Trial set to begin for homeowner who complained about 'hoodlums' before fatal shooting

A trial is set to begin Monday for a Raleigh homeowner charged with shooting and killing a man in 2016 after complaining about "hoodlums" in his neighborhood.

Posted 2:02 a.m. Feb 12, 2018 — Updated 2:14 a.m. Feb 12, 2018

Janine Bowen

, WRAL.com editor

RALEIGH, N.C. — A trial is set to begin Monday for a Raleigh homeowner charged with shooting and killing a man in 2016 after complaining about “hoodlums” in his neighborhood.

Chad Cameron Copley, 39, of 3536 Single Leaf Lane, told a 911 dispatcher on Aug. 7, 2016 that he was "locked and loaded" and planned to "secure the neighborhood" because people attending a nearby house party were vandalizing the area and shouting profanities.

Investigators said Copley fired a shotgun through a window from inside his garage, striking Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas, 20, who was outside.

After the shooting, Copley's wife called 911, and he told a dispatcher that he was "trying to protect myself and my family" because the people outside had firearms and that he had simply "fired a warning shot as required by law."

Last year, Copley’s attorney, Raymond Tarlton, told a judge that Copley was worried his 18-year-old son might be harmed by the loud partygoers, who he said brandished weapons when he told them to quiet down.

In response to the judge's questioning, Tarlton said the defense "would not take a formal position" on whether Copley shot Thomas by accident or on purpose.

North Carolina’s “castle doctrine,” which gives someone the right to use deadly force to defend his or her home from imminent threat, is unlikely to apply in Copley’s case because even though Thomas was in Copley’s yard at the time of the shooting, he was not posing a threat to the home.

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