Yota
March 11th, 2007, 11:49 PM
No charges filed for man who shot, killed teenager
SELF-DEFENSE: Family of gun victim plans to file a lawsuit against shooter.
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: November 4, 2006
A man who shot and killed a 17-year-old youth while being beaten in the driveway of his home will not be prosecuted, the Anchorage district attorney's office said Friday.
The family of shooting victim James Ifopo said they are shocked and upset at the decision and said they plan to file a lawsuit against the gunman, Matthew Schneider.
The June shooting -- which shook the Anchorage Polynesian community -- was not a crime because Schneider was acting in self-defense, said assistant district attorney Sharon Marshall.
Polynesians have been disproportionately affected by the city's rise in youth gun violence over the past several years. Ifopo was the fourth Polynesian youth to be shot and killed in Anchorage in 13 months.
Police investigators concluded that Ifopo, a former senior at East High who had dropped out of school several months prior, and two other teenagers approached Schneider, a 26-year-old airplane mechanic, as he was getting out of his truck in his Mountain View driveway on June 28. Two of the boys were on bicycles.
An altercation ensued between the unarmed trio and Schneider, who was carrying a concealed handgun.
Schneider told the youths to get off his property, according to Schneider and Marshall. The boys began beating Schneider. One slammed the truck door on Schneider's head.
Schneider reached to a Springfield XD 40 he had hidden in a holster on his pants and fired twice in the direction of his attackers.
Ifopo was hit in the chest. Rodney Maatafa, 17, was hit in the shoulder.
Marshall said Schneider committed no crime.
"Before resorting to deadly force, you have a duty to retreat if you can do so safely," she said. "If you are on your own property, you don't have to get off your own property. You don't have to retreat.
"In this particular situation, not only could he not get away from them because he was trapped between his car door and his car, he was also on his own property."
Initial police reports after the shooting said the youths may have been attempting to rob Schneider. Marshall said, though, that the state found no evidence that that was what started the altercation.
Schneider, contacted at his Mountain View home, which he had purchased a month before the shooting, said he felt he had no choice but to pull the trigger.
"It was my only option," he said. "I thought they were going to kill me if I didn't do something."
He says he's been plagued by the memory of that night. On a good day, he sees the image of Ifopo keeling over and dying in his mind about two or three times, he said; on a bad day, though, the image plays on rerun in his head.
He hopes to one day make peace with the Ifopo family, he said. He says that after the shots were fired and Ifopo collapsed, he started praying for the boy not to die.
The Ifopo family, though, thinks Schneider did not need to pull the trigger.
James Ifopo's father, Faafetai Ifopo, a security guard who moved his family from Hawaii not long before his son died, said he believes there was more to the altercation than what police found out.
Above all, though, he said he misses his son and believes the police and district attorney's office have failed him.
"I realize I cannot bring back my beloved son," said James's mother, Faatulia Ifopo. "But this decision is not right."
The purpose of the yet-to-be-filed lawsuit would be to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else, the family said. Schneider did not have a good enough reason to shoot someone in the chest, Faafetai Ifopo said.
"Shoot in the air. Shoot in the arm, not here," he said, pointing to his heart.
"It hurts," he said. "I miss him."
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime...-8270116c.html (http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime...-8270116c.html)
I couldn't make that link work. I'm waiting for someone on XDTalk.com to repost it. But the story is correct because the guy, Matt Schneider, who shot the attacker joined XDTalk.com and has been discussing (http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=457933#post457933) the incident to a limited degree (there's a threat of civil lawsuit still).
This one has worked out the right way on the criminal side. Now let's hope the system protects Matt on the civil side as well.
SELF-DEFENSE: Family of gun victim plans to file a lawsuit against shooter.
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: November 4, 2006
A man who shot and killed a 17-year-old youth while being beaten in the driveway of his home will not be prosecuted, the Anchorage district attorney's office said Friday.
The family of shooting victim James Ifopo said they are shocked and upset at the decision and said they plan to file a lawsuit against the gunman, Matthew Schneider.
The June shooting -- which shook the Anchorage Polynesian community -- was not a crime because Schneider was acting in self-defense, said assistant district attorney Sharon Marshall.
Polynesians have been disproportionately affected by the city's rise in youth gun violence over the past several years. Ifopo was the fourth Polynesian youth to be shot and killed in Anchorage in 13 months.
Police investigators concluded that Ifopo, a former senior at East High who had dropped out of school several months prior, and two other teenagers approached Schneider, a 26-year-old airplane mechanic, as he was getting out of his truck in his Mountain View driveway on June 28. Two of the boys were on bicycles.
An altercation ensued between the unarmed trio and Schneider, who was carrying a concealed handgun.
Schneider told the youths to get off his property, according to Schneider and Marshall. The boys began beating Schneider. One slammed the truck door on Schneider's head.
Schneider reached to a Springfield XD 40 he had hidden in a holster on his pants and fired twice in the direction of his attackers.
Ifopo was hit in the chest. Rodney Maatafa, 17, was hit in the shoulder.
Marshall said Schneider committed no crime.
"Before resorting to deadly force, you have a duty to retreat if you can do so safely," she said. "If you are on your own property, you don't have to get off your own property. You don't have to retreat.
"In this particular situation, not only could he not get away from them because he was trapped between his car door and his car, he was also on his own property."
Initial police reports after the shooting said the youths may have been attempting to rob Schneider. Marshall said, though, that the state found no evidence that that was what started the altercation.
Schneider, contacted at his Mountain View home, which he had purchased a month before the shooting, said he felt he had no choice but to pull the trigger.
"It was my only option," he said. "I thought they were going to kill me if I didn't do something."
He says he's been plagued by the memory of that night. On a good day, he sees the image of Ifopo keeling over and dying in his mind about two or three times, he said; on a bad day, though, the image plays on rerun in his head.
He hopes to one day make peace with the Ifopo family, he said. He says that after the shots were fired and Ifopo collapsed, he started praying for the boy not to die.
The Ifopo family, though, thinks Schneider did not need to pull the trigger.
James Ifopo's father, Faafetai Ifopo, a security guard who moved his family from Hawaii not long before his son died, said he believes there was more to the altercation than what police found out.
Above all, though, he said he misses his son and believes the police and district attorney's office have failed him.
"I realize I cannot bring back my beloved son," said James's mother, Faatulia Ifopo. "But this decision is not right."
The purpose of the yet-to-be-filed lawsuit would be to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else, the family said. Schneider did not have a good enough reason to shoot someone in the chest, Faafetai Ifopo said.
"Shoot in the air. Shoot in the arm, not here," he said, pointing to his heart.
"It hurts," he said. "I miss him."
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime...-8270116c.html (http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime...-8270116c.html)
I couldn't make that link work. I'm waiting for someone on XDTalk.com to repost it. But the story is correct because the guy, Matt Schneider, who shot the attacker joined XDTalk.com and has been discussing (http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=457933#post457933) the incident to a limited degree (there's a threat of civil lawsuit still).
This one has worked out the right way on the criminal side. Now let's hope the system protects Matt on the civil side as well.