A 20-year-old University of South Carolina student was fatally shot early Saturday morning when he tried to enter the wrong home, police said.
Police found Nicholas Anthony Donofrio, 20, dead of a gunshot wound to his upper body on the front porch of the home on South Holly Street, about two miles from the university campus, according to a news release from the Columbia Police Department.
Police say Donofrio lived on that street and tried to enter the wrong home when he was shot.
A 911 call first came in shortly before 2 a.m. reporting a home burglary, and the call was upgraded to “a shots fired call” while officers were on their way to the scene, according to the news release from police.
The Richland County Coroner’s Office identified Donofrio, police said.
Police investigators “will continue to consult with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office regarding the circumstances of the case,” according to the news release. A police spokesperson said charges had not yet been filed.
South Carolina has a “stand your ground” law that allows someone to use deadly force in self-defense if they are not breaking the law and in a place where they have a right to be, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit advocacy organization. The state does not require gun owners to be licensed to own or purchase a gun, according to the Giffords Law Center.
Donofrio is originally from Connecticut, according to police.
Representatives from the University of South Carolina did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
The fatal shooting is the latest in a string of similar tragedies, in which Americans have been shot — sometimes fatally — for making a mistake.
In April, Andrew Lester, a white man in his 80s, shot Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old Black boy, after he rang the wrong doorbell while intending to pick up his younger brothers in Kansas City, Missouri. Yarl survived but has said he is suffering lingering effects from the shooting, including difficulty concentrating.
Lester has been charged with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action. He pled not guilty, was released on $200,000 bail and ordered to surrender his passport, give up his firearm and have no contact with Yarl. If he’s found guilty, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison on the assault charge and three to 15 years on the gun charge.
Days after the shooting of Yarl, Kevin Monahan, 65, fatally shot 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis after she was in a car that mistakenly turned into his driveway in upstate New York. Monahan was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder to which he pled not guilty.
Also in April, Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony, for shooting two Texas cheerleaders — one of whom was injured critically — after one got in the wrong car in the parking lot of a supermarket about 25 miles northeast of Austin. It was not immediately clear whether Rodriguez Jr. had entered a plea and whether he remains in custody, and a police spokesperson could not immediately be reached.
Experts and gun control advocates have blamed the incidents on lax gun laws and increasingly incendiary mainstream political discourse.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
