By The Associated Press

Published: Monday, November 26, 2012, 8:50 p.m.
Updated: Monday, November 26, 2012

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — A Minnesota home-owner who shot two unarmed teenagers in the midst of an apparent Thanksgiving Day break-in told authorities he feared they had a weapon, but acknowledged firing “more shots than I needed to” and appeared to take pride in “a good clean finishing shot” for one teen, according to investigators.

Byron David Smith, 64, was charged on Monday with two counts of second-degree murder in a criminal complaint that was chilling for the clinical way investigators said he described the shootings.

Smith told investigators he shot 18-year-old Haile Kifer several times as she descended a stairway into his basement, and his Mini 14 rifle jammed as he tried to shoot her again after she had tumbled down the steps.

Though Kifer was “already hurting,” she let out a short laugh, Smith told investigators. He then pulled out his .22-caliber revolver and shot her several times in the chest, according to the complaint.

“If you're trying to shoot somebody and they laugh at you, you go again,” Smith told investigators, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Smith was also charged in the death of Kifer's cousin, 17-year-old Nicholas Brady.

Minnesota law allows a homeowner to use deadly force on an intruder if a reasonable person would fear they're in danger of harm, and Smith told investigators he was afraid the intruders might have a weapon. However, Smith's actions weren't justified, Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel said.

Smith told investigators he was fearful after several break-ins at his remote home about 10 miles south of Little Falls, a central Minnesota town of 8,000 people. The sheriff's office had only one report of a break-in, on Oct. 27. Smith reported losing thousands of dollars in cash, gold coins, two guns, photo equipment and jewelry.

Wetzel said that while the shootings happened on Thursday, Smith waited until Friday to report the deaths, explaining that “he didn't want to trouble us on a holiday.”

1. U.S. hardens drone stance
2. Tsarnaev’s role in triple slayings examined
3. Hurricane season forecast: a whopper
4. Anti-war activist heckles Obama over Gitmo
5. Schools told to get moving on more gym time
6. Utah teen held in deaths of brothers
7. NYC man abducted, burned with acid
8. Student loan rates targeted
9. Okla. tornado survivors say goodbye as year ends
10. West Point case adds to military sex abuse scandals
11. Terror study: Utilities remain unprepared for cyberattack

There are currently no comments for this story.
Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.