MADELIA, Minnesota — A man accused of shooting and killing a teenager who reportedly had been “casing” his home has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to news reports.
David Allen Pettersen, 64, also is charged with a felony count of dangerous discharge of a firearm, twincities.com reports. Petterson has been released from jail on the condition of surrendering his firearms.
The shooting occurred at about 7 a.m. Saturday, according to Fox 9 Minnesota. Pettersen told police he found Kyle Thomas Nason, 18, on a deck behind his home. Nason jumped off the deck and broke his ankle, then began crawling toward a waiting vehicle in the home’s driveway.
Pettersen said he grabbed his .45-caliber handgun and fired two to three shots at the vehicle as the teens attempted to drive off, telling police he was trying to hit the vehicle’s tires.
Instead, he hit Nicolas Thomas Embertson, 19, of Madelia, who was driving the vehicle. Two other men were in the vehicle, and Nason got into the driver’s seat and drove away, reports say. Embertson was later taken to a hospital, where he died of his wounds.
The third person involved, Cornelius Ayers Jr., 18, was not injured.
Nason later told police they were at Pettersen’s home to case it for a future burglary, twincities.com reports. They were checking doors to see if they were locked.
No charges have been filed against Nason and Ayers, but the case remains under investigation, Watonwan County Attorney Stephen Lindee tells twincities.com.
Lindee said the teens were “certainly in the wrong to begin with,” but they presented no risk to Pettersen when they tried to leave the home, making it negligent to shoot at them.
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