Leavenworth man will not be charged for fatally shooting person breaking into his vehicle

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (KCTV) - A man will not be charged after fatally shooting an individual who broke into his vehicle and then tried to break into his home on Sept. 22.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said that, “In a homicide case like this, one is to consider different levels of murder or manslaughter that might relate to the crime. The other factor to consider is self-defense.” The county attorney then laid out the state statutes regarding self defense of a person and defense of a dwelling, place of work or vehicle with no duty to retreat.

The county attorney then outlined the facts of what took place in Leavenworth on Sept. 22.

He said the Leavenworth Police Department’s investigation found that Corey Anderson’s body was found on the porch of a residence in the 700 block of Walnut St.

In an interview, the resident told police he was awakened by his dog barking at 3 a.m. Because his dog doesn’t normally bark, he found that odd. While lying there, he heard his vehicle’s door opening and closing. When he looked out the window, he saw a man he didn’t know.

At this point, the resident got his pistol. He also heard the door handle jiggling, then the door being hit and kicked.

As he saw the door bowing, he heard the person repeatedly screaming, “Open the door mother------!” That person was later identified as Anderson.

“Based on all these factors, the resident shot his pistol three times into the door,” the county prosecutor continues.

An autopsy ultimately concluded those shots are what led to Anderson’s death.

After the shooting, the resident called 911 right away and went out the back of his residence. He then unloaded his pistol and waited for the police.

A neighbor corroborated the dog barking, the fact the vehicle had been broken into, and that an alarm was heard going off. Their video corroborated that Anderson was around the resident’s vehicle and then approached the porch. The video didn’t have a clear picture of everything that happened, but it corroborated what both the resident and neighbor told police.

“As already discussed, one can only use a reasonable amount of force necessary for a person to reasonably protect themselves,” the county attorney said. “The fact that the incident took place at 3 a.m., the resident did not know who it was trying to gain entry into his home, whether the person was armed, or why he would be doing this would cause a reasonable person to be concerned with their safety.”

“Further, Mr. Anderson had already entered a vehicle not belonging to him and without permission,” the county attorney continued. “He then attempted to aggressively force entry into a residence that was not his while using extremely aggressive and demanding words.”

“This leaves us to conclude a reasonable person would believe they could defend themselves from this intruder’s entry into their residence,” he continued.

“There is no way to show that the resident’s intent was anything more than trying to deter someone, who had just gone through his vehicle, from attempting to violently enter his home in the middle of the night and that he felt that his life was at risk,” he concluded. “Due to all of this, we do not believe we legally and ethically can file charges.”