At 5:42am Sunday morning in a Salt Lake City suburb, a stranger started pounding vigorously on a homeowner’s front door. The family was startled, but chose to simply not answer the door. At that point, walking away would’ve been a lifesaving move for 24-year-old Christian Chichia. But criminals rarely do the smart thing.
Instead of moving on, Chichia decided to climb onto the second story balcony to harass the family some more. Woken by his wife, the homeowner got his gun and went to investigate. See if you can see the mistake the homeowner made.
He went to the door, he unlocked the door and was intending on opening the door just a small crack so he could engage in conversation with the individual and find out why he was there and find out what he was doing,” said Smith.
Police say Chiciha then forced his way into the house. The homeowner was able to fire off one shot, which struck Chichia in the chest.
Chichia eventually assumed ambient temperature, despite efforts to save his life.
Pleasant Grove Police say Chichia lived very close to where the crime occurred but say the two did not know each other.
“Based on witness reports we suspect alcohol was a factor, certainly we’re going to wait for toxicology to come back,” said Smith.
Seems like a good bet. From the look of the building, Chichia may have even believed that he was pounding on his own front door, although we’ll never know that now.