Man won’t face charges for University of Tampa student shot, killed after mistakenly getting into wrong car

TAMPA, Fla. - The man who shot and killed a University of Tampa student who mistakenly tried to get into his car will not face charges, the Hillsborough County state attorney revealed Friday.

Although the decision by prosecutors was released this week, it became official in December, when the state attorney sent a letter to Tampa Police saying, "a review of the facts gathered during the investigation and the applicable law compels the conclusion that use of deadly force against Carson Senfield was justified."

Senfield had been celebrating his 19th birthday with his friends last September. The attorney for his family, Ralph Fernandez, said, early the next morning, Carson was shot and killed as he tried to get into a car that he thought was an Uber.

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The shooter told police he feared for his life. Fernandez said there's conflicting information about whether the man thought Carson had something in his hand, but the case was convincing enough for prosecutors to decide not to pursue charges.

Pictured: UT student Carson Senfield with his family. 

"[It's a] miscarriage of justice, clear and manifest," Fernandez told FOX 13. "This ain't right. Obviously, the kid's making a mistake. You can't shoot him like a dog like that. He's got to at least do something to you."

The news of the state attorney's decision comes on the heels of at least three cases across the country in which people were shot following a mistake they made.

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In Missouri, a teenager was shot while knocking on the wrong door. He survived. 

Pictured: Carson Senfield, a UT student shot and killed after mistakenly getting inside the wrong car. 

A 20-year-old New York woman, however, died after she was shot while turning around in someone's driveway. 

And in Texas, a cheerleader was shot as she opened the wrong car door in a grocery store parking lot. 

READ: University of Tampa student shot, killed getting into wrong car identified as New Yorker

Charges were filed in all three of those cases.

"Each time is like a dagger in the heart," Fernandez said, regarding the family's reaction to those cases. "I'm embarrassed that we are where we're at."

Authorities have not released the shooter's name, citing Marsy's Law, which was passed in 2018 to protect the identity of the victims of crimes. 

Although Fernandez believes this is a misuse of the law, investigators view the shooter as a potential victim because he claims he feared for his life.