A mid-Missouri prosecutor will not file charges against the man who shot and killed 25-year-old Brandon Coleman of Columbia, calling the shooting "legally justified."
Boone County prosecutor Dan Knight announced the decision Wednesday. He ruled that the shooter was justified in shooting Coleman under Missouri's self-defense laws.
A phone message left with Coleman's mother, Winona Coleman-Broadus, was not immediately returned. She told the Columbia Missourian she felt that racial prejudice played a role in the decision. The shooter is white and Coleman was black.
The shooting happened May 19. A document provided by Knight indicated that the shooter's father brandished a knife, and Coleman pointed a gun at the older man. Knight determined that the shooter shot Coleman out of fear that his father would be shot.
