A Phoenix teenager is dead and his two brothers are in jail, after they allegedly went after their neighbor -- who had a gun -- with knives and large rocks.
Phoenix police Sergeant Steve Martos says the man who fatally shot 17-year-old Theodore Curley on Saturday night was questioned and released by homicide detectives.
According to information released by Phoenix police, Theodore Curley and his two 18-year-old brothers, Merrell and Mardell Curley, had been drinking outside at their apartment complex -- on the 4200 block of North 17th Street -- when they got in an argument amongst themselves.
They were arguing in front of a 19-year-old man's apartment, and that man ended up getting in an argument with the three brothers, before he went back inside his apartment, and closed a screen door behind him.
Police say Theodore Curley went back to his apartment, grabbed two knives, and went with his brothers back to the apartment of the man they'd argued with.
According to police, Theodore Curley tried to force his way into the man's apartment, and made threats to the man while doing so.
Although the man told Curley to leave, and warned that he had a gun, the man ended up shooting Curley.
Police note that the shooter -- whose name hasn't been released -- said he feared for his life, as well as the lives of his girlfriend and baby, who were in the apartment at the time.
Curley died from being shot, and immediately after the shooting, his brothers started throwing "large river rocks" into the apartment. One of those rocks hit the shooter in the head, according to the cops.
After questioning the shooter, he was released. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery established a "Self- Defense Review Committee" a couple years ago, so we wouldn't be surprised if that committee reviewed this case. For now, though, there are no charges against him.
Merrell and Mardell Curley, however, were jailed on charges of aggravated assault.
