Ohio homeowner fatally shoot daughter's ex-boyfriend
James Rayl, 22, allegedly tried to break down the door before Mitchell Duckro opened fire. Police arrived shortly after.
A 22-year-old Ohio woman whose father shot and killed her ex-boyfriend as he attempted to break into the family’s home said her ex-boyfriend’s personality changed drastically after moving out to California and using drugs including acid.
A grand jury declined to indict homeowner Mitchell Duckro for the July 31 deadly shooting that killed 22-year-old James Rayl outside of Duckro’s house in Sidney, Ohio. Duckro’s daughter, Allyson Duckro, previously dated Rayl, but they had ended their relationship more than 18 months prior.
The Daily Mail obtained new footage showing Allyson Duckro in an interrogation room after the shooting. In the nearly 9-minute-long video, the young woman sat strapped with a wired microphone unhandcuffed at a table across from a female investigator, and described how she and Rayl broke up for the last time in late 2019 because he was "being rude all the time" and she "didn’t want to deal with it."
Toward the end of the interview, the investigator asked if Rayl used drugs and if so, what was his drug of choice.
James Rayl, 22, seen on Ring Doorbell camera footage before he was shot and killed by homeowner Mitchell Duckro. (Shelby County Sheriff’s Office)
"He’s done drugs," Allyson Duckro said. "He liked to do acid a lot — back then. I don’t know about recent because he moved out to California not too long ago and then came back, so I don’t know if he like started something while he was out there."
She said he smoked marijuana and took acid, but said she wasn’t sure about any other substances.
"He was nice in high school, but after he came back from California, he was just different," she said. "Like, his close friend or whatever he just started treating like crap. Nobody wanted to deal with it."
The young woman said she came home to find her ex-boyfriend in front of her house on the morning of July 31. She went inside and slammed the door before alerting her father and mother that Rayl was there. Allyson Duckro told the investigator that they considered calling the cops but were hesitant, so they instead first tried to talk to Rayl through the Ring doorbell, telling him to leave several times.
Law enforcement respond to Sidney, Ohio, shooting scene after James Rayl collapsed on driveway. (Shelby County Sheriff’s Office)
"He kept ringing the doorbell… and once the Ring doorbell rings, when you start talking to it, it just starts recording," she explained. "So, you can hear dad and mom both — because I was saying I don’t want to talk to him — saying, ‘hey, man, she doesn’t want to talk to you. It’s best if you just leave her right now and if she wants to reach out, she will.’ And he just stood there ignoring us."
Allyson Duckro said that her dad went around to the garage to try to get Rayl to answer, but that’s when her ex-boyfriend began fiddling with the front door handle, so her dad went and got his gun "just in case." Rayl then began "really busting on the door," she added.
James Rayl seen slamming his weight repeatedly into the front door of his ex-girlfriend's home in Sidney, Ohio. (Shelby County Sheriff’s Office)
She said her dad went over and began physically holding the door shut, but "I don’t even know how, because you saw my dad and he’s a big man, but he somehow starts overpowering my dad" from the other side of the door.
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Allyson Duckro said she was on the phone with 911 by that point when Rayl broke the glass and the door frame became loose, and she went to hide before hearing gunshots. Police arrived on the scene soon after.
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