Prosecutor cites state Stand Your Ground law in justified shooting
Local Crime News
EPHRATA - Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee said Thursday he agrees with the sheriff's office that a March shooting was justified according to the state's Stand Your Ground and no charges should be filed against the gunman.
A man identified in information provided by Lee only as "T.D." shot a man identified as "K.H." in the Airway Drive home of T.D.'s girlfriend near Moses Lake. The woman told T.D. her ex-boyfriend, K.H. was previously violent and not welcome in her home.
On the evening of March 15, K.H. arrived at the house, unannounced, and came inside even though the woman told him that he should leave, according to the prosecutor's office. T.D. was with the woman and reportedly told K.H. he would leave the house if he could just gather his belongings.
K.H. would not allow him to get his belongings and instead grabbed a large glass liquor bottle and told T.D. "You're about to get busted in the head," according to the prosecutor's office.
T.D., who was previously in the U.S. Navy and has a legal concealed pistol license, pulled his gun and pointed it at K.H., according to the prosecutor's office.
K.H. reportedly said "I don't give a **** about your gun," and continued to block T.D.'s path from an exit. T.D. shot K.H. one time in the stomach, then called 9-1-1.
T.D. cooperated with the sheriff's office investigation, according to the prosecutor's office.
Lee cited Washington's Stand Your Ground law that imposes no duty to retreat before someone uses deadly force when he or she is in fear of "great personal injury."
"Based on all the available evidence, T.D.'s actions appear to have been his only reasonable option to ensure his safety and the safety of his female friend. He had no other reasonable alternative when he acted in self-defense. It is also clear that this situation is one entirely the making of K.H.," Lee stated in a letter to Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones.
Lee stated that T.D. has no criminal history and will not have charges filed against him in this incident.
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