What Four Recent Doorway Shootings Teach Armed Homeowners

A front door is supposed to be a barrier — a warning line that marks the edge of your home and the beginning of someone else’s legal and moral responsibility. But for armed homeowners, the doorway is also one of the most misunderstood and dangerous environments you’ll ever defend.

Over the last several months, four very different real-world shootings happened at the doorways of American homes. In two, the homeowner acted lawfully and stopped a violent intruder. In the other two, what the shooter believed was a threat didn’t meet the legal standard — and they now face manslaughter charges.

Rather than get lost in the weeds of each case, this article zooms out and identifies what these incidents collectively teach us about defending our homes, staying on the right side of the law, and preparing for one of the most likely locations for armed confrontation: the threshold of your front door.

Four Incidents, One Pattern: The Doorway Is a Legal and Tactical Trap

Here are the situations in brief:

On Oct 19th in Richland County, SC, a man was fatally shot when he kicked in a door to a South Carolina apartment around 10:30pm on a Sunday evening. The shooter says they retrieved a firearm and shot the man. Deputies said that the man who was shot “tried kicking down the door to force himself inside. A different news report says the man “forced entry into the home. It is unclear to me if he did enter the home or died trying. The shooting has been ruled justified and no charges have been filed. No additional details are available.

Next on Nov 5th in Whitestown IN, a homeowner fired a single round through his locked front door from “the top of his staircase” striking and killing a woman. The deceased woman and her husband were hired cleaners who happened to go to the wrong address. Law enforcement reported there was no sign of forced entry and the front door remained locked and intact. The homeowner is facing voluntary manslaughter charges from the Boone County Prosecutor's Office.

Back on July 8th in White Lake Township, MI, a homeowner at 1am the homeowner fired two rounds through his locked and windowless garage door at what he perceived were thieves trying to break into his garage. As the alleged thieves fled the scene he continued to fire additional rounds and one of those rounds fatally struck one of the alleged thieves. The other was wounded. The homeowner then returned inside to reload his firearm and then returned back outside once more. The homeowner is now facing felony manslaughter charges.

Last, in mid November in Raleigh NC, a homeowner said he and his wife and their niece were prepping for bed when they heard loud banging on their front door. Moments later, the door was kicked in and an intruder entered the residence. The homeowner retrieved his firearm and found the suspect just inside the home. When the intruder “rushed him” the homeowner fired.

Different states, different details — yet the outcomes all hinge on universal principles that every responsibly armed citizen must understand.

Key Lessons Every Armed Homeowner Must Know

1. Forced Entry = A Deadly Threat

If someone is kicking in your door, smashing it, prying it open, or actively crossing the threshold, the law almost universally supports the use of deadly force. A violent break-in is a clear and immediate threat to life. Put differently, a reasonable person would probably perceive that when someone makes a violent entry into your home they intend to do you harm.

Once the intruder is inside — or is actively forcing their way inside — the legal justification becomes very strong.

2. A Closed Door Is Still a Barrier

This is the common theme in both criminally charged cases: the shooters fired through a door, without visual confirmation of an actual threat.

You cannot shoot simply because someone is on your porch.
You cannot shoot because someone is knocking.
You cannot shoot just because you are scared.

A closed, intact door means the threat has not yet breached your home. Until that changes, deadly force almost always requires more than noise, movement, or suspicion.

That may sounds terrible to some. Afterall, what I'm basically saying is that you have to wait until you are actually in danger before you can respond with force. The law says you can respond to an imminent threat. A threat that is happening or is reasonably about to happen. In these cases the state bringing the charges doesn't feel it was reasonable to conclude their was an imminent threat.

3. Property Is Not Worth a Gunfight — and the Law Agrees

Someone breaking into a garage, rummaging through a vehicle, or trying to steal outdoor property is not considered a deadly threat in almost any U.S. jurisdiction.

Your life and your family's lives are legally defendable.
Your lawn tools aren’t.

When you use deadly force to defend “stuff,” you are exposing yourself to the same kinds of charges the Michigan homeowner now faces.

My parents recently moved into a new home. One of the first things they did is install a deadbolt on the door between the attached garage and the living space of the home. That additional barrier adds a layer of security and clearly draws a line between the stuff in the garage and the humans living in the house. Good job Mom and Dad.

4. Once the Threat Flees, Your Justification Ends

Even if the confrontation begins with a legitimate defensive threat, pursuing attackers, firing at their backs, or continuing to shoot as they escape will quickly transform a justified shooting into an unlawful one.

The legal and moral boundary isn’t just the door — it’s also the moment the threat stops being a threat.

---

The Doorway Is Where Good People Often Make Bad Decisions

Why do so many shootings go wrong at the front door? Well for one, the data suggests that over 80% of home invasions occur at the front door.

Additionally, the doorway combines:

• Poor visibility (you often can’t see who’s outside)
• Loud noises (banging, rattling, kicking)
• Strong emotional response (fear, adrenaline, confusion)
• Split-second decision pressure
• Legal nuances most gun owners don’t fully understand

This is why training matters — not just “how to shoot,” but how to think, how to assess, and how to make good decisions under stress.

And that brings us to one of the most valuable pieces of training we’ve ever published.

---

Learn How to Survive — and Win — a Doorway Ambush

If you keep a firearm in your home for self-defense, you need to understand doorway tactics. Period.

Our Door Ambush video training is a focused, one-hour mini-course extracted directly from our flagship Complete Home Defense program. In Door Ambush you’ll learn:

• How criminals actually use doorways to fool, trap, or rush homeowners
• The common mistakes armed citizens make at the door (the same mistakes seen in real-world cases)
• How to position yourself, move, and assess threats at your front door
• How to avoid shooting blindly — and how to respond when a real break-in is underway
• How to turn a dangerous chokepoint into a controlled environment

Get the Door Ambush training here: Door Ambush – Home Defense Training

For those who want the full deep-dive — covering alarms, staging, lighting, room clearing, family movement plans, low-light considerations, and much more — the Complete Home Defense course is over 8 hours of tactics, demonstrations, and scenario-based instruction.

Complete Home Defense – Full Course

---

Final Thoughts

The doorway is where many armed citizens make their biggest mistakes — and where violent criminals often make their last. These recent incidents highlight the thin line between a justified home-defense shooting and a criminally reckless one.

The responsibly armed adult should focus on:

• Target identification
• Understanding Justifiable Force Laws 
• Knowing the deadly-force threshold
• Training to handle home-defense scenarios in low light
• Keeping a firearm accessible but secure

When someone violently kicks in the door to your home, you need to be prepared to defend yourself and your family. But when someone is simply knocking — even loudly, even aggressively — you need to prepare for a threat but not act until you can confirm a real threat.

Responsible carry means knowing the difference — and training now, before the fight ever comes to your front door.