We told you recently about 19-year-old Renisha McBride, a young woman who was shot and killed while seeking help after a single car accident she had been in. The accident occurred in the Dearborn Heights neighborhood, a suburb of Detroit. When McBride stepped on 54-year-old Theodore Paul Wafer’s porch knocked on his door for assistance in the wee hours of November 2, the man, in his home, wound up shooting her from a distance claiming he feared that she was trying to break in.
Three charges have been announced against Wafer today, including murder in the second degree, manslaughter and possession of a firearm.
Prosecutor Kim Worthy announced the charges and answered questions about people saying that McBride was racially profiled by Wafer:
“We obviously do not feel that the evidence in this case reveals that the defendant acted in lawful self defense.
There is no evidence of forced entry into the home. Our evidence shows she knocked on the locked screen door.
The charging decision has nothing to do whatsoever with the race of the parties. Whether it becomes relevant later on, I don’t know.”
According to NBC News, police were actually called before 1 a.m. and were told that a female driver, McBride, had hit a parked and left the scene disoriented and hurt. This is according to witnesses. After walking a few blocks, she knocked on Wafer’s door. The man thought she was breaking in and Wafer claims the shotgun went off by accident and shot her in the face. He called the police after he shot the young woman and they immediately came to the scene. Not sure where they were after police were called about her initial accident, because McBride reportedly had to walk six blocks from the accident to get help and to get to the man’s home where she met her end.
Toxicology reports done during the autopsy of the 19-year-old show that McBride’s blood alcohol content was three times the legal driving limit for the state of Michigan and that she had marijuana in her system when she was driving.
As for the shooting, once again, many believe that it was motivated by race; that Wafer possibly saw a black woman standing on his porch late at night and assumed the worst. But her family as of right now just wants to know why he shot first and asked questions later and want to see justice served. Their attorney, Gerald Thurswell, spoke out for the family:
“If he had called 911 when he heard her outside his house, they would have been there within two minutes and she would be alive today. Maybe she would have been arrested for being intoxicated, but she would not be dead.”
The 19-year-old had just received a job at Ford after graduating from high school, and according to the Huffington Post, her family described her as an outgoing and friendly young woman. Such a shame that all of this had to transpire, but hopefully her family can receive the justice they deserve, and soon.
