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Dane County prosecutors will not charge Jamie Chen, 41, a Fitchburg, Wisconsin, homeowner who fatally shot Roberto Vega-Gil, 42, of Madison, after police said Vega-Gil forced his way into Chen's family's house on Osmundsen Road on Sept. 16.

Officials called the shooting a reflexive response to a sudden encounter with an intruder. Fitchburg police said Vega-Gil broke through a glass patio door in the basement while wearing gloves. Chen, who lives at the house with his parents, was home alone and grabbed a shotgun after hearing noise on the lower level.

Chen was looking over a second-floor balcony when Vega-Gil emerged from the basement into the first-floor foyer, Fitchburg police Lt. Chad Brecklin said. The two made eye contact, and Chen fired once, killing Vega-Gil, who may have turned away in the instant he was shot, police said. An autopsy found a single gunshot wound.

Chen called 911 immediately and told a dispatcher he had seen "this big guy running up the stairs" toward him before he fired. Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said the 911 call misstated the order of events but that Chen's account had otherwise been consistent with the physical evidence.

Blanchard said criminal charges were "highly unlikely" because Wisconsin law at the time did not let a resident shoot an intruder simply for being inside the house. It did allow deadly force against a genuine threat to life, he said. "You are not permitted to use lethal force just to protect property," Blanchard said, adding that Chen appeared to have no conscious memory of deciding to shoot.

Court records show Vega-Gil had prior convictions in Florida for armed burglary and other offenses dating to the 1980s, and in Dane County he was on probation after a June conviction for intimidating a victim with force. A friend, Roberto Carrena of Madison, said Vega-Gil had worked at a restaurant, a moving company and a local charity since his release from prison and "was not a violent person."

Vega-Gil's fiancee, Shelly Parnell, questioned whether he had been shot while trying to leave the house, but police said they had no reason to believe that was the case. On Sept. 21, Parnell placed a cross near the home in his memory.