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Baltimore homicide detectives don't believe a Johns Hopkins University student had "the intent to kill" when he used a samurai sword to confront an intruder outside his home, a police spokesman said Thursday.
Police say John Pontolillo, 20, a chemistry major from New Jersey, killed the man with a single blow early Tuesday. Pontolillo has not been charged in the death of Donald D. Rice, 49, a career criminal who was released from jail just three days before the altercation. Prosecutors will determine whether charges are warranted after consulting with police, a process that could take weeks.
"We do not believe he went down there with the intent to kill somebody," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said of Pontolillo. "We're looking to see if he was the aggressor, and so far the evidence doesn't suggest that."
The student was the third Baltimore resident in the past month to draw headlines for a confrontation with an intruder. In August, a man used a baseball bat to bash a man who police say was attempting to rob a Fells Point store for the third time. And this week, an off-duty police officer shot and critically wounded a man who police say had forced him to the ground at gunpoint in his Northeast Baltimore home.
Guglielmi's comments came as officials clarified the sequence of events that led up to the killing outside the East University Parkway house that Pontolillo rents with three other students.
Just after the incident, police said that it was a noise coming from the garage behind his house that led Pontolillo to get his sword and go outside early Tuesday, hours after the burglary of a video game console. Police said that Rice lunged at Pontolillo.
On Thursday, Guglielmi said that Hopkins police had visited Pontolillo and his housemates before the incident to warn that a neighbor had spotted a suspicious person lurking in their backyard, and that the students had joined the officers in canvassing the neighborhood.
Guglielmi said that an unspecified number of Hopkins police officers, one of them an off-duty city officer moonlighting with the Hopkins force, were called to the 300 block of E. University Parkway on Monday night to investigate the report of a suspicious person. Guglielmi declined to say what time the officers received the call or arrived on the scene.
Hopkins police Maj. George Kibler said his officers have arrest powers on campus but not off campus, where they are sometimes called by students or staff for assistance. When responding to an off-campus complaint, Kibler said, the university police are essentially "there as a citizen," though the off-duty city officer would have had the ability to make an arrest.
Guglielmi said the officers knocked on Pontolillo's door, and Pontolillo informed them of the burglary of an Xbox 360 and a video game that according to the police report occurred between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Guglielmi said the housemates and the officers searched the area around the house but didn't find anything unusual.
After the officers left, Guglielmi said, the housemates decided to check the area again. Pontolillo took the sword, Guglielmi said. As Pontolillo checked the yard, Guglielmi said, he noticed Rice crouched in a corner. He told Rice not to move, Guglielmi said, and yelled for his roommates to call police.
Pontolillo was backed up against the exterior of a garage door. Guglielmi said that Rice moved aggressively toward Pontolillo with his arms raised. Guglielmi said Pontolillo swung the sword in one downward stroke toward Rice, hitting him in the upper body and the hand. Rice's left hand was nearly severed, and he bled to death at the scene.
University of Maryland School of Law professor David Gray said the new details could work in the student's favor, suggesting it was less likely that he initiated the altercation. The police, Gray said, by knocking on the students' door and canvassing the area with them, "showed them that the responsible thing was to walk around."
"The way the newest version of the story plays out, it sounds like they were more on a neighborhood watch than out to initiate a confrontation with a specific person," Gray said. "If that's what was in their mind, it's much less likely that a prosecutor will determine they were [criminally] responsible."
In Maryland, a resident does not have an obligation to retreat from an attacker in his own home. Gray said it is unclear how the law applies to a fenced-in yard.
Defense attorney Jerry Tarud, a former police officer, said he doesn't believe the new details change the likelihood that Pontolillo could be charged.
"Apparently the police didn't do their job adequately, and the guy wanted some peace of mind," Tarud said. "Nobody in their right mind is going to look around [for an intruder] without being armed. ... The guy was simply defending himself."
