A Virginia jury must decide if a man who shot and killed a teenager did so in self-defense or is guilty of murder.
The trial of Tyler Butler got under way Tuesday in Spotsylvania County. He’s accused of opening fire on three teenagers who say they were playing a game of ding dong ditch.
One of those teenagers, 18-year-old Michael Bosworth Jr., was killed – just a week before he was to graduate from Massaponax High School. Another was wounded.
Calls to 911 and doorbell camera video played in court make clear the three teens were loudly kicking and banging on a neighbor’s garage door about 3 a.m. May 3, 2025.
The defendant’s mom thought it was gunfire and called 911, scared.
In court Tuesday, the other two teens, now 19, testified about the night their friend was shot and killed.
The teens admit they hid from police in Butler’s back yard.
Butler, who was 27 at the time, pulled a gun on them, but video evidence doesn’t show the teens in Butler’s front yard as he fired 10 rounds in their direction, hitting two of them and killing one of them.
In opening statements, prosecutors told the jury there was no need for Butler to open fire on the teens because they were unarmed and walking away.
Butler’s defense attorney told the jury that the defendant and his mom believed the teens were trying to break in and that Butler saw one of them reach into a backpack.
Police said the teens didn’t have any weapons on them, and both teens who took the stand Tuesday said they weren’t on Butler’s property when the shooting started. One testified they were about two houses away.
The case is expected to go to the jury Friday.
