The Platte County Prosecutor’s Office rules that a woman is justified in killing an intruder

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Platte County Prosecutor’s Office ruled the fatal shooting of a man at a Platte County home was justified.

The woman who shot and killed Joshua Hinderliter on September 18 will not be charged, according to a news release Friday from the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office.

Hinderliter was shot after he entered the woman’s home and ran toward her.

“After careful investigation into the circumstances of this shooting, it is clear that this woman’s use of deadly force was justified,” Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said in the news release. “The woman was alone in her home with her four-year-old child. A man rushed up to her and entered her house while she was there alone with her four-year-old child. Fortunately, she was able to defend herself and her child, and they were not injured in this terrifying incident.”

Hinderliter, who knew the woman, was at the woman’s property in the 15000 block of Masonic Drive about 9 a.m.

According to Zahnd, the woman saw Hinderliter, whom she did not know, in her yard.

Hinderliter was not wearing a shirt and was acting strangely, according to the press release.

He tried to ride a pony, knocked over the pony’s water tank and shocked himself when he grabbed an electric fence.

Hinderliter became angry, ripped off the fence and threw it away, the news release said.

The woman called her husband and he called 911.

The woman took a gun from a locked gun safe and heard Hinderliter shaking at the front door of the house.

She also heard the dog screaming and said she feared Hinderliter was trying to kill the dog, the release said.

He walked to the driveway and the woman opened the door, told him she had a gun and had to leave.

Instead of leaving, Hinderliter raised his arms above his head, spoke incoherently and ran toward the woman.

She shot him several times, but he just kept coming.

The woman entered the home and Hinderliter followed her.

According to the release, she shot him several times before leaving her home and going to a neighbor’s home.

Hinderliter’s body was in the house.

“The law allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves or someone else from death, serious bodily harm or crime,” Zahnd said. “This woman reasonably believed that a man she did not know who charged toward her and burst into her home could injure or kill her or her four-year-old child. While Mr. Hinderliter’s death is unfortunate, this woman had every right to defend herself and her child.”

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