Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 6, 1993 TAG: 9311060132
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Caldwell has told police that criminal charges would not be appropriate against Laura Nazrini, co-owner of the Hype City store on Patterson Avenue Southwest.
On the night of Sept. 24, Nazrini grabbed a shotgun and killed Jeffrey Wayne Pultz after he kicked down a door and began stripping clothes from racks in the darkened store.
Nazrini, who was roused from a living area in the back of the store, told authorities the intruder threatened to kill her.
Pultz was not armed. But in investigating the killing, Caldwell said, "It's not looked at through his eyes. It's looked at through the eyes of the innocent party."
After reviewing an investigation by police, Caldwell said he believes that Nazrini "acted reasonably to protect herself and her family from threat of death or serious bodily injury."
In an earlier interview, Nazrini said she and her husband, Bobby, had closed the store for the night when they heard someone breaking in about 9:50 p.m.
When she confronted the man, he cursed and threatened to kill her. "It was just mass hysteria, so I shot," she said.
Pultz, 22, died a short time later at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Authorities said he had a history of stealing to support a drug habit, but he usually hit closed businesses to avoid confrontations.
Caldwell said Pultz likely believed the Nazrinis' store was unoccupied when he broke into it. A footprint on the door was consistent with the shoes he was wearing that night, the investigation determined.
Blood tests showed that at the time of the break-in, Pultz had a blood- alcohol content of .03 percent, well below the .10 percent at which someone is considered too intoxicated to drive. The tests showed no signs of recent drug use.
In deciding not to file charges, Caldwell said "the parties should be left to pursue any appropriate civil remedies that are available."
Nazrini declined to comment Friday about Caldwell's decision. "I don't want to say anything," she said. "It's not even an issue."
The last time a Roanoke merchant killed someone on store premises was in 1990, when a Peters Creek Road convenience-store clerk shot an armed robber. That killing also was ruled to be justified.
by CNB