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Little Falls Man Charged In Death Of Teens

11/26/2012 - 4:00 AM

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. (AP) -A Little Falls man has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of two teenager he said broke into his home.

64-year-old Byron David Smith was charged in a criminal complain filed Monday.

The complaint quote Smith telling investigators he shot 17-year-old Nicholas Brady Schaeffel and 18-year-old Haile Kifer as they came down into his basement.

The complain says Smith told investigators he fired "more shots than I needed to" he told them he was afraid the teens might have a weapon.

School officials say the victims were cousins.

Kifer was a senior at Little Falls High School. Superintendent Stephen Jones said Sunday he was notified of her death by investigators.

Schaeffel was a student at Pillager High School. The Star Tribune identified him after interviewing his principal.

The sheriff's department says police visited his home near Little Falls on Friday afternoon. Officers say 64-year-old Byron David Smith immediately confessed to killing two people the previous day about noon.

Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel says people have every right to defend themselves and their homes, but circumstances suggest Smith went beyond that point.