A 59-year-old Oklahoma City man is charged in a deadly shooting after he confronted two people he said were trespassing on his empty property. Timothy Smith is being held on charges of first-degree manslaughter and reckless conduct with a firearm, KOCO reported. The shooting happened May 1 near Southwest 44th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
The man who was shot, Justin King, was taken for treatment but died about a week later. He had been wounded once. A woman who was with him was unharmed.
Smith told investigators he had gone to check the property with a gun because he had often seen homeless people there. A neighbor, Jerry Huffine, said the number of people staying in the area had been growing. His daughter was there with him that day.
Court documents say Smith found King and the woman in a bedroom. He and his daughter told them to leave. King then stepped toward him, Smith said.
How the Shooting Unfolded
Smith aimed in King’s general direction in response and fired a single shot. It struck the man in the neck. He told detectives he hadn’t seen a weapon nearby. He admitted to telling the wounded man, “It wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t here.”
The more serious of the two counts, first-degree manslaughter, comes from killing committed without intent to cause death. It can typically come with serious sentences, including and up to life in prison. It ranks below murder, which needs proof of a deliberate act to stick.
The case could hinge on Oklahoma’s self-defense and stand-your-ground laws, according to attorneys. Those laws generally allow for deadly force against an imminent threat to a person, not to defend property alone. Smith’s own statements could end up determining whether those kinds of protections apply.