Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman -- whose office responded to the shooting at the Hermans' home -- said he believes the mother and her two children were in a life-and-death situation and she had no choice but to exercise her constitutional right to self-defense.

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Walton is in Delaware County, 120 miles northwest of New York City.

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Garry Walton, 21, of County Waterford, Ireland, drowned on an excursion off Playa de Las Americas in November 1996.

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Mr Walton, 21, of County Waterford, Ireland, drowned on a boat excursion.

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He left at about midnight with a bag containing cans of beer and slept rough behind an Iceland store on County Road, Walton.

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Walton Middle School, in Albemarle County, Virginia.

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Mr Walton's parents, who moved with him to County Waterford, Ireland when he was a teenager, have long campaigned for answers over what happened to their son.

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