Isaiah Reid and Jaime Hernandez- Georgia brothers killed. A Conyers homeowner kills 3 masked teens during robbery attempt- no charges laid in possible stand your ground law self defense.
A homeowner in Georgia fatally shot three masked teens during an early morning attempted robbery, authorities said.
The youths — two brothers aged, 15 and 16, identified as Isaiah Reid and Jaime Hernandez, respectively and another 15-year-old – were killed in an exchange of gunfire as they tried to rob the man and two other people in the victim’s front yard at 4 a.m. Monday.
A police statement described the ‘incident’ taking place in Conyers, a town of 15,000 about 25 miles outside of Atlanta, according to the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office.
The report noted gunfire ensuing after one of the teen suspects fired at the homeowner first- with the homeowner retaliating and opening gunfire and killing all three youths.
The homeowner had not been charged as of Tuesday, with authorities saying there was still an ‘active and open’ investigation into the incident, 11alive.com reported.
Stand your Ground law self Defense:
One of teens was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other two died at a hospital. Despite authorities declining to identify the masked teens, relatives revealed two of the boys shot were 16-year-old Isaiah Reid and his 15-year-old brother, Jaime Hernandez.
‘They was loving, they was brothers,’ their aunt, LaShawn Thornton, told WXIA.
Thorton said she had no idea why the teens allegedly confronted the homeowner as he stood in his front yard with his mother and another person.
The aunt also expressed concern as to whether the teens had been shot in the back as they were running away, wondering why the three members of the other family -were outside in their front yard at 4:00 a.m., wondering why the teens would have walked all the way down that street to the last house in the cul-de-sac, wondering what ballistics tests will show.
‘I hope that someone can come forward and let us know what’s going on,’ Thorton said. ‘Because this is, like, devastating to my family. There are three teens that are dead now. And we all loved them.’
The homeowner’s neighbors, meanwhile, told WSB-TV that the man who works as a truck driver is known to be extremely protective of his mother. Neither he nor the other two alleged robbery victims were injured.
The sheriff said his office is still investigating, to decide whether the homeowner will face any charges or if this will turn out to be a case of self-defense.
Legal analyst, Latonia Hines described how ‘stand your ground law’ works.
‘Basically what stand your ground allows for is that you can defend your habitation, property and others with possibly using deadly force,’ she said.
‘It’s going to require a lot of investigation here,’ Hines reiterated. ‘You’ve got to look at the facts, you’ve got to look at, they’re talking to the individual who did the shooting, you’re also looking at the shell casings to figure out if this really matches what the witness statements are.’
Investigators continue to study all evidence as it becomes available.
