A University of South Carolina junior who was fatally shot while trying to enter the wrong home last year sparked fear for homeowners and concern for friends when they didn’t hear from him after a night at a bar, two separate 911 calls revealed.
Nicholas Donofrio, 20, had been hanging out with friends at The Loose Cockaboose, a sports bar across from USC’s football stadium, before he was put into an Uber and driven back to an area near his off-campus home in Columbia.
“Someone’s trying to break into our house,” a woman inside a South Holly Street home quietly told 911 dispatchers around 2 a.m. on Aug. 26, according to a call obtained by the Associated Press.
Donofrio had been knocking, stomping, and kicking the front door of the house while fiddling with the doorknob.
A loud bang was heard in the background of the call, which was later identified as the fatal shot that the woman’s boyfriend fired through the door and struck Donofrio in the upper body.
“Please come here quickly,” said the woman. “She said she thought he hit her.”
A ringing doorbell camera caught Donofrio walking up to the house and trying to turn the doorknob as a car swerved down the street before the Connecticut native sat on a bench outside, according to video obtained by CT Insider last month.
Nicholas Donofrio, 20, had been hanging out with friends at The Loose Cockaboose, a sports bar across from the USC football stadium before a friend put him in an Uber to take him home. LinkedIn Donofrio was fatally shot after knocking on, stomping and kicking the front door of a home while fiddling with the doorknob on South Holly Street in Columbia, SC on August 26, 2023. WLTX/YouTube
The Columbia Police Department said Donofrio lived on the same street as the home he tried to break into and was “highly intoxicated” at the time of the shooting, according to the outlet.
“We should stay inside until the police get here, shouldn’t we?” the caller asked between heavy breathing and crying before the officer asked someone to “look out the window.”
Residents inside were unable to see Donofrio lying on the porch because of the frosted front door window and the angle of the home’s security cameras.
The man who fired the shots eventually confirmed the 20-year-old fell.
Donofrio had just started his junior year at the University of South Carolina the week he was killed. Google Maps After the shooting, Donofrio’s fraternity, Phi Kappa Sigma, created a GoFundMe to create a scholarship in his name that will be used at both USC and his Connecticut high school, Daniel Hand High School. NEWS 19
Police officers arrived at the home five minutes after the call of a suspected burglary was initially made.
Seventy-five minutes after the fatal shooting, Donofrio’s friends became concerned about his whereabouts and made their own 911 calls.
“I don’t know where she is and we’re all very worried,” one friend told dispatchers as others tried to remember the last thing she was wearing.
“I don’t know what I’m asking you to do,” the caller said as it was determined Donofrio was wearing a bright pink shirt and multi-colored athletic shorts.
No charges were filed against the man who shot Donofrio, as the Columbia Police Department and the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office determined he was entitled to property protection under South Carolina law.
Seventy-five minutes after the fatal shooting, Donofrio’s friends began to worry about his whereabouts and made their own calls to 911. UNE Athletics Facebook
“Stand Your Ground” laws allow deadly force against anyone “unlawfully and forcibly entering” their residence.
After the shooting, Donofrio’s fraternity, Phi Kappa Sigma, created a GoFundMe to create a scholarship in his name that will be used at both USC and his Connecticut high school, Daniel Hand High School.
With Postal wire
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
