A Louisiana father was shot to death earlier this week after confronting an armed teenager who used a ladder to sneak inside his home to visit his underage daughter, according to police.
Dezmon Hamilton, 34, died from multiple gunshot wounds after an apparent shootout with the boy, identified by police as 17-year-old Nicholas Mcquirter, who was also wounded but survived.
The teen faces charges of second-degree murder, illegal use of a weapon, and illegal possession of a stolen firearm, although he remains hospitalized in critical condition.
The incident happened around 8 a.m. Sunday at a house on Hayfield Drive in Zachary, just north of Baton Rouge, according to ABC affiliate WBRZ Channel 2.
Police initially described the incident as a break-in, but later said the teenaged boy had climbed up a ladder to enter the man’s home through an upstairs window.
Hamilton discovered Mcquirter in the room of his 14-year-old daughter, which sparked the confrontation, but some time may have elapsed before gunfire erupted between the two.
“The daughter’s mother and grandmother came over to discuss what was going on,” Zachary Police Chief David McDavid said, according to the Louisiana Radio Network. “The grandmother and her daughter took the 14-year-old off to the side and were talking to her. An argument ensued and then gunshots were fired.”
It was unclear who opened fire first, WBRZ reported.
Hamilton was later pronounced dead at the scene. He leaves behind four children, according to a death notice in the Advocate.
Police are continuing to investigate.
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