Friday, May 29, 2026 - An Oklahoma City homeowner was
charged after he allegedly k!lled a man he found squatting with a girlfriend
inside one of his vacant homes.
Timothy Smith discovered Justin King in a bedroom with an
unidentified woman in the residence in Southwest Oklahoma City on May
1, according to KOCO.
The 59-year-old landlord, who was armed with a handgun and
accompanied by his daughter, “engaged in an argument” with King, ordering him
to leave the property on the 1500 block of SW 44th St in the Rancho Village
neighborhood, the Oklahoma City Police said.
Police allege that Smith aimed the gun at King and fired,
striking the squatter in the neck during the confrontation.
Smith told police that King had stepped towards him before
the f@tal shot, according to the outlet.
Smith and his daughter had arrived at the home that day
armed with a gun as the neighborhood had been having problems with the homeless
in recent months.
Smith defended his actions, admitting he didn’t see King
with any weapons but that the suspected trespasser shouldn’t have been in the
house in the first place.
“It wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t here,” Smith told
police after the shooting, according to the outlet.
King was hospitalized for over a week after the shooting
before he was pulled off life support on May 8.
Smith was initially charged with assault and battery with a
de@dly weapon, but prosecutors upgraded the charge to first-degree m@nslaughter
after King’s de@th.
He also faces one count of reckless conduct with a firearm.
Smith was booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center
and is being held on a $25,000 bond, according to court records.
Defense lawyers opposed the use of force against King for
simply trespassing inside the home that Smith was living in at the time of the
shooting.
“There’s not the d£ath penalty for squatting in the state of
Oklahoma. You can’t just take a gun in and shoot somebody,” criminal defense
attorney Ed Blau told KOCO.
“At trial, I’m sure the defense will be self-defense. What’s
going to make that difficult? He told the police that he didn’t see a weapon in
the hand of the victim,” Blau said.
The attorney broke down different scenarios for a homeowner
to claim self-defense if they shot an intruder.
“If a trespasser or a burglar breaks in or comes into your
home that you live in and you’re there, you can pretty much shoot them or do
whatever you want to with,” Blau added. “In a situation like this, an abandoned
house, it’s much different. You can’t go in, put yourself in a situation and
say, ‘This is my house, so I felt I had the right to shoot him.’”
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