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Sheriff: Teen shot, killed mom's abusive boyfriend

FOREST CITY, N.C. — A man fatally shot by a teenager while strangling the girl's mother had previously terrorized the woman by firing a gun in their house and also faced domestic violence accusations in two other states, North Carolina authorities say.

Steven Kelley, 46, was shot and killed by his girlfriend's 15-year-old daughter on Aug. 8 after he attacked the woman and threatened to kill her and her three children in the home they all shared, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said.

Kelley had previously attacked the woman on Aug. 4 "and fired multiple rounds from a firearm inside the residence to threaten and terrorize" her, according to a news release by the sheriff and district attorney.

He had also threatened her multiple times before.

Kelley's earlier attack and domestic violence history weren't known to local authorities until the current investigation.

Kelley, a convicted felon who's originally from Indiana, also faced active domestic violence protection orders sought by two different women in Ohio and Indiana, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies were called to the house in Forest City, in the western part of North Carolina, after Kelley was shot late Aug. 8. Investigators found him shot twice inside the home.

Kelley was strangling the woman and threatening to cut her throat when the woman's 12-year-old son retrieved a gun, according to the news release. Authorities say the boy's 15-year-old sister took the gun from him and fired it twice into Kelley's chest.

The third sibling, a 16-year-old girl, was grazed in the leg and treated at a hospital and released. The mother also had "significant bruises" from the assault by Kelley, the sheriff's office said.

Kelley, the woman and her three children had recently moved to North Carolina from Indiana.

District Attorney Ted Bell determined that the shooting of Kelley was justified and that no charges are warranted against the children.

The sheriff's office said that Kelley kept multiple guns in the house, but it wasn't immediately clear if he was shot with one of his own weapons. It also wasn't clear if any of the children were his. The sheriff and prosecutor didn't immediately respond to calls seeking further comment Friday.

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