Be Careful If You Come Knockin' Down
My Front Door

Man shoots, kills home intruder

Official: Shooting likely will fall under 'Stand Your Ground' law

Amy Sowder
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

When Edward Lucas Sr. checked to see why the neighbor's German shepherd was barking at Sunday at 5:40 a.m., he had no idea that minutes later an intruder would be lying dead on his living room rug.

Lucas, 63, of the 3900 block of West Mallory Street, never wanted to have to use his .22 caliber rifle that way, but Tyrone Fyoungious Preyer, 29, would not stop breaking through the door, he said.

"I yelled 'Get out of my house,' but he kept coming," said Lucas, a retired Sears employee who resided at that house for almost eight years. "I was scared to death."

Preyer, who died at the home when Lucas fired at him more than four times, tried to break into at least three other surrounding homes, Escambia County Sheriff's Office investigators said.

Preyer's name appears 14 times in Escambia County criminal court records, with seven felonies, including: aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand theft auto.

Lucas will not be charged because he was defending his home, himself and his girlfriend, Maxine Rasberry, 60, Sgt. Mike Ward said.

Ward said the shooting likely will fall under the "Stand Your Ground" Florida law passed in 2005, which allows people to use any force necessary in order to protect themselves when they feel threatened.

"If the law had not changed, would he be charged under these circumstances?" Ward said. "Probably not. What would you do?"

When Lucas saw someone crashing through his carport side door and yelled for him to stop, he told his girlfriend to jump out the bedroom window and call the police at a neighbor's house.

"It was rough, but he protected us," Rasberry said. "I think he did a good job."

Neighbor Dennis Camden's home was left untouched between Lucas' house and another neighbor's home where investigators said one of the attempted robberies occurred. This area of Mallory Street usually is quiet, Camden said.

"He's a good man," Camden said. "All he did was try to take care of what was his. He was given no choice."

On Sunday afternoon at Lucas' house, the door's broken glass sprinkled the floor in and out of the house, the door frame's molding dangled from the wall and the bloodied living room rug was in the trash.

"Whether I'll be able to sleep at night, I don't know," Lucas said.