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Englewood Man Who Killed Suspected Home Invader Released Without Charge

CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Englewood neighborhood man has been released from police custody with no charges after he shot and killed a man earlier this week.

As WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports, homeowner shot and killed Darryl Turner, 27, around 8:30 a.m. Monday. Police said Turner was trying to force his way into the man's home in the 5800 block of South Shields Avenue in search of drugs.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports

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Police said the homeowner, who has a criminal record for drugs, turned Turner away when he first came looking for narcotics. Afterward, Turner returned with a handgun, police said.

Neighbors said the same house had been shot at several times in recent days.

Two eyewitnesses told the Chicago Sun-Times that they saw the homeowner shoot Turner after Turner pulled up in a white Pontiac Bonneville with two alleged accomplices and tried to force his way into the home at gunpoint.

"The guy who lives there shot him, and he fell down the stairs," one witness said, asking that he not be named for fear of reprisals. "His buddies went back for him, but he wasn't moving, so they got back in the car and escaped through the alley."

Neighbors who were awakened by the sound of four gunshots said that shooting is not unusual on the block and that the home where Turner was killed has been fired upon several times in the last few days.

Turner's body remained slumped at the bottom of a set of steps in front of the home later Monday morning, even while police were recovering evidence from the scene. Several said they saw police take a handgun from Turner's dead hand at the scene.

Turner has a record for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, for which he was sentenced to three years behind bars in 2005.

But his family does not believe he was trying to rob the homeowner when he was shot.

Turner's aunt Melinda said he had survived multiple previous shootings — perhaps as many as 10.

In the most recent incident, last November, Turner was shot in the abdomen and another bullet grazed his eye, Turner's former girlfriend Jennifer Smith added.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office gave Turner's address as a home in the 6700 block of South Parnell, but Smith and Turner's family all said he had been living in Milwaukee to stay out of trouble and that he was only visiting Chicago when he was killed.

Earlier this month, prosecutors dropped charges against another Englewood man – tavern owner Homer Wright, 81 – who shot a teenager who was allegedly burgling his home just a mile from the scene of Monday's shooting.

Neighbor Kenny Smith spoke for many on the block when he said he hoped the homeowner involved in the most recent case would also not be prosecuted.

"You've gotta be allowed to defend your own home," he said.

The Chicago Sun-Times contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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