caliber revolver he was wearing and shot Kifer several times in the chest. He fired a final shot under her chin because she was still gasping for air a few minutes later, he said.

I saw this on the news last night. A 64 year old man may be charged with second degree murder after shooting two burglars in his home. This was the eigth burglary.

You should also know he did not report it until the police came by the next day. The two were in his basement.