A University of South Carolina student was shot and killed as he apparently tried to enter the wrong home on his off-campus street over the weekend, police said.
Nicholas Anthony Donofrio, 20, of Madison, Connecticut, was dead by the time police responded to reports of a home burglary and shooting, according to a Columbia police department news release. Officers found his body on a front porch at about 2am Saturday, and Donofrio had a gunshot wound to his upper body, the release said.
Police said preliminary information indicated that Donofrio, a sophomore, lived on the same street as where he was shot but apparently was attempting to enter another home. The shooting occurred in a Columbia neighborhood adjacent to the campus.
The statement didn’t say who shot the student or whether any charges would be filed. In an email on Saturday afternoon, a department spokesperson said the investigation “remains active” but didn’t release more information.
The case appeared as if it could test South Carolina’s “stand your ground” self-defense law, which enables people to use deadly force if they are not breaking the law and in a place where they are legally allowed to be, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The law doesn’t require people to try to retreat first before resorting to deadly violence.
Some have pointed out similarities in Donofrio’s killing to the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in Kansas City in April. Yarl survived being shot after inadvertently going to the wrong house to pick up his siblings, who were about a block away at the time.
Yarl’s shooter, Andrew Lester, was charged with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action. He has pleaded not guilty and is out on $200,000 bail awaiting the outcome of his case.
The South Carolina police department said its investigators are consulting with the local prosecutor’s office on the circumstances of the shooting.
Classes at the university had resumed for the fall semester on Thursday, the State newspaper reported.
“Our student affairs team is providing resources and support to those who may be affected by this tragedy, and we remind all of our students that help is always available to them,” the university said in a statement.
English (US)