No Charges Pending for Self-Defence?

"There is nobody I would want to be in a crisis situation with other than Chuck. ... Chuck is kind of like Superman."
"Two (bullets) in the abdomen, one in the leg and I believe one of them is a groin shot ... just what a newlywed needs is a groin shot."
"This is why you have guns ... for exactly these types of situations [advocating gun-ownership for self-protection]."
Patrick Clawson, De Caro close friend

"The assailant wanted whatever was in my purse, and when he opened fire on Chuck he got it (pocket pistol). My husband returned fire and he's a better shot."
"The man pushed me inside, I was airborne, literally. And [I] landed on the bed."
" Somehow during the encounter I always felt that if I actually gave him [the assailant] something [cash] of value he would then shoot us. I don't know why, really. I suppose some psychologist could come up with something. Or maybe it was nothing more complicated than eliminating eyewitnesses [the assailant shooting at them]."
ex-CNN reporter Lynne Russell, former Headline News anchor

Chuck de Caro and Lynne Russell at a CNN reunion party on June 6

A 27-year-old from Memphis, Tennessee, who was in violation of  his parole conditions has been identified as the violent intruder whom ex-CNN reporter Chuck de Caro fatally shot in self-defence inside an Albuquerque, New Mexico motel. As his wife Lynne Russell tells the story, she had been retrieving some items from their vehicle parked in the motel lot and as she re-entered their motel unit, a man appeared directly behind her with a gun at her back and shoved her through the door.

At that juncture her husband, Chuck de Caro was just emerging from the shower, and he was unclothed. The intruder was demanding money; at least that was the impression conveyed by Ms. Russell, although the situation appeared unclear and somewhat chaotic. The intruder doesn't appear to have clearly articulated his demands

Ms. Russell handed her purse to her husband, tersely telling him to hand over to the intruder whatever was inside, leaving the impression to the intruder obviously that he would be given some valuables or cash. Instead Mr. de Caro followed his wife's implicit instruction, withdrew the small pistol she had in her purse and fired at the man.

The narrative is fairly confusing; that the man turned to head for the door, then turned back to the two and began shooting. That evidently is when the purse-fumbling ended with de Caro by now shot, taking possession of the small gun and firing back, fatally. He was himself taken to hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening but serious gunshot wounds.

The man whom he shot managed to exit the hotel unit, stumbling to the parking lot before collapsing. De Caro had evidently many career experiences, among them that of a Green Beret before turning to work as a military consultant, then a CNN reporter with time spent embedded with rebel guerrillas in the jungles of Nicaragua.

Initially investigating Albuquerque police stated that the case was a clear episode of self-defence. They later altered their conclusion, stating that the incident was now under investigation as a homicide, without clarifying further. How an evident so evidently clear-cut from the evidence and self-description of the event could be transformed so radically arouses quite a bit of curiosity.

Curiosity that will no doubt be satisfied in due course. In the meantime, it's beyond intriguing.