Minnesota man who killed teens in break-in charged with murder
 

wow, this sounds pretty messed up... Cant tell if his guy is nuts or if these kids were on drugs

By NBC News staff and wire services

A 64-year-old Minnesota man was charged Monday with murder for killing two teenagers who he said broke into his Little Falls home, shooting them in the head, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

AP file

Byron David Smith was arrested after he told police he shot and killed two teenagers who he said were breaking into his home on Thanksgiving Day.

"If you're trying to shoot somebody and they laugh at you, you go again," Byron David Smith of Little Falls told investigators, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Smith was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Haile Kifer, 18, and her cousin, Nicholas Brady, 17, both of Little Falls. The teens were shot on Thanksgiving Day, but their deaths weren't reported until Friday.
Advertise | AdChoices

Brady has also used the name Schaeffel, which is his mother’s maiden name, at times for family reasons, according to the sheriff's office.

In the criminal complaint, Smith said he was in the basement of his remote home about 10 miles southwest of Little Falls when he heard a window breaking upstairs, followed by footsteps that eventually approached the basement stairwell. Fearful after several break-ins, according to the complaint, Smith said he fired when Brady came into view from the waist down.

After the teen fell down the stairs, Smith said he shot him in the face as he lay on the floor.

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

Smith said he dragged Brady's body into his basement workshop, then sat back down on his chair, and after a few minutes Kifer began coming down the stairs. He said he shot her as soon as her hips appeared, and she fell down the steps.

Smith said he tried to shoot her again with his Mini 14 rifle, but that the gun jammed and Kifer laughed at him.

"Smith stated that it was not a very long laugh because she was already hurting," according to the complaint.

Smith said he then shot Kifer in the chest several times with a .22-caliber revolver, dragged her next to Brady, and with her still gasping for air, fired a shot under her chin "up into the cranium."

"Smith described it as 'a good clean finishing shot,'" according to the compliant, but also that he acknowledged he had fired "more shots than (he) needed to."

The following day he asked a neighbor to recommend a good lawyer, according to the complaint. He later asked his neighbor to call the police.

A prosecutor called Smith's reaction "appalling."

"Mr. Smith intentionally killed two teenagers in his home in a matter that goes well beyond self-defense," Morrison County Attorney Brian Middendorf said after Smith appeared at Morrison County District Court on Monday morning. Bail was set at $2 million.

Follow @NBCNewsUS

Minnesota law allows a homeowner to use deadly force on an intruder if a reasonable person would fear they're in danger of harm. Smith told investigators he was afraid the intruders might have a weapon.

Smith's actions "sound like an execution" rather than legitimate self-defense, said David Pecchia, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association. Pecchia said his statements to investigators suggest he had eliminated any threat to his safety by wounding the cousins.

Smith's brother, Bruce Smith, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that the incident was the eighth burglary at Byron Smith's home in recent years.

The only report the Morrison County sheriff's office has for a break-in at the home was for one on Oct. 27. It shows Byron Smith reported losing cash and gold coins worth $9,200, plus two guns worth $200 each, photo equipment worth more than $3,000 and a ring worth $300.

Little Falls is about 100 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

Brady's sister, Crystal Schaeffel, told the Star Tribune that Kifer had broken into her home before. Little Falls police records show Crystal Schaeffel reported a theft Aug. 28, but the department said the report was not public because that investigation was continuing and because it named juveniles.

Tessa Ruth, an aunt of Brady, attended Smith's hearing. She told the Star Tribune she wished the man had fired a warning shot or alerted the police instead of shooting the teens.

"It wasn't right for them to be there and, yes, he had a right to defend himself. But to execute them like that..."

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...th-murder?lite

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Co...380;7;70;0.jpg

https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net...65621193_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net...63281024_n.jpg

What a sick piece of shit.

Everybody involved here in this one is wrong. Kids are wrong for breaking and entering. The home owner was wrong for executing two teenagers. He could have stopped them without killing them.

The guy waited like a week didn't he before calling da police?

He's ****ed up IMO.

However, you break into someones house, expect negative consequences that included but are not limited to a bullet to teh face.

i don't understand the murder charges. those teens gave up their rights when they broke into a home that wasn't theirs.

edit: i do agree he screwed up by not calling police immediately, and he handled it wrong. the executions may have been over the line.

This quote gives him life in prison.

Good edit. I was about to explain it to you.


The executions ARE over the line.

Oh, do you think so?

and it all could have been avoided if he were a better shot. if the shot to the face is the only wound, this is a non story, other than man protects house from intruders.

Nobody has any idea how hard of a shot he had. Head shots are a lot harder than they look on a moving person.

There's some holes in this guys story.

Waste of good snatch

You mean man protects house from intruders and leaves their dead bodies in his basement overnight before calling police then brags about it to cops like a sociopathic killer.

i get that. still, if the first shot was the kill shot, he's ok. it was the repeated shots that screwed him. still don't think he should really be charged with anything. a man has a right to protect his home. even if it had been just the one previous break in, with over 10,000 dollars worth of losses i'm sure he'd been steaming about it for a while, and he saw his chance to make sure he wasn't taken advantage of again.

This could be a tragedy, but I'll need to see better pics of the girl to be sure.