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A North Carolina man who fatally shot his roommate while on the phone with a 911 dispatcher will not face prosecution after authorities concluded he had acted in self-defense, according to court records and news accounts.

Thomas James Laing, 58, shot 30-year-old Richard Matthew Bartlett once in the head at Laing's home on South Road in the community of Todd on the night of March 29, 2012, according to the Watauga County Sheriff's Office.

Laing stayed on the line with a county dispatcher for about 15 minutes before the shooting, telling the operator that Bartlett was trying to break into the locked house and was acting "very violent," the sheriff's office said. Laing told the dispatcher that the roommate was unarmed.

Investigators said Laing fired a single round from a .22-caliber pistol, striking Bartlett near the temple. Deputies charged Laing with second-degree murder the same night and booked him into the county jail.

The two men had known each other for roughly two years, according to the Watauga Democrat. Laing had hired Bartlett for handyman work and let him move in after Bartlett became homeless. Prosecutors said the relationship had soured, and that Bartlett had assaulted Laing about two weeks before the shooting.

The district attorney's office dismissed the charge on Feb. 25, 2013. Chief prosecutor Britt Springer said she found nothing that warranted a second-degree murder charge, adding that Bartlett had been forcing his way into the locked home when Laing fired and that Laing was in imminent danger.