Prosecuting attorney rules Fort Smith shooting justified

FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — According to a release from Prosecuting attorney Daniel Shue, a 2023 Fort Smith shooting death was justified.

Easton Richardson was shot on June 28, 2023, around 2:15 p.m. He later died at a local hospital.

Richardson was accused of trying to break into a residence, which led to the fatal shooting.

According to a press release from the prosecuting attorney’s office, the shooting is justified as self-defense after the homeowner shot Richardson while he was attempting to break into the home.

The release says police received a call from the homeowner saying someone was breaking into his house and that the homeowner had a gun.

When police arrived, they found Richardson had been shot and was lying on the back porch of the residence. He was unresponsive and bleeding from his chest. The homeowner was standing in the living room and the shotgun he had used to shoot Richardson was lying on a couch.

One dead in Fort Smith shooting incident

The homeowner told police that he was eating in his living room when he began to hear a very loud noise outside the sliding glass doors in his bedroom. The homeowner said he could see Richardson hitting his sliding glass doors on different sides of the house with something. Because both doors were being hit, the homeowner believed multiple people were trying to break into his house.

The homeowner said he initially grabbed a .45 caliber handgun but switched to a double barrel shotgun believing it would be better suited for his defense.

The homeowner told police he then stood by the sliding glass door that opened into the living room when his neighbor called. The homeowner told the neighbor that someone was breaking into his home. The neighbor hung up and called 911 after the homeowner had already called 911.

The homeowner said he heard a loud crash and saw Richardson enter his home through the shattered glass of the broken glass door and the curtains in front of the door.

The release says the homeowner fired two rounds from the shotgun into the curtains which stopped Richardson from coming into his home.

The homeowner told police he held his position thinking more people would come into the house and tried to scare them off by yelling. His neighbor then arrived and they waited for police to arrive.

The homeowner told police he was sure he would have been hurt or killed had Richardson entered his home. Police showed a picture of Richardson to the homeowner. He told them he did not know Richardson and had never seen him before.

The release says the homeowner “wept when he learned that the intruder he shot was a young man.”

The homeowner’s neighbor told police he could see Richardson trying to break the sliding glass door. He said Richardson used a white circular item to smash the glass doors. He said the item looked like the top of a barrel or drum. The neighbor said Richardson then tried to use other objects to break in.

Police found evidence at the scene that confirmed the statements given by the homeowner and the neighbor.

Richardson’s family and ex-girlfriend told police he had mental disorders and that he had been off his medication for some time. They also said he drank and that drinking altered his behavior.

The autopsy report showed Richardson’s blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit allowed while driving and under the influence of marijuana, at the time of the incident, according to the release.

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