No Charges After Minneapolis Homeowner Shoots, Kills Intruder

MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will not charge a 53-year-old homeowner and her 26-year-old son who shot and killed an intruder on their property last month.

The attorney's office said they both have a "valid self-defense claim" in the incident, which involved a 30-year-old man who tried to break into their home and was refusing to leave their backyard.

"The homeowner and her son did not have a duty to retreat because they were inside their own home," the attorney's office said.

They were also "reasonable in thinking that a potential burglar, undeterred by warning shots and advancing toward them, could pose a significant danger. While this case is tragic, there is not sufficient proof that the homeowner and/or her son are guilty of a crime."

Video from a Ring surveillance camera showed Martin L. Johnson scaling a six-foot privacy fence that encircles the entire backyard of the home, police said. After failing to break in through the front door, Johnson then entered the garage through a service door, according to authorities.

The woman — who had a valid permit to carry — asked her son to retrieve another firearm from downstairs. She fired warning shots and yelled for Johnson to leave, but he refused, according to police.

Johnson was then shot in the chest while walking toward the woman and her son. It's not clear if the son or mother fatally shot Johnson, police said.

The homeowner's son called 911. Johnson, who was not armed, was transported to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died about an hour after the shooting occurred.

Read the entire complaint denial here.