Bruce Fanning charged with second degree murder after shooting dead home intruder, Nathaniel Rosa while taking a shower. The victim was unarmed at the time.
Bruce Fanning, a 59 year old Belfair, Washington State homeowner has been charged with second degree murder after shooting dead, Nathaniel Joseph Rosa, an intruder who had entered the homeowner’s home.
At the time of the 31 year old man’s death, Nathaniel Rosa had been taken a shower when he was gunned down.
A report via Kitsap Sun identified the victim as a teacher’s aide for special needs students at Woodmoor Elementary School in Bothell – about 80 miles from where he was shot dead.
Prior to his shooting death, Rosa had been visiting his mother who lives in nearby North Mason. Not necessarily understood is what led to the teacher’s aide breaking into the home.
Mason County Sheriff’s Office said the incident happened at a home on East Trails Road. At the time of the shooting, police said Rosa had been shot multiple times through the shower curtains.
The man’s shooting death led to a storm of reactions on social media.
Posted the sheriff’s office on twitter: ‘Lots of reactions to the arrest,’
‘There is more to the story that can not be released yet. You may reserve your judgement [sic] until facts are out.’
A report via KOMO told of the confrontation happening about 8 a.m. Saturday when Bruce F. Fanning went to one of the homes on his property, where cops say he runs an internet-based firm out of the building.
After noticing the front door kicked in and a missing window screen, the homeowner went inside and found the intruder in the shower. He then left the home after the pair exchanged words.
Told Mason County Sheriff’s Lt. Travis: ‘He returned home, retrieved a firearm, came back over to the residence and fired multiple rounds into the shower … killing the intruder’.
A report via the Olympian cited Fanning saying he told the intruder to leave, but according to Fanning, Rosa replied with “non-understandable verbal threats.” Fanning said he was afraid and thought the intruder was drunk.
From there, Fanning told police leaving the building to retrieve a Smith and Wesson .45-caliber handgun.
Detectives: Intruder was using the shower when he was shot & killed by homeowner. Homeowner arrested on 2nd degree murder charge. #komonews pic.twitter.com/sK9TtpWrTs
— Steve McCarron KOMO (@SteveTVNews) April 1, 2017
Man killed in strange shooting in Belfair Sat called “compassionate and dedicated educator” by Northshore SD.
— Chris Ingalls (@CJIngalls) April 3, 2017
Bruce Fanning, Belfair homeowner charged w shooting intruder on his property pic.twitter.com/ITzKGP8iPH
— Chris Ingalls (@CJIngalls) April 3, 2017
It’s unclear how long Rosa had been inside the home, but detectives don’t believe the homeowner gave him any warning before shooting.
After having shot Rosa dead, Fanning called 911 and told dispatchers he had just killed someone who broke into his home.
‘Certainly he had an opportunity to call law enforcement at that time,’ Adams said. ‘And we’ve contacted our local prosecutor, explained the circumstances to him, and he agrees that second-degree murder was an appropriate charge in this case.’
Detectives said Rosa wasn’t armed at the time of the shooting.
A report via iFIBER ONE News Radio told of Fanning being formally charged in Mason County Superior Court on Monday. The man’s arraignment was set for April 10.
Detectives have yet to say why the homeowner declined to call authorities after having first come upon the intruder, only to return a second time with a weapon.
The sheriff’s office report stated that ‘statements and evidence in this case do not support necessary/reasonable self-defense at this time.’
The sheriff’s office cites state law on the use of force (RCW 9A.16.020), which notes that force is lawful ‘whenever used by a party about to be injured, or by another lawfully aiding him or her, in preventing or attempting to prevent an offense against his or her person, or a malicious trespass, or other malicious interference with real or personal property lawfully in his or her possession, in case the force is not more than is necessary.’
The state’s self-defense legislation (RCW 9A.16.110) says ‘no person in the state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting, by any reasonable means necessary, himself or herself, his or her family, or his or her real or personal property.’
Todd Maybrown, a criminal defense lawyer in Washington, told the New York Times ‘it’s kind of the wild west out here, in a way.’
Maybrown told the Times that Washington’s law doesn’t impose a duty to retreat, but a person defending himself is barred from using ‘more force than necessary.’
