(TX) Intruder killed by resident of home

[Drizzt]

Intruder killed by resident of home

By: Jamie Nash, HCN staff
08/21/2005

A home invasion on Friday night left one man dead and police trying to determine his identity. It was around 1 a.m. when the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office received a call regarding a shooting in the 14200 block of Wildwood Drive in the Lake Wildwood subdivision.

According to Lt. Darrel Conn, with the MCSO detectives division, officers arrived to find a Hispanic male lying in the yard dead from an apparent gunshot wound.

Conn said the home is owned by an elderly man and his wife, who were home when the dead man allegedly decided to walk in. He said the homeowner told officers he was awake playing video games when an unknown male holding a beer bottle walked into the home through the front door. He is described as a Hispanic male, between 30 and 35.

The homeowner confronted the man and told him to get out of his house.
Conn says the intruder went outside, but remained on the premises and went to the back yard. He says the homeowner then retrieved a revolver from inside the house before going outside to look around his property. When the elderly man discovered the intruder in the backyard, a struggle ensued and the intruder was shot at least once in the chest.

Conn says the dead man had only one piece of identification on his person, which does not appear to be his. There was no immediate way of determining his identity. The homeowner will not face charges.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15072539&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532215&rfi=6

An elderly fellow staying up all night to play video games? I like this guy.

 

[Taurus 66]

Conn said the home is owned by an elderly man and his wife, who were home when the dead man allegedly decided to walk in.

Dead man walking. Heh. Bernie's his name.

Who writes this stuff?

 

[mfree]

dunno, but I heard a nice one this morning, Bush "Drumming up support for the war in Utah". Sometimes I wish they'd hire reporters after they write a nice thesis on something and have it graded by a good, stern English professor.

Good/bad one on the homeowner... good for responding to an intrusion armed, bad for *going outside* and losing the tactical advantage.

 

[slopemeno]

"Yeah, Hi, 911? Yeah, listen, uh, I was up playing vido games and this guy walked right into my house....Yeah, ..Huh, Oh I shooed him out, but he's in my backyard right now. Oh, yeah, all the doors are locked...Oh, a latin male adult, about 5' 5", 180. White shirt, blue jeans...Oh, I hear a car out front, that must be your guys...Oh, I'll stay inside till they knock...OK, thanks alot."

 

[Werewolf]

The shooter is lucky he's in TX - maybe.

It doesn't seem to me, based on the story, to be a good shoot. Once the guy left the house the home owner should have called the cops to come run the guy (probably drunk) out of his yard. Instead he chose to escalate the situation and go out and confront him. Morally correct, understandable from a this is my land get the hell off of it POV, gutsy, but stupid.

OTOH - call me callous but Darwin wins again and another fool is removed from the gene pool - no tears shed here. I just hope it turns out alright for the home owner.

 

[wdlsguy]

an unknown male holding a beer bottle walked into the home through the front door.

The door should have been locked.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Conn says the dead man had only one piece of identification on his person, which does not appear to be his.

Juan Doe.

 

[PCGS65]

I agree with WEREWOLF. But hindsight is always 20/20. This one can be taken many ways.

 

[The_Antibubba]

WOW!! Self-defense in Texas! Who would've thought it possible?

 

[Gordy Wesen]

Hope the dead dudes not a Mexican cause his family will soon have a nice place in America to live.

 

[Shorts]

I miss Texas. By God, where right is right and its still ok to fight for it.

Some people just don't understand it. Those if you from Texas, at least you do.

 

[ruger270man]

I think its great that the elderly man was playing video games

 

[Ryder]

I'm not in Texas but....

I am up all night long and for the last 30 Summers or so my front and back doors have been open to the night breeze. No excitement to report yet but interupt my video gaming at your own expense. My 140lb dog loves to excercise, my carpets need replacing, and I'm always looking for a good excuse to do a little shooting.

I've read similar stories where an unknown hispanic intruder refuses to leave. Anybody got a clue on why this happens? No place to go? Do they not want to be told what to do? Slow to comprehend? Are they planning a best course of attack?

I'd rather not shoot people for being stupid if I can help it. Don't have enough bullets for that

 

[Matt G]

It doesn't seem to me, based on the story, to be a good shoot. Once the guy left the house the home owner should have called the cops to come run the guy (probably drunk) out of his yard. Instead he chose to escalate the situation and go out and confront him. Morally correct, understandable from a this is my land get the hell off of it POV, gutsy, but stupid.

So the homeowner is to just wonder if the guy who came in his house is still on his property, in the dark, while he sits in his lighted house, questioning if the guy is coming back?!?

Look, calling the cops is a good idea. I firmly embrace the concept, and hope all of y'all and that I would have the good sense to call the cops. The story doesn't say that he didn't. It doesn't address when the cops were called, exactly. It just says that the SO was called to respond to a shooting.

There's some speculation that the homeowner should have locked the doors and waited for cops to come. (Cowered in the house and hidden might be the way some others would look at it...) But, to quote one of C.S. Lewis' characters, "If there's a wasp in the room, I want to see it."

A homeowner has a right to investigate his own property. In Texas, anyway. Texas has no duty of a homeowner to retreat from a threat at his home. From the story it's not clear if the confrontation took place on the back 40 or under the curtilage of the roof overhang, but in any case, the patrol was not to kill the man but to identify whether any threats remained at his house.

Note: it's dangerous bidness to go walking into other people's houses down here and go threatening old folks.

 

[only1asterisk]

I miss Texas. By God, where right is right and its still ok to fight for it.

Amen!


David

 

[Shorts]

A homeowner has a right to investigate his own property. In Texas, anyway. Texas has no duty of a homeowner to retreat from a threat at his home.

I don't know why this concept is such a huge deal and why its such a shock that you can and are allowed to 'defend yer stuff'. That's how it should be EVERYWHERE. Posession is 9/10ths of the law. Your house, your car, your property...no one else has the right to take it from you or be in it without your permission. And if they are, they are wrong.

How simple is that?

Most times people are drunk or under an influence and just wonder around until they get to an open door. That's why you should always lock your front door. At least you'll hear the fool bouncing off the porch trying to get in and you can react appropriately without being rushed.

 

[20cows]

Some people just don't understand it. Those if you from Texas, at least you do.

Yep.

 

[Tall Man]

Posession is 9/10ths of the law.

Exactly what does this mean?

 

[Shorts]

It means if you have it, its hard to take it away, theft or