BCSO: Homeowner within rights to shoot intruder

MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, Ala. (WALA) - No charges have been brought against a Magnolia Springs homeowner who shot and killed a neighbor in his front yard Tuesday morning, July 11, 2023. Baldwin County Sheriff’s deputies said the man and his family felt threatened and at this point in the investigation, it looks like the homeowner acted within his rights.

Deputies were in route to a home on Kenner Rd. Tuesday morning for the report of a burglary in progress when they were informed by dispatch the burglar was dead. Deputies said the homeowner shot and killed 54-year-old Noah Hastings in his front yard, but only after what investigators described as a scary intrusion by Hastings into his neighbor’s home.

Just moments before the shooting, investigators said Hastings walked up to the back door, forced his way into the home, past the homeowner’s daughter and began acting in a threatening manner.

“They were under the impression that he was going to assault or do harm to them,” said Capt. Andre Reid with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office. “That was what they truly believed and so, getting him out of the house at that point was priority one for them.”

Investigators said the homeowner and Hastings got into a physical altercation inside the house as Hastings was eventually forced out, into the front yard. That’s when deputies said the homeowner grabbed his gun.

“Once he made out into the front yard, he ended up destroying some property out front. The homeowner went back out front to confront him about that. He was armed at that point and Mr. Hastings picked up one of the items he had broken and held it up to our homeowner and indicated he was going to kill him,” said Reid.

It was at that point Reid said the homeowner felt like he had no choice but to defend himself and his family and fired the deadly shot. Investigators said given the evidence they have right now, they believe the homeowner had every right to defend himself and haven’t brought any charges. The investigation is ongoing.

“What we’ll do is we’ll keep compiling all of our information, all of our data. We’ll keep reviewing that. If something changes in the meantime, then we’ll change but until that happens, what we’ll do is just get all that information together, send that case off to the DA’s Office and the Grand Jury and let them review this death,” Reid explained.

Investigators said they’re still looking into what events may have led to Noah Hastings going to that home in the first place. Hasting did live nearby but deputies said he and the homeowner who shot him did not know one another.

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