Crime & Safety
Stand Your Ground? Man Charged with Murder After Shooting Teen at Front Door
The case has ignited a firestorm of debate online. Based on preliminary information from police, what do you think?
A Chicopee man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder after he shot and killed a teenager who police believe mistook the home for a friend's address.
The incident has ignited an online debate over the rights of homeowners and responsibilities of firearms ownership, after Jeffery Lovell, 42, was arrested Sunday and charged with murder.
According to the Chicopee Police Department, officers responded to reports of someone breaking and entering at Lovell's address Saturday. Upon arrival, they found a 15-year-old boy outside the house, shot in the stomach.
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Officers tried to assist him, according to police, and then transferred him to the Baystate Medical Center, where he died.
A police investigation suggests the 15-year-old and two friends were drinking, and they went to Lovell's home by mistake, believing it was a friend's place. The victim was knocking loudly, according to police, when Lovell shot him through the door.
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A spokesman for Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni told Masslive.com that Lovell tried to communicate with the teen and fired a single shot through the door after a pane of glass broke.
In some states, homeowners' decisions to use force in defending against trespassers is broadly protected. However, Massachusetts laws are strict. While a homeowner or other legal occupant is not required by law to retreat from someone illegally entering their home, the use of force is only narrowly allowed.
Under state law, killing or injuring a trespasser on someone's property is only legally justified if the home's occupant "acted in the reasonable belief" that the person unlawfully entering their home "was about to inflict great bodily injury or death" upon them or another legal occupant of the home. The homeowner or other legal occupant must also have first used "reasonable means" to defend themselves or others.
Lovell pleaded "not guilty" Monday in court and is being held without bail.
>> Top photo via Chicopee Police Department
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