South Carolina student shot dead trying to enter wrong home

A University of South Carolina student was shot and killed early Saturday after trying to enter the wrong house, Columbia Police said.

Officers responded to an attempted burglary call around 2 a.m. that was upgraded to shots fired, local police said in a statement.

“When officers arrived on the scene, they found a deceased male on the front porch with a gunshot wound to the upper body,” cops said.

The man was identified as Nicholas Anthony Donofrio, 20, of Connecticut.

The school confirmed Donofrio was a sophomore.

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According to police, Donofrio lived at a different house on the same block, about two miles from the university’s main campus.

“Preliminary information indicates that Donofrio … attempted to enter the wrong home when he was fatally shot,” the release said.

The name of the shooter has not been released and no charges have been filed, but police and prosecutors are still investigating whether the shooter is protected by the state’s “stand your ground” law.

Several similar shootings have occurred in the U.S. this year.

In April, a white homeowner in his 80s shot a Black teenager who knocked on his door. Andrew Lester has since been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

That same month, Kaylin Gillis, 20, was shot and killed in upstate New York after the car she was riding in turned into the wrong driveway while looking for a friend’s house. Kevin Monahan, 65, fired twice at the car, striking Gillis. He was charged with second-degree murder.

Also in April, Texas cheerleaders Heather Roth and Payton Washington were shot after Roth mistakenly got into the wrong car in a supermarket parking lot. Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was arrested and charged with deadly conduct.