After allegedly shooting a teenager on his porch in the face, Theodore Paul Wafer was charged Friday with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Renisha McBride.
Wafer, 54, of Dearborn Heights, near Detroit, did not act in self defense when he
shot McBride, 19, in the early hours of Nov. 2, prosecutor Kym Worthy said at a news conference, The Associate Press reported.
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McBride’s family said she likely approached Wafer’s porch for help after crashing her car.
According to Worthy, McBride knocked on the locked front screen door of the home. There were no signs of forced entry, and she reportedly was unarmed.
"Under Michigan law, there is no duty to retreat in your own home, however, someone who claims self defense must honestly and reasonably believe that he is in imminent danger of either losing his life or suffering great bodily harm, and that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent that harm,"
Worthy added in a statement, according to the Huffington Post.
"This 'reasonable belief' is not measured subjectively, by the standards of the individual in question, but objectively, by the standards of a reasonable person," he said.
The case has led civil rights groups to call for an investigation since McBride was African-American and Wafer is white.
“In this case, the charging decision has absolutely nothing to do with the race of the parties,” Worthy said Friday.
A toxicology report released Thursday showed McBride had marijuana in her system and a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit for driving.
McBride’s death comes on the heels of a number of other high-profile fatal shootings of young black Americans, including Jonathan Ferrell in North Carolina in September and Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., in February 2012.
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