Man goofing off with friends bursts into coastal motel room and is shot, NC cops say
A man sleeping at a beachside motel was jolted awake just before an intruder burst through the door, North Carolina officials say.
The man roused from his sleep was justified in shooting the person who came inside his room at the Ocean Crest Motel, Brunswick County prosecutors told WWAY and other news outlets on Friday.
The shooting was earlier this month in Oak Island, a coastal town about 35 miles southwest of Wilmington.
Authorities say the events unfolded after a man staying with his wife heard a noise outside their door one early morning, WECT reports.
The husband, “believing that someone was attempting to break into his motel room, retrieved his handgun from the nightstand beside the bed,” WWAY reports.
That’s when he walked toward the door to get a closer look, the Wilmington Star News reports.
“But before he could peer through the peephole, the locked door flung open,” according to the Star News.
The intruder “came crashing into” the room and started staggering toward the bed, the newspaper reports.
That’s when the husband fired a round that hit the other man in his shoulder, WECT reports. The accused intruder was in the hospital as of Friday, according to the station.
It turns out, the intruder was also a guest at the Ocean Crest Motel, WWAY reports. He had been drinking alcohol with friends before the group was “engaged in horseplay” near the couple’s motel room, the Brunswick County District Attorney’s Office told the station.
The man was leaning onto the door when a friend pushed him “hard enough to break the lock,” the Star News reports.
Charges won’t be filed because the “husband’s deadly, defensive force was deemed ‘entirely reasonable under the circumstances,’” WECT reports.
This story was originally published October 28, 2019 at 9:53 AM.
