CENTREVILLE, VA -- Prosecutors said they do not expect to file charges against the homeowner who shot a young man on his property outside his home.
The man who was shot has been charged with unlawful entry. But there are still questions over whether it was legal for the homeowner to shoot him.
Ethan Redd, 29, is a 2015 graduate of George Mason University. He's been under guard in the hospital since Monday after being shot by a neighbor in Centreville, Va. at around 5 a.m.
It happened outside a large home on Fairfax National Way. The homeowner who shot Redd is reportedly retired from a federal law enforcement agency. What Redd was doing at his neighbor's home at five in the morning is an important question.
The homeowner told police Redd was trying to break into his home.
Redd lives with his mother, close to the home where the incident happened. She said he told her that he was out riding his bike. Why at 5 a.m.? His mother, who did not want her name used, texted that "he just enjoys riding his bike and does it when he can't sleep."
Why did he stop at that house? His mother texted, "Ethan says it was because he fell off his bike and was going to the house to use a phone because he was hurt and his phone was dead."
She said he was injured and needed a ride. He wanted to use a phone.
She said the bike was left near the house, and police did confirm they found a bike by the home.
"He went to the house where he fell off his bike and saw lights on," his mother texted.
But instead of help, he got shot, she said and texted, "My son was shot while fleeing, the bullet hit him in the bottom of his heel and lodged there."
Police are not saying Redd was shot while fleeing, only that the homeowner confronted him outside near the porch where he then shot him. Redd ran bleeding from house to house trying to find help.
The detective wrote in court documents that the homeowner said he "encountered two people who appeared to be armed."
But police have not named another person, and no weapon was found on Redd.
Something else to consider: Redd has a prior concealed weapons charge that is pending in Fairfax Co. District Court.
Redd's mother said he's made some stupid mistakes, and if he was in the wrong, deserves to be held accountable, but should not have been shot by an angry man protecting his property.
Police are investigating to see if there was any planning or execution of a burglary.