KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Four months after a Kansas City, Kansas man admitted he shot and killed his best friend, the Wyandotte County District Attorney has decided not to pursue criminal charges. Richard Kropp, 56, maintained he shot 51-year-old Curtis Shaver in self-defense during an argument near Kropp’s front door on July 23rd, 2013.
Shaver’s mother, Carole Thrasher, told FOX 4 she doesn’t buy the self-defense argument.
“How could it be self-defense if one person has a stick and another person has a gun?”
Kropp told police that Shaver threatened him with a walking stick so he fired a warning shot in the ground before shooting Shaver once in the upper body. Carole Thrasher said Kropp should’ve simply shut his door and called police.
“How can you claim self-defense when obviously you had to open the door to fire the shot to kill a person, how can that be self-defense?”
Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerry Gorman told FOX 4 the Kansas’ ‘Stand Your Ground Law’ gives homeowners wide latitude to protect themselves.
“The law doesn’t require him to retreat inside his home to defend himself,” Gorman said.
Gorman said because it was Shaver who showed up at Kropp’s house, Kropp can use deadly force if he feels threatened, regardless of who had the stick and who had the gun.
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