INDIAN LAND, S.C. (AP) - Prosecutors and Lancaster County deputies have decided not to file charges against a landlord who shot and killed a 21-year-old man on his property.
Sheriff Barry Faile said authorities determined Douglas Jowers killed David Hammer in self-defense at a home in Indian Land on March 22.
Faile says Jowers came over to a home he was renting after seeing and hearing Hammer beating up a woman. The sheriff says Jowers demanded Hammer leave and he refused, moving toward the landlord as if he might beat him, too.
Faile says Douglas Jowers fired once, hitting Hammer in the chest. Authorities say Jowers had just had surgery and worried Hammer might seriously hurt him.
The sheriff says an autopsy showed Hammer was grossly intoxicated.
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