When James Fairbanks, a 43-year-old Omaha middle school employee, went apartment hunting, he was horrified to discover that a convicted sex offender lived just a few doors down.
Unwilling to sit back and allow this predator access to young children in the area, Fairbanks took action—with tragic consequences.
In an open letter, Fairbanks recounts what he saw when he drove past the residence of 64-year-old Matteio Condoluci—a pedophile who had been convicted for assaulting a 5-year-old boy and raping a 13-year-old girl.
In Condoluci’s backyard Fairbanks noticed a child’s playhouse set up in such a way that any little girl or boy could easily access it.
Seeing this predatory tactic left Fairbanks feeling sickened and determined to protect the nearby children from Condoluci.
Heart pounding with fear, he grabbed his pistol and headed over to confront him.
According to Daily Mail reports, things didn’t go as planned when Fairbank arrived at Condoluci’s residence.
He claims that he forced the man inside at gunpoint in order to threaten him into staying away from children but instead of complying with his demands, Condoluci rushed toward him in an attempt to disarm him–prompting Fairbanks to shoot him in the chest–ultimately killing him instantly.
Afterward, unable to sleep for days after witnessing what had happened that day, he posted about it on social media where many people praised his actions as heroic while others thought them deplorable–including one registered sex offender identified only as “Jay” who said that it had struck terror into other convicts like himself.
One person who was grateful for what Fairbanks did was Laura Smith–the mother of one of Conduloci’s victims who passed away nearly two decades after being sexually assaulted by him at age 5 due to drug overdose related complications.
After learning of her son’s abuser death she thanked Fairbank for taking revenge on her child’s abuser before starting a petition aimed at having charges against him dropped, pointing out that not only had Conduloci raped two children but also molested countless others during his lifetime.
Despite being charged with first degree murder for killing Conduloci (although claiming self defense) James Faribanks doesn’t see himself as a hero despite many people hailing him as one.
He insists instead that rather than focus efforts on freeing him those concerned should work towards reforming laws concerning sex offenders instead so those like himself don’t feel that they have no choice but to take matters into their own hands again in future if they want justice done properly.