Murdered For seeking help after car accident

AMERICA’s race relations are being strained — again — by the Detroit trial of a 55-year-old white man accused of the murder of a 19-year-old black woman.

Theodore Wafer says he shot Renisha McBride in self-defence early in the morning of November 2 last year when he heard noises outside his suburban Detroit home.

He has been charged with second-degree murder and could be sentenced to up to life in prison with the chance for parole, if he’s convicted.

On Monday, Wafer told the court that he was afraid when an unknown woman showed up on his porch before dawn, but that he refused to be a victim in his own home.

“I wasn’t going to cower in my house,” Wafer told the jury.

McBride was drunk but unarmed at the time, and was apparently seeking assistance after being involved in a car accident.

Prosecutors argue that Wafer could have stayed safely behind his locked doors and called police instead of confronting McBride, whom he didn’t know.

Wafer told jurors how he followed loud bangs from his front door to his side door and back to the front again before fetching his 12-gauge shotgun.

He said he opened the front door slightly and saw that the outer, screen door was damaged. He then opened the inner door further and “this person came out from the side of my house so fast. I raised the gun and shot,” he told jurors after taking the stand on the seventh day of testimony.

Wafer also said he thought there could have been more than one person outside his home

He pulled the trigger “to defend myself. It was them or me.”

When police arrived, McBride lay in a pool of blood just off the porch.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, civil rights activists questioned whether race may have been a factor.

Wafer is white and McBride was black, and some likened the killing to that of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

Race has not been mentioned as a factor by prosecutors or defence attorneys during court hearings that preceded the trial.

Original Quill wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

There's nothing about that in the article.

I think it's quite possible that race is not a factor, and that the bloke didn't shoot out of malice. However, there are too many incidents of this kind - shoot first and ask questions later. The trial is ongoing and I haven't read all the evidence, but my first impression is that he should be convicted of something at least just for being too trigger happy.

Accident?  He has admitted that he shot the victim with intent to kill, and not out of an accident.  That's premeditated murder.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Original Quill wrote:



Accident?  He has admitted that he shot the victim with intent to kill, and not out of an accident.  That's premeditated murder.

No, not an accident. He may well have genuinely felt threatened if she was making a noise or mucking about, but I'm tired of these stupid men (and women) just shooting someone at the drop of a hat.

The Detroit-area homeowner who shot in the head 19-year-old Renisha McBride was found guilty of murder Thursday afternoon. The jury found him guilty on all three charges — second-degree murder, manslaughter, and felony firearm — on its second day of deliberations.

eddie wrote:Going back to the OP, the guy was trigger-happy and too stupid to have a gun.
He should be convicted of manslaughter at the very least.

Raggamuffin wrote:

eddie wrote:Going back to the OP, the guy was trigger-happy and too stupid to have a gun.
He should be convicted of manslaughter at the very least.

That's what I thought too on the grounds that he might have felt threatened, but he has been convicted of murder, and I think that's fair.

I feel the same about Oscar Pistorius. Even if he's telling the truth, what kind of idiot just fires a gun through a bathroom door?

Raggamuffin wrote:

eddie wrote:Going back to the OP, the guy was trigger-happy and too stupid to have a gun.
He should be convicted of manslaughter at the very least.

That's what I thought too on the grounds that he might have felt threatened, but he has been convicted of murder, and I think that's fair.

I feel the same about Oscar Pistorius. Even if he's telling the truth, what kind of idiot just fires a gun through a bathroom door?

Nems wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

That's what I thought too on the grounds that he might have felt threatened, but he has been convicted of murder, and I think that's fair.

I feel the same about Oscar Pistorius. Even if he's telling the truth, what kind of idiot just fires a gun through a bathroom door?

If he felt threated he should have called 911. The trouble is shoot first ask later is becoming the norm.
Also agree Pistorius is as guilty as sin

Raggamuffin wrote:

Nems wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

That's what I thought too on the grounds that he might have felt threatened, but he has been convicted of murder, and I think that's fair.

I feel the same about Oscar Pistorius. Even if he's telling the truth, what kind of idiot just fires a gun through a bathroom door?

If he felt threated he should have called 911. The trouble is shoot first ask later is becoming the norm.
Also agree Pistorius is as guilty as sin

Yes, this shooting first business is getting out of hand. These stand your ground laws don't help really.