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Police say John Pontolillo, 20, a chemistry major from New Jersey, killed the man with a single blow early Tuesday. Pontolillo has not been charged in the death of Donald D. Rice, 49, a career criminal who was released from jail just three days before the altercation. Prosecutors will determine whether charges are warranted after consulting with police, a process that could take weeks.
"We do not believe he went down there with the intent to kill somebody," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said of Pontolillo. "We're looking to see if he was the aggressor, and so far the evidence doesn't suggest that."
The student was the third Baltimore resident in the past month to draw headlines for a confrontation with an intruder. In August, a man used a baseball bat to bash a man who police say was attempting to rob a Fells Point store for the third time. And this week, an off-duty police officer shot and critically wounded a man who police say had forced him to the ground at gunpoint in his Northeast Baltimore home.
Guglielmi's comments came as officials clarified the sequence of events that led up to the killing outside the East University Parkway house that Pontolillo rents with three other students.
Just after the incident, police said that it was a noise coming from the garage behind his house that led Pontolillo to get his sword and go outside early Tuesday, hours after the burglary of a video game console. Police said that Rice lunged at Pontolillo.
On Thursday, Guglielmi said that Hopkins police had visited Pontolillo and his housemates before the incident to warn that a neighbor had spotted a suspicious person lurking in their backyard, and that the students had joined the officers in canvassing the neighborhood.
Guglielmi said that an unspecified number of Hopkins police officers, one of them an off-duty city officer moonlighting with the Hopkins force, were called to the 300 block of E. University Parkway on Monday night to investigate the report of a suspicious person. Guglielmi declined to say what time the officers received the call or arrived on the scene.
Hopkins police Maj. George Kibler said his officers have arrest powers on campus but not off campus, where they are sometimes called by students or staff for assistance. When responding to an off-campus complaint, Kibler said, the university police are essentially "there as a citizen," though the off-duty city officer would have had the ability to make an arrest.
Guglielmi said the officers knocked on Pontolillo's door, and Pontolillo informed them of the burglary of an Xbox 360 and a video game that according to the police report occurred between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Guglielmi said the housemates and the officers searched the area around the house but didn't find anything unusual.
After the officers left, Guglielmi said, the housemates decided to check the area again. Pontolillo took the sword, Guglielmi said. As Pontolillo checked the yard, Guglielmi said, he noticed Rice crouched in a corner. He told Rice not to move, Guglielmi said, and yelled for his roommates to call police.
Pontolillo was backed up against the exterior of a garage door. Guglielmi said that Rice moved aggressively toward Pontolillo with his arms raised. Guglielmi said Pontolillo swung the sword in one downward stroke toward Rice, hitting him in the upper body and the hand. Rice's left hand was nearly severed, and he bled to death at the scene.
University of Maryland School of Law professor David Gray said the new details could work in the student's favor, suggesting it was less likely that he initiated the altercation. The police, Gray said, by knocking on the students' door and canvassing the area with them, "showed them that the responsible thing was to walk around."
"The way the newest version of the story plays out, it sounds like they were more on a neighborhood watch than out to initiate a confrontation with a specific person," Gray said. "If that's what was in their mind, it's much less likely that a prosecutor will determine they were [criminally] responsible."
In Maryland, a resident does not have an obligation to retreat from an attacker in his own home. Gray said it is unclear how the law applies to a fenced-in yard.
Defense attorney Jerry Tarud, a former police officer, said he doesn't believe the new details change the likelihood that Pontolillo could be charged.
"Apparently the police didn't do their job adequately, and the guy wanted some peace of mind," Tarud said. "Nobody in their right mind is going to look around [for an intruder] without being armed. ... The guy was simply defending himself."
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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If more burgulars were struck down w/ swords, crime rate would drop because all the criminals breaking and entering wouldn't get slaps on the wrists then released to go try to burgularize again. This guy was a multiple repeat offender.
I have 2 samurai sword swords on display as well, and if a burgular tries to enter my residence while I am home, he too will meet the same fate as this poor sap with no reservation what-so-ever.
Guest12321 (09/25/2009, 9:41 AM )