Racist Suspect Charged in Murder of Unarmed Black Woman: shot in the face through a locked screen door

(In their relations with non-whites, racists function as psychopaths.) From [HERE] The suburban racist suspect who shot and killed 19-year-old Renisha McBride on his front porch was arraigned Friday. Theodore Wafer, 54, is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.  Mr. Wafer was also charged with a weapons violation, connected to using his Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. The weapon appeared to be legally owned by Mr. Wafer. The charges could carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. His lawyer, Mr. Carpenter, said he would offer a strong defense.

By the end of the day, Mr. Wafer had posted bond and was released. He was placed on administrative leave from his job as an employee at the Wayne County Airport Authority.

At a press conference Friday morning, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who is Black, told reporters that evidence suggests Wafer shot McBride in the face through a locked screen door while she stood on his porch in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, reports the Detroit Free Press. The prosecutor rejected the white man’s assertion that he had been acting in self-defense.

Wafer entered a not-guilty plea during an arraignment on Friday. Mr. Wafer had told the police that he believed the woman was breaking into his home. The prosecutor said that she found no evidence of an attempted break-in and that McBride had been knocking on the door.

Worthy said McBride had been driving in the Dearborn Heights area late that night, had a car accident, and ended up on Wafer's porch some hours later. Wafer's home is a little less than half a mile from the scene of the accident and Worthy said it is still unclear where McBride was between crashing her car and being shot. 

In recent days, Wafer’s attorney had called the shooting justified, but Worthy said prosecutors disagreed. She was unarmed. 

McBride's family members have said they believe the young Black woman's cell phone battery died after the car crash early last Saturday and she was seeking help from the white man. The Detroit Free Press reported that Wafer told police that he thought the young woman was trying to rob him and that he accidentally discharged his shotgun.  

A "frightened" Wafer dialed 911 - after the murder

“It’s very, very, very hard to believe that it was an accident when the gun is in her face and it goes off accidentally,” attorney Gerald Thurswell, who represents McBride’s family. “Somebody had to have their finger on the trigger. He was in a safe place — he was in his house and he didn’t have to open the door. He could’ve called 911 to protect himself. And if she was seeking help, he could’ve called 911 to get her help.”

At the time of her death, McBride had a blood alcohol level of .218, more than twice the legal limit for driving. Thurswell, said that the fact McBride was intoxicated when she was shot "probably makes her less of a physical threat to anybody."

The Detroit News obtained a recording (above) of the Dearborn Heights dispatcher who took Wafer's 911 call around 4:45 a.m. from the homeowner saying he had just shot a woman on his porch. Listen to the audio, edited to remove silences and unrelated communications.

"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. "This 'reasonable belief' is not measured subjectively, by the standards of the individual in question, but objectively, by the standards of a reasonable person."

Several hours before the shooting, McBride reportedly crashed her car several blocks away in Detroit. Detroit Police said they received a call just before 1 a.m. reporting a female driver had hit a parked car and then left the scene on foot. Worthy said she appeared disoriented and bloody.

Regarding the call as a lower priority, officers were not immediately sent to the scene of the accident. A little later, they received a call in which another individual said the driver had returned to the accident and appeared to be intoxicated or injured. By the time cops arrived at 1:40 a.m., 17 minutes after the second call, no one was there.

In a press conference announcing the charges Friday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said the shooting took place at 4:45 a.m. on that Saturday morning, rather than 3:40 a.m., making it almost four hours after a call came in to Detroit police of a parked car struck by McBride.

The charges mark the first time Wafer’s name has been publicly disclosed, and few details are known about the man at the center of the case. According to a former girlfriend who asked not to be identified, Wafer was a heavy drinker during at least part of his life. She has not seen or spoke with him in many years.

Seeking a bond lower than the $250,000 that was ultimately set, his lawyer, Mack Carpenter, told a judge that Mr. Wafer was a longtime Michigan resident who took care of his 81-year-old mother. Mr. Carpenter said Mr. Wafer had the highest possible security clearance at the airport authority where he works. Michigan State Police records show Mr. Wafer has had two driving offenses, decades old.