Man Shot Dead Showering on Stranger's Property

Wash. homeowner faces 2nd-degree murder charge
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 4, 2017 2:44 AM CDT
Man Shot Dead Showering on Stranger's Property
"Nate was a compassionate and dedicated educator who made a difference in the lives of many and will be dearly missed," said the principal of Woodmoor Elementary.   (Facebook)

A Washington state man who went to get his gun instead of calling 911 after finding an intruder in the shower has been charged with second-degree murder. Police say Bruce Fanning, 59, found 31-year-old Nathaniel Rosa early Saturday morning in a home on his property that he uses for a business, the New York Daily News reports. After noticing the door was kicked in, Fanning found Rosa in the shower and yelled at him to get off his property. "The individual pops his head out of the shower, and the owner said it seemed like he was drunk," Chief Deputy Ryan Spurling says. He says Fanning went back to the main residence, retrieved his Smith & Wesson handgun, and returned to shoot Rosa four times through the shower curtain.

Fanning called 911 after the shooting and couldn't explain why he hadn't called earlier, according to court documents. Spurling says that under Washington law there is no "duty to retreat" for property owners—but he notes that Fanning did retreat, then "reintroduced himself to the situation." He says based on what Fanning has told police, the facts of the case don't appear to support a claim of necessary or reasonable self-defense. Rosa, who worked as a teaching assistant at an elementary school, had been staying at a nearby residence in Belfair, about 40 miles southwest of Seattle, and it doesn't appear that he knew Fanning, Spurling tells the Olympian. (More Washington state stories.)

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