Posted: Jul 15, 2014 7:40 AM EDT
Updated: Jul 15, 2014 7:40 AM EDT
By WNCN-TV News
WAKE FOREST, N.C. – The Wake County District Attorney’s Office says it will not file criminal charges against a World War II veteran who killed his neighbor in Wake Forest.
Calvin Anderson Ray, 89, said a former tenant was upset about a broken A/C unit when the situation got out of hand Saturday on Jordan Lane in Wake Forest.
Ray has a new door after he said his former neighbor and tenant, 47-year-old Jeffery Mitchell, kicked it in.
“He broke in my house, he broke the lock, he knocked and knocked at the door,” Ray said. “When I opened the door he came up to me and that’s when I shot him.”
Ray said the whole thing began on Friday when Mitchell’s air conditioning broke in the mobile home he rents from him.
“We had it worked on, had it fixed and he was working,” he said. “He got home and said it wasn’t working.”
That’s when things took a turn. Ray’s caregiver, Ellen Newton, said Mitchell wasn’t just mad about the broken unit.
“He just wasn’t in his right mind,” Newton said. “He was acting crazy and wild. He even ran the A/C man away. They got into it.”
Ray said he felt he had to defend himself.
The sheriff’s office met with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office to discuss potential charges against Ray, however the DA said no criminal charges will be filed at this time. The sheriff’s office said the investigation is on-going.
In the meantime, Ray and Newton said they are mourning this loss.
“He was a good man and he always paid his bill on time,” he said. “It was a very sad day and it was a shame and I hate that I had to do something like that but I had to protect myself when he was charging at me.”
Officials will have to wait on a report from the medical examiner and a toxicologist before they can proceed with the case .Meanwhile, a former Wake County prosecutor says the lack of charges tell him the facts tend to support Ray’s claims. Defense attorney Karl Knudsen, who is not involved in this case, says North Carolina’s law on home intruders offers protections for homeowners who use deadly force.
“You don’t have to wait until the person has kicked your door in, comes storming into your house to see what their intentions are,” Knudsen said.
