No criminal charges will be filed in deadly Wake Forest shooting for now
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Wake County district attorney decided late Monday afternoon not to file charges in a deadly shooting in Wake Forest that apparently erupted over a broken air conditioner.
ABC11 spoke to 12-year-old boy who watched his father die and is contradicting the shooter's claims of self-defense.
Sixth grader, Evan Mitchell, has seen more than any 12-year-old should have to see.
"The neighbors started coming up with their phones and I said, 'He shot my dad! He shot my dad," the boy recounted. "I told my dad, I said, 'Dad, I love you.' Then I ran and dialed 911."
Evan Mitchell's father, 47-year-old Jeff Mitchell, was shot and killed Saturday evening and Evan was a witness. It happened on the porch of Mitchell's Wake Forest landlord, 89-year-old Calvin Ray Sr.
Ray told ABC11 this weekend that he shot and killed Mitchell in self-defense. Ray claims Mitchell kicked his door in, angry that his broken air-conditioning unit had not been fixed.
"He kicked the damn thing in and when he did he started toward me, that's when I shot him, he backed up and fell on the floor," Ray said.
But Evan tells a different story. The boy says his dad did bang loudly on the door, but did not kick it in. Evan and his mom Janice, Jeff Mitchell's ex-wife, dismiss Ray's claims of self-defense. They want the elderly landlord charged with murder.
"I think [Ray] should pay, I wish no harm on nobody but you know what, if he doesn't get charged here on Earth, God's going to deal with him," Janice Mitchell-Seaorn said.
Acting Wake District Attorney Ned Mnagum announced he does not anticipate filing charges, but a final decision has not been made. Autopsy and toxicology reports are still outstanding. The investigation will continue.
