Webster Parish Homeowner Shoots and Kills Intruder Who Cut Through Window Screen and Came In With a Knife in His Hand
A Webster Parish homeowner shot and killed a man who cut through a window screen with a pocket knife and climbed into his home early Sunday, and Sheriff Jason Parker says he does not anticipate charges against the homeowner.
Parker identified the man as 44-year-old Billy McFarland of Marrero, as reported by KTAL/KMSS. Investigators determined McFarland was shot multiple times as he tried to enter the residence on U.S. Highway 80 west of Minden.
The sequence started with a 911 call about 5:23 a.m. reporting a domestic disturbance inside a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on U.S. 80. The vehicle crashed when McFarland allegedly jumped the female driver, according to the sheriff. A deputy was nearby, but McFarland was gone before the deputy arrived.
He then showed up at the residence. According to the sheriff’s office, he vandalized two vehicles there, breaking the rear window on one and the windshield of another. He started banging on the door. When nobody answered, he went around to the back of the home, climbed on top of an air conditioning unit, and used a pocket knife to cut through a window screen.
“We learned he had the knife in his hand when he came through the window,” Parker said.
The broken glass on the vehicles is not what this case turns on. A stranger who has just fled a crash, smashed up two vehicles outside your home, and is pounding on your door before sunrise is already a threat to everyone inside, because the people inside have no way of knowing what he wants. When he gives up on the door, goes to the back of the house, and forces his way through a window with a blade in his hand, whatever doubt remained is gone.
The homeowner fired. McFarland was hit multiple times. He did not survive.
“The homeowner apparently feared for his life and for the lives of others who were inside the residence,” Parker said. “We do not anticipate any charges, but we will continue to investigate and forward the results to the District Attorney for review.”
Parker identified the man as 44-year-old Billy McFarland of Marrero, as reported by KTAL/KMSS. Investigators determined McFarland was shot multiple times as he tried to enter the residence on U.S. Highway 80 west of Minden.
The sequence started with a 911 call about 5:23 a.m. reporting a domestic disturbance inside a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on U.S. 80. The vehicle crashed when McFarland allegedly jumped the female driver, according to the sheriff. A deputy was nearby, but McFarland was gone before the deputy arrived.
He then showed up at the residence. According to the sheriff’s office, he vandalized two vehicles there, breaking the rear window on one and the windshield of another. He started banging on the door. When nobody answered, he went around to the back of the home, climbed on top of an air conditioning unit, and used a pocket knife to cut through a window screen.
“We learned he had the knife in his hand when he came through the window,” Parker said.
The broken glass on the vehicles is not what this case turns on. A stranger who has just fled a crash, smashed up two vehicles outside your home, and is pounding on your door before sunrise is already a threat to everyone inside, because the people inside have no way of knowing what he wants. When he gives up on the door, goes to the back of the house, and forces his way through a window with a blade in his hand, whatever doubt remained is gone.
The homeowner fired. McFarland was hit multiple times. He did not survive.
“The homeowner apparently feared for his life and for the lives of others who were inside the residence,” Parker said. “We do not anticipate any charges, but we will continue to investigate and forward the results to the District Attorney for review.”
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