The parents of Bo Morrison speak during a candle light vigil for their son at the Riverside Park in West Bend earlier this month. Morrison was killed in Slinger after a resident thought Morrison was breaking into his home. The Washington County prosecutor decided alst week that the homeowner acted in self defense. Credit: Associated Press

By of the

Less than five minutes before a Slinger homeowner shot and killed a man hiding in his back porch, he had been on the phone with nearby police about how they handled his earlier complaint about an underage drinking party next door, according to a prosecutor's decision that the shooting was justified under Wisconsin's new castle doctrine law.

The victim, 20-year-old Bo Morrison of West Bend, was one of about 20 people at the March 3 party. A report released by District Attorney Mark Bensen last week includes some new information about the tragic shooting, but lacks details such as the names of officers and witnesses. It does raise the question of why Adam Kind chose to get a gun when officers familiar with the situation were less than 300 feet away, and serves as a chilling reminder of the potential stakes of armed self-defense.

His attorney, Craig Mastantuono of Milwaukee, said Kind's wife called 911 at the same time her husband went to investigate banging near his back door.

Kind, 35, didn't know how close the officers were, Mastantuono said, and it wouldn't have mattered if he did.

"He thought there may be hostilities and he was concerned," Mastantuono said. "Calling cops back was not an option he felt was reasonable. He felt it was going on right now."

Boisterous party

The noisy gathering had awakened Kind, and he went to his neighbor's driveway about 1 a.m. to ask someone inside a car with very loud music to turn it down. After a verbal confrontation with someone else in the car, Kind returned home and called police.

At 1:05 a.m., two Slinger police cars arrived at the home of Tim Hess, where his three daughters were hosting the party in the family's detached garage. There were beer cans outside, and officers smelled marijuana and wood smoke, saw the lights go off, and heard voices inside the garage yelling about the cops.

But no one would come to the door. One officer called the girls' mother, Juliet Hess, at work, and she gave police permission to enter the garage. But the door appeared locked, and the officers sensed that the people inside were pushing against the door to block any effort to open it by force.

Officers also knocked on the door of the house, but Tim Hess was apparently asleep, the records show.

After 40 minutes, the two squads decided not to escalate the matter, but instead to withdraw and issue citations to the Hess girls in the morning. One officer parked across the street at a restaurant. The other parked in a lot a few hundred feet behind the Hess residence.

At 1:50 a.m., the first officer called Kind to explain the situation. The district attorney's report says Kind seemed appreciative and agreed he would provide a written statement the next day. The call lasted about 4 1/2 minutes.

At 1:55 a.m., the same officer then called Juliet Hess to make the same explanation. She told the officer she had in fact wakened her husband and told him what was going on. The officer told her to tell Tim Hess to wait for police in the driveway before going to the garage.

An abrupt end

But Hess - who did not return a phone message seeking comment - did not wait for the police, the district attorney's report indicates. Instead, he went out to the garage, kicked in the side door, and told those inside to get out and that police had the place surrounded.

By the time the Slinger police pulled up, some people - including Morrison - were running from the garage.

In a few minutes, he would be dead.

Kind told police that soon after he spoke to the Slinger officer, he returned to bed and spoke to his wife. Then he heard "banging" from the back of his house. He later told police he was scared that someone from the party might be retaliating for calling the police. So instead of calling the officer back, he got his .45-caliber Colt revolver from a closet, loaded it and went to check out the noise.

After first checking that the front door was locked, he went out through the kitchen to the rear porch, or three-season room. The kitchen door swung open into the porch toward the right. Morrison was also on the right side of the porch, crouching between a refrigerator and a dresser. Friends said he had gone there to hide from police, not to go farther into Kind's house. Kind said he did not notice anyone at first, but as he took a couple steps toward the door to the exterior he noticed someone stand up in the dark.

Kind told police he thought he said something like "Who are you," or "What are you doing," and then fired a single shot after the person raised a hand and took a step forward.

