Yoshihiro Hattori, a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student in a disco-era John Travolta costume, was looking for a Halloween party when he knocked on the wrong door and frightened the family inside.
Rodney Peairs came to the door Saturday night with a .44-caliber Magnum and told Hattori to "freeze." But the boy, who spoke choppy English, apparently didn't understand and moved forward. He was shot in the chest and died.It was a shot heard clear around the world.
Gov. Edwin Edwards offered condolences Tuesday to Japan's Consul General Yasuhiro Hamada, who later said he was satisfied with the investigation.
But to many in Japan, the slaying reinforced the image of America as a violent nation.
Japanese newspapers wrote editorials, shocked that "there are Americans who aim their guns even at kids at the time of Halloween." TV reports explained the different meanings of the word "freeze" in America.
"They were not surprised if this happens in Los Angeles or New York. But this is the Baton Rouge," said Shoko Sakai, who is working as a translator for Japanese reporters covering the shooting.
"They know this is very dangerous country. (But) they don't think each house have a gun. They don't think middle-class people have a gun."
Peairs' attorney, Lewis Unglesby, held a news conference Wednesday and found himself explaining - and sometimes defending - the American psyche to the handful of Japanese reporters present.
"We open the door to anyone and then we shoot them. I know that's hard for you to understand," he said.
But Peairs, a 30-year-old meatcutter, isn't a criminal, Unglesby insisted. The lawyer said that the neighborhood has been troubled by crime and that in the dark, it wasn't clear that Hattori was just a boy in a Halloween costume.
Hattori had apparently knocked on the door and frightened Peairs' wife, Bonnie, who called for her husband to get his gun, authorities said. Hattori then walked toward the carport, where Peairs appeared with a .44-caliber Magnum pistol, authorities said. The teen-ager was shot in the carport at close range.
Peairs hasn't been charged; a grand jury is scheduled to hear the case Nov. 4.
For many in Louisiana, owning a gun is a way of life; state law gives a person the right to kill an intruder inside his or her home. Unglesby would not comment on whether a carport would be covered by the "shoot-the-burglar" law.
"People in Baton Rouge have an unfortunately justified fear of unusual circumstances. Mr. Peairs was terrified," he said at the news conference. But, he added, "This could have, and has, happened anywhere in the United States."
Hattori's parents flew to Baton Rouge from Nagoya, Japan, and attended a memorial service Tuesday. Mieko Hattori, Yoshihiro's mother, said the shooting might have been avoided if guns weren't so available.
"In this country possession of guns is legal," she said. "Maybe this is something the society will now reconsider."
Unglesby said Peairs wanted to contact the parents but was waiting for the proper time.