Peel, Arkansas

From Mountain Home’s Baxter Bulletin of January 30, 2007

Man kills alleged intruder

A man wanted for questioning about a shooting death and an apparent burglary attempt is free after the Marion County Sheriff's Department decided not to detain him after he turned himself in.

Joe Kelley, a 71-year-old Peel resident, was asleep recovering from heart surgery Friday when he woke to sounds at his front door, according to a Marion County Sheriff's Department report.

Kelley said he found a man in his hallway and shot him with a 12-gauge shotgun, according to the report.

According to the report, police found Travis Morrison, 27, of Harrison, dead on the floor of Kelley's home late Friday night. Marion County Sheriff Carl McBee reported Kelley told police he was "scared to death" when he shot the intruder.

Kelley was not detained because the shooting death was the result of apparent self-defense, the sheriff said.

McBee said Kelley described a second man who entered the home after the shooting, asked questions of him and attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Morrison. The sheriff said the suspected accomplice was gone when police arrived.

The next morning, Johnny Lee Carter, 32, of Harrison, turned himself in at the Marion County Sheriff's Department, according to a second police report. Carter told police he had been with Morrison on the night of the shooting, according to the report.

McBee said the incident still is under investigation.