One person is killed by a Space Force sergeant who opened fire on teenagers he believed were stealing his car

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One person is killed by a Space Force sergeant who opened fire on teenagers he believed were stealing his car

The Colorado man who shot at two teenagers he believed were attempting to steal his car has been convicted of murder.

As previously reported by Law&Crime, Orest Schur, a sergeant in the United States Space Force, chased down two teenagers who had just broken into his car in his neighborhood in North Aurora, a Denver suburb.

Schur opened fire, killing 14-year-old Xavier Daniel Kirk and injuring a 13-year-old passenger. He was later charged with second-degree murder, a crime punishable in Colorado by 16 to 48 years in prison.

According to Aurora police, two minors attempted to break into Schur’s car just after 11 p.m. on Wednesday, July 5, 2023. Around that time, residents of Schur’s North Aurora neighborhood “heard a car alarm going off and observed two people dressed in all black attempting to break into a Hyundai Elantra.”

Schur was the owner of the vehicle. According to police, he confronted the potential burglars.

“The two people sped away in another suspected stolen vehicle,” the police statement read. “Schur, who was armed, got into his Hyundai and followed the other vehicle until it crashed a short distance away[.]”

According to police, Schur “fired several shots at the people he suspected of trying to break into his car, striking both,” as he chased the minors.

According to local NBC affiliate KUSA, a probable cause affidavit states that Schur initially told police that he had been shot at by the fleeing teens but was unharmed.

According to the affidavit, officers on the scene discovered a Kia Rio that had crashed into a nearby home’s backyard fence. The affidavit states that the car had a bullet hole in the trunk and a shattered rear windshield. According to the KUSA story, a bullet appeared to pass through the back of the front driver’s seat.

Schur, then 27, was a technical sergeant at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora. His wife reportedly informed authorities that Schur had received weapons training and had previously served two tours in Afghanistan.

Colorado has no “Stand Your Ground” law, but the state supreme court has ruled that there is no duty to retreat before using force in public.

Schur is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15 at 1:30 p.m., according to court records.

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