Re Pistorius, I don't know if he meant to kill his girlfriend or not, but I find it completely absurd that he would just shoot a burglar through a locked door. He would have to be very reckless to do that.

eddie wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

Yes, this shooting first business is getting out of hand. These stand your ground laws don't help really.

Re Pistorius, I don't know if he meant to kill his girlfriend or not, but I find it completely absurd that he would just shoot a burglar through a locked door. He would have to be very reckless to do that.

More to the point, have you ever known a burglar lock himself in the bathroom?
Was he having a quick poo before loading his bags with silver?

ABC News wrote: A suburban Detroit man convicted of murder in the fatal shooting of a young, unarmed woman on his porch is "shocked" by the verdict and deeply remorseful over her death, his attorney said Friday.

"He never intended to kill anybody," Cheryl Carpenter told The Associated Press. "When a person doesn't have intent, it doesn't seem right for him to be labeled a murderer."

Wafer, 55, was convicted of second-degree murder Thursday in the death of 19-year-old Renisha McBride. He said he was afraid for his life when he decided to open the front door and fire a shotgun through a screen door, instantly killing McBride before dawn last Nov. 2.

Wafer testified that he acted in self-defense in response to relentless pounding at his doors, but the jury didn't agree. Prosecutors believe McBride may have been confused and was looking for help when she arrived at his Dearborn Heights home. She had crashed her car hours earlier, and an autopsy found she was very drunk.

"We are shocked at the conviction," said Carpenter, who didn't speak to reporters immediately after the verdict. "We might not agree with what he did or how he did it, but he was honest with what he told us about that night."

Wafer's sentencing date was moved to Aug. 20 from Aug. 25. He faces up to life in prison.

"Even if he gets 15 years, that's essentially a life sentence for him," Carpenter said, noting Wafer's age.

Prosecutors said Wafer should have called police instead of grabbing his gun. McBride's father, Walter Simmons, called him a "cold-blooded killer" after the verdict.

"I understand the anger as a parent. I would be red-hot angry," Carpenter, a mother, said. "But I don't agree with them he's a cold-blooded killer. ... He feels horrible he took their daughter away from them."

Raggamuffin wrote:Maybe he felt threatened because she was making a noise and banging on the door. He shouldn't have just shot her though - he should have calmed down and tried to find out what she wanted. He had a gun so if anyone did burst into the house he had some protection.

I don't buy into this thing about her race though.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:Maybe he felt threatened because she was making a noise and banging on the door. He shouldn't have just shot her though - he should have calmed down and tried to find out what she wanted. He had a gun so if anyone did burst into the house he had some protection.

I don't buy into this thing about her race though.

I agree, although I suspect in his case, her race played a factor. I don't think he'd have shot a white woman seeking help, even if she did act in ways he might have interpreted as suspicious or threatening.

We have a lot of media reinforcement here of the idea that black people are inherently more threatening ... goes back a long time.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:Maybe he felt threatened because she was making a noise and banging on the door. He shouldn't have just shot her though - he should have calmed down and tried to find out what she wanted. He had a gun so if anyone did burst into the house he had some protection.

I don't buy into this thing about her race though.

I agree, although I suspect in his case, her race played a factor. I don't think he'd have shot a white woman seeking help, even if she did act in ways he might have interpreted as suspicious or threatening.

We have a lot of media reinforcement here of the idea that black people are inherently more threatening ... goes back a long time.

He might have if a white woman was banging on the door or making a noise.

I think it's too easy to just bring race into it. I think this is more to do with people being reckless and thinking they can just shoot someone for being a nuisance.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:Maybe he felt threatened because she was making a noise and banging on the door. He shouldn't have just shot her though - he should have calmed down and tried to find out what she wanted. He had a gun so if anyone did burst into the house he had some protection.

I don't buy into this thing about her race though.

I agree, although I suspect in his case, her race played a factor. I don't think he'd have shot a white woman seeking help, even if she did act in ways he might have interpreted as suspicious or threatening.

We have a lot of media reinforcement here of the idea that black people are inherently more threatening ... goes back a long time.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

I agree, although I suspect in his case, her race played a factor. I don't think he'd have shot a white woman seeking help, even if she did act in ways he might have interpreted as suspicious or threatening.

We have a lot of media reinforcement here of the idea that black people are inherently more threatening ... goes back a long time.

He might have if a white woman was banging on the door or making a noise.

I think it's too easy to just bring race into it. I think this is more to do with people being reckless and thinking they can just shoot someone for being a nuisance.