Story 2: Japanese Exchange Student Shot While Heading to Halloween Party

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Story 2: Horror & Crime TV Japanese Exchange Student Shot While Heading to Halloween Party.  It was October 1992 in Baton Rouge when Yoshihiro Hattori knocked on the wrong door. Expecting a Halloween party, the 16-year-old Japanese exchange student was instead shot by the owner of the house at which he had mistakenly arrived, 30-year-old Rodney Peairs. Hattori died on the way to the hospital.  #crime  #horror  #crimestory  #crimestories  #police #cops #horrorstories #news #crimenews

Transcript

00:00Yoshihiro Hattori was a 16-year-old from Japan who was staying in Baton Rouge, Louisiana through

00:14the American Field Service Student Exchange Program. Around 8.30 p.m. on October 17, 1992,

00:21Hattori and his homestay brother, 16-year-old Webb Haymaker, were heading to a Halloween party for

00:27Japanese exchange students when they arrived at the wrong house due to two numbers being switched

00:32on the address they were given. The quiet suburban home actually belonged to the Pierce family who

00:37lived six houses down from the house with the party. Hattori was dressed as John Travolta from

00:42Saturday Night Fever and Haymaker had a neck brace and bandages that were not part of a costume but

00:48from an injury he sustained. The two boys rang the front doorbell and then began their way back

00:53towards the street when nobody answered. Inside the home, Bonnie Pierce heard the doorbell and used

00:59the carport door on the side of their house to see who was outside. Accompanied by one of her three

01:04children, Miss Pierce opened the door to find two young men outside and claimed she was startled

01:09after they began approaching her at a fast pace. She quickly slammed the door and yelled for her

01:15husband to get his gun. Outside, the two teens were leaving the property when they noticed Bonnie Pierce

01:20peeking out the side door. Webb Haymaker claims he told Miss Pierce we're here for the party before

01:26she slammed the door. Afterwards, the two boys continued walking towards the street. Inside the

01:32house, 30-year-old Rodney Pierce was watching television and talking to his father on the phone

01:38when he heard his wife shouting for him to get his gun. Rodney Pierce did not ask questions or give any

01:43hesitation. Instead, he went to their bedroom and retrieved a .44 Magnum handgun from his closet.

01:50Mr. Pierce then stepped just outside the carport door entrance. By then, Hattori and Haymaker had made

01:56it to the sidewalk when they noticed someone come out of the carport door. Hattori began approaching Mr.

02:02Pierce and announcing that they were there for the party. However, Hattori's English was not the best,

02:08so it could be hard to understand him at times. Rodney Pierce claims he saw a young male walking

02:13around his truck and moving towards him in an aggressive manner, so he raised his magnum and

02:18told the teen to freeze. Haymaker saw the gun and shouted for Hattori to stop. But for reasons unknown,

02:25Hattori kept approaching Mr. Pierce. Rodney Pierce heard Hattori saying something,

02:30but couldn't understand what it was. He then mistook a camera Hattori was holding in his hand

02:36as a gun or other weapon. From five feet away, Mr. Pierce shot Hattori on the left side of his chest

02:43before running back inside and slamming the door behind him. The bullet had pierced the upper and

02:48lower lobes of Hattori's left lung and exited around his ribcage. Haymaker and a neighbor did their best to

02:55resuscitate the 16-year-old exchange student, but Yoshihiro Hattori died from blood loss just minutes later.

03:02As one of the neighbors was calling for help, Bonnie Pierce could be heard saying,

03:06go away, as the Pierce family huddled together in their kitchen waiting for police to arrive.

03:13Pierce was charged with manslaughter and, if convicted, faced a maximum of 40 years in prison.

03:19His lawyers argued that he was justified in shooting Hattori because he feared for his family's safety.

03:25Under Louisiana's shoot the burglar law, a person is allowed to use deadly force to

03:29protect his home from an intruder. Prosecutors argued that Pierce used excessive force and could

03:35have avoided the deadly confrontation by staying inside or stepping back inside his home. They

03:41argued that Hattori and Haymaker made no sign of a threat after ringing the doorbell and announcing

03:46they were there for a party. However, testimonies revealed that Hattori would often quickly approach

03:52people while waving his arms as he went to greet them. This was thought to be a result of his

03:57lack of communication in English. Rodney Pierce testified,

04:01I wanted him to stop. He didn't. He kept coming. The next thing I remember,

04:06I was scared to death. This person was not going to stop. This person was going to do harm to me.

04:13Hattori's father said that his son had lost one of his contacts during the trip,

04:17and that may have been the reason he didn't stop as Pierce pointed a gun at him. Webb Haymaker told the

04:23jury that Yoshi had waved his arms at Pierce and that, in the darkness, his camera could have looked

04:28like a gun. At the end of the seven-day trial, it only took the jury three hours to reach a verdict of

04:34not guilty. After Pierce was acquitted of all charges, the decision sparked many debates about gun laws

04:40in both the United States and Japan. Later, the Hattori family won a civil court case against Rodney

04:47Pierce and were awarded $650,000 in damages. However, only $100,000 has been paid to the Hattori family

04:56due to Pierce's insurance company's policy to make a maximum payout of $100,000.

05:00The Hattori's used the money to establish two charitable funds in their son's name—one to

05:07fund U.S. high school students wishing to visit Japan and one to fund organizations that lobby for

05:12gun control. Nearly 1 million Americans and 1.7 million Japanese signed a petition urging stronger

05:19gun controls in the U.S. The petition was presented to Ambassador Walter Mondale on November 22, 1993,

05:27who delivered it to President Bill Clinton. On December 3, 1993, the Brady Bill was passed,

05:34which required a five-day waiting period and federal background checks on anyone purchasing a gun in

05:39the United States.

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