Weapons Case Dropped Against Man Who Killed 2 Intruders

DEERFIELD, N.Y. (AP) — A judge has dropped a weapons-possession case against a man who shot two people dead while they were breaking into his home in central New York.

Ronald Stolarczyk  told reporters after the case was dismissed Monday night that he feared for his life and had to act fast. He said he told the intruders to stop, but "they just kept coming."

The confrontation happened in May in his home in Deerfield, near Utica. Fifty-seven-year-old Patricia Talerico and her 27-year-old nephew, Nicholas Talerico, were killed.

Stolarczyk faced a weapons possession charge because the gun wasn't registered to him. It was belonged to his late father.

The Oneida County district attorney's office agreed to the dismissal of the charge.

Stolarczyk's lawyer, Mark Wolber, told reporters that prosecutors "did the right thing."