Last week’s killing of 13-year-old Karon Blake by a Brookland resident who was reportedly responding to a noise of a car being broken into has prompted anger, anguish, and one still-unsettled question to city officials: Why haven’t any charges been filed against the shooter?

Speaking earlier this week, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said the investigation into what happened was ongoing. What few details have been shared publicly say that the Brookland resident, who has only been identified as a Black male who works for the D.C. government, “heard noises and observed someone that appeared to be tampering with vehicles.” He emerged from his home with a legally registered firearm, and after an “interaction” with Karon he fatally shot the teenager. (The shooter also has a concealed-carry permit.) The police report states Karon suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and he wasn’t found with a weapon.

On social media, some have been critical of D.C.’s decision, to this point, not to charge the shooter with Karon’s killing. In a city well known for having strict gun laws, they say that the shooter was the aggressor and had no legal right to shoot Karon, a teenager, for allegedly breaking into a car.

That may well turn out to be true — police are investigating the facts of the case, which will be brought to a grand jury. That jury will decide whether the shooter’s actions merit criminal charges. Attorneys with knowledge of D.C.’s gun laws say any decision about whether to bring charges or not will likely revolve around the possible claims of self-defense, which they say are extremely fact-specific and open to interpretation.

“These situations, they are not cut and dry. They’re not black and white. Usually they involve certain decisions made in seconds,” says David Benowitz, a criminal defense attorney with Price Benowitz LLP who started his career as a public defender in D.C.

“I would be critical of the police if they reflexively had arrested the homeowner just because he shot,” says George Lyon, a D.C. lawyer who works with Virginia-based Arsenal Attorneys and has been involved in extensive litigation to loosen the city’s gun laws. He’s also a certified trainer for people seeking a concealed-carry permit in D.C. “I think they need to develop the facts. And we certainly don’t have the facts at this point to be judging the situation.”

Lyon says that while D.C. is known for its strict gun laws, its self-defense laws “are not materially different than the laws of almost every other state.” A guide published by the Metropolitan Police Department for gun trainers says that anyone can act in self-defense “if you actually believe you are in imminent danger of bodily harm; and if you have reasonable grounds for that belief.”

“Under the case law of the District of Columbia, the District is neither a ‘right to stand and kill’ nor a ‘duty to retreat to the wall before killing’ jurisdiction. The District case law has established a ‘middle ground,'” explains the guide. (The right to stand and kill is also known as stand your ground, which gives more latitude to people to use force. The duty to retreat requires that deadly force be used as a last resort.)

That middle ground, though, can be tough to nail down.

“There’s both an objective and a subjective component [to claiming self-defense],” says Benowitz. “There’s an objective standard that says, ‘Is it reasonable that you’re in fear of death or serious bodily injury? And did you use reasonable force to combat that?’ Then there’s the subjective part of it, which is, ‘Were you actually in fear for your life or in fear of serious bodily injury?’ So you have to satisfy both.”

In many cases, it’s left to the individual to affirmatively claim self-defense when they’re put on trial. But Benowitz says prosecutors will also keep those factors in the back of their minds when they decide whether to actually bring charges.

“They’re going to take a look at everything here. This is a 13-year-old child who was killed, but I don’t know how big or small the child was. I don’t know what he weighed. I don’t know what he looked like. It’s four in the morning. And, you know, I think it’s at least been [reported] that he’s breaking into cars in the neighborhood. That certainly speaks to the fact that this person [who shot Karon] was on high alert,” he says.

Lawyers for people claiming self-defense often play up those perceptions of danger — though “danger” is often perceived differently when it comes to Black children versus white. It’s well-documented that Black youth are perceived as older than their actual age and seen as more threatening than white peers.

“The person has to be in fear of their life or the life of another,” said Police Chief Robert Contee this week on any self-defense considerations. “And those are the facts that we have to sift through to figure out how did that happen? And based upon the information that we have, present that information to a grand jury to see if that is reasonable.”

Still, as some attorneys have pointed out on social media, the ability to claim self-defense doesn’t fully extend to instances in which personal property is involved; if a car is being broken into, for example. But Lyon adds even that can get complicated quickly. “If something more is happening, which constitutes a threat of death or serious bodily harm to the innocent, then deadly force may be justified, assuming that it is also reasonable under the totality of the circumstances,” he says.

The MPD guide specifies that a person who initiates aggression cannot claim self-defense — unless they retreat and can then claim a reasonable fear of death or bodily injury.

All of this, of course, depends on evidence and testimony that police and prosecutors can gather. The shooter initially gave a statement to police, and has since retained an attorney. Earlier this week Contee said police were reviewing video evidence, and asked that anyone with further information into what happened come forward.

Lyon says that cases involving people with concealed handguns using them in self-defense are few and far between, largely because it was only in 2014 that the city allowed people to apply for concealed-carry permits. (There are currently more than 12,000 people with concealed-carry permits in D.C., but those include Maryland and Virginia residents.) In 2019, a man used his gun to shoot assailants during a robbery on H Street NE, and a similar incident happened in 2020 in Petworth.

But beyond any legalities involved, Lyon says judgement and training are critical when it comes to someone deciding to use their gun to defend themselves. And he says that when he trains people as part of the process of getting a concealed-carry permit, the very example he starts with is exactly what happened in Brookland: What should you do if you hear someone breaking into your car?

“The question that I would ask is, are you willing to kill over your car? And I think the appropriate answer should be no. And are you willing to spend $50,000 to $100,000 on a defense lawyer in order to protect your car?” he says. “So my advice to my students is observe it, call 911, and hopefully the police will get there.”

In a statement this week, D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) addressed that very issue. “No car or material possession is worth a life — under any circumstance,” he said. “I join Ward 5 residents in calling on the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s office to hold accountable the individual who took Karon’s life.”

This story has been updated to note that a grand jury will ultimately decide if charges will be brought, and to add context to the discussion of perceptions of danger and race.