911 calls show fears of residents and friends after a young man got shot entering the wrong home

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A concerned college student asked police if they’d seen his fraternity brother early one Saturday morning after he’d sent the 20-year-old home from a sports bar in an Uber. He hadn’t heard from his friend in the hours since, but the rideshare driver had let him know that the young man passed out on a front porch. The caller did not say exactly where or when that happened — he only knew that his friend’s roommates had not seen him.

About 75 minutes earlier, a panicked woman had told dispatchers about an intruder who’d been shot by her boyfriend after banging on the front door and breaking a glass panel at her house near the University of South Carolina’s campus in Columbia.

The two callers were describing the same person.

The recently released 911 audio, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, reflects the confusion that followed Nicholas Donofrio’s fatal shooting on Aug. 26, 2023. The clips reveal the fear of the residents who lived at the house that authorities say Donofrio mistook for his own home and the alarm of schoolmates who’d been unable to track Donofrio down.

“I have no idea where he is and we are all incredibly worried,” the college friend told police shortly after 3:00 a.m. He said he’d last seen Donofrio at The Loose Cockaboose, a bar near the USC stadium.

“I don’t know what I’m asking you guys to do.”

Multiple voices scrambled to recall the Connecticut native’s clothing that night. They eventually determined Donofrio had last been seen wearing a bright pink shirt and multicolored athletic shorts.

Prosecutors never charged the man who shot the gun. A Columbia Police Department investigation found that the shooter’s actions were covered by South Carolina’s so-called “Stand Your Ground” law that allows deadly force against anyone “unlawfully and forcefully entering” their dwelling.

A loud bang could be heard in the background of the resident’s call shortly after she quietly told officials that “somebody’s trying to break into our house.” Right after the woman shared that someone had broken the window, she reported that her boyfriend had fired through the door.

“Please get here fast,” she said. “He says he thinks he hit him.”

“We should stay inside until the cops get here, right?” she said in between heavy breathing and cries.

The official asked if she could “peek out” and see anyone lying on the porch. She responded that the front door’s frosted glass obstructed her view, and her porch camera didn’t provide a good angle. Her boyfriend eventually confirmed that a man was on the ground.

Police arrived less than five minutes after she placed the call.

The shooting struck the USC community just as fall classes were beginning. Donofrio’s fraternity and family raised over $140,000 through a GoFundMe page in an effort to establish scholarships at both USC and his Connecticut high school.

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Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.