Young man killed in Raleigh shooting; homeowner charged with murder | WNCN

About 7 minutes before that call about the shooting, another caller who claimed he was with the neighborhood watch complained about people on Singleleaf, requested police and said he was going to “secure the neighborhood.”

“We got a bunch of hoodlums out here racing… I am locked and loaded and I am going outside to secure my neighborhood. You need to send PD as quickly as possible. I am going to secure my neighborhood. I am on the neighborhood watch. I am going to have my neighbors with me,” the caller said at 12:50 a.m.

“There is hoodlums out here racing up and down the street. It’s 1 o’clock in the morning, there is some vandalism, they have firearms — and we are going to secure our neighborhood,” he said.

"Delwin" said
Its the same guy in both calls, there were no weapons recovered from the scene. I'll chalk this one up to racist paranoia. Hopefully justice is served and this yahoo rots in jail.

About 7 minutes before that call about the shooting, another caller

"Delwin" said
The media was careful not to attribute the first call to him because he did not identify himself and wouldn't give his address in the first call. He likely did not make a statement on the advice of his attorney and rightfully so since the first call is a clear indication of his intention.

However pay close attention to the second call, when his wife passes the phone to him he answers "Hello Again."

These were the first 2 calls of 6 made. So why "Hello again" unless he was the unidentified caller from the first call?

Also, he placed the first call, his wife placed the second making her the 2nd caller.

About seven minutes later, an upset female caller gives the dispatcher an address that authorities would later identify as Copley’s house. The dispatcher asks what happened.

“I don’t know. I’m upstairs with our children,” the female caller says.

She then gives the phone to what sounds like the same male caller from earlier.

Let’s unpack all the ways Chad Cameron Copley (pictured above) screwed up, based on the evidence we know so far.

The first is that he left the relative protection of his home to go into his garage confront a group in the darkness beyond. He put his life at risk, instead of doing the smart thing, which is to call 911 and let officers arriving at the scene handle the issue.

But Copley didn’t do the smart thing.

He went out and confronted the group and they started cursing at him.

Copley then says, “they were showing a firearm.”

He didn’t say they threatened him with it or brandished the weapon, and he didn’t consider it a deadly force threat. If he did, he would have fired at the man pointing the gun and would be at most facing a manslaughter charge.

But Copley—clearly the 911 caller referenced in the story—didn’t claim that he was using his shotgun in lawful self-defense. Copley claims that he fired a “warning shot.”

His “warning shot” struck and killed Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas.

Copley appears to have indicted himself with 911 calls that were essentially a confession.

You don’t tell the police that you are going to “secure your neighborhood” and then tell the dispatcher that they “better send police quickly” because you’re about to take the law into your own hands.

You never fire a warning shot. Warning shots are illegal nearly everywhere. You’re either justified in firing a shot in self defense at a violent person, or you aren’t authorized in discharging a firearm at all.

Chad Cameron Copley did not want to wait for law enforcement, took the law into his own hands, was ignorant of the applicable laws, and then discharged a weapon when he got over his head.

Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas may have been a jerk taunting Copley. He may have been a spectator. He may have been some guy completely unaware of Copley who just happened to walk by when Copley levelled his shotgun and fired.

All we know for sure is that Copley fired a shot that he did not need to fire, and Thomas is dead as a result.

If you’re going to obtain a firearm, folks, you need to know more than just basic firearms safety and manipulation. You need to know explicitly how the laws of self-defense work in your state, and when you may lawfully use a firearm in self-defense.

Quite frankly, if you own a firearm, haven’t been to a defensive firearms class (no a concealed carry certification class doesn’t count), and haven’t read Andrew Branca’s The Law of Self Defense*, then you’re setting yourself up to potentially be the next Chad Copley.