When police arrived, they found Morrison still crouched between the dresser and refrigerator, but found a bullet hole in the wall 49 inches from the floor. Morrison had been shot through the heart and lung.

According to the report, Kind told police he thought he had locked the door from the porch to outside when he returned from next door after asking that the music be turned down. He said he doesn't lock the door between the porch and kitchen because he doesn't have a key. The report doesn't say whether it has a deadbolt that could be turned from the inside.

Bensen's analysis indicated that it wouldn't matter whether the door was locked or not, because simply opening the door would amount to a "forcible" entry by Morrison.

Bensen also concluded that the late hour, the darkness, the expectation that the intruder had broken in through a locked door, the close quarters of the porch, and the fact that his wife and children were in the home all supported the castle doctrine's presumption that Kind acted reasonably in using deadly force.

It was the first time a shooting had been analyzed under the castle doctrine, which became effective in December.

In the first days after the shooting, Morrison's family and friends held demonstrations and vigils calling for charges to be filed. On Morrison's Facebook page, visitors expressed frustration and disagreement with Bensen's ruling - and exchanged rumors about the case as well. Some suggested Morrison's mixed-race appearance was a factor.

The district attorney's report didn't provide much closure, said one close family friend who's been acting as their spokeswoman.

"It raises more questions, honestly," said Carissa Bartelt. "There's really only two people who know what happened. Whatever (Kind) says could be completely fabricated. No one knows."

Supporters have organized a protest near the Washington County Courthouse for 5 p.m. Sunday. Bartelt expects a couple hundred to attend and call for repeal of the castle doctrine.

The night of the party, 16 young people, ranging in age from 15 to 23, were caught in the Hess garage. Most of them denied Morrison had been there. A report from a Jackson police officer who assisted at the scene described the young people as foul-mouthed and insensitive. Even after some of them realized that Morrison had been killed next door, they were joking about hiding in the attic, and complaining about being cut off from beer and cigarettes.

"The attitude and demeanor of everyone involved was in complete disrespect for the seriousness of the situation," the officer wrote.

Morrison, who had studied carpentry at Milwaukee Area Technical College and worked at Menard's, had more reason than others at the party not to get caught. He was out on bail from four pending criminal cases, and as a condition was not to consume alcohol. An autopsy showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19.

Kind, married for 10 years with two children, works as a brick mason for a construction company, Mastantuono said. Kind has no criminal record, and has used firearms for years as a hunter and sportsman. He owns other rifles and shotguns but only the one handgun, Mastantuono said, and had applied for a concealed-carry permit but didn't receive it until after the shooting. He had not been drinking the night of the shooting, Mastantuono said.

Not looking for fight

Mastantuono also said Kind was not looking for a confrontation, and denied that race played any role in the situation. He objected to his client's name being used in a news story, saying he's a private person.

"He regrets being put in that frightening and unexpected situation in his home that night," Mastantuono said, and "feels terrible about the tragic loss of life that occurred."

The family has been staying with relatives since the shooting, Mastantuono said. Bensen, the district attorney, said he didn't know of any direct threats to Kind, but noted that a lot of Internet commentary "wasn't very sympathetic."

The first Wisconsin concealed-carry permit-holder to fire his weapon at others in self-defense said he can relate to what Kind is going through.

Nazir Al-Mujaahid, 35, shot and wounded an armed robbery suspect in a Milwaukee grocery store. He said he's gotten 95% positive reaction - but noted his victim survived and was in the midst of a violent felony.

"It's a very sensitive situation" and another first-in-the-state scenario, Al-Mujaahid said. "No matter how other people feel about it, he did the right thing."

Bensen said he's not sure what impact the case will have on others who may contemplate using deadly force against unknown intruders.

"I have confidence that Wisconsin citizens, and particularly citizens who are gun owners, will behave responsibly," he said.

"But pointing a weapon at someone is a huge step. Pulling the trigger is an even bigger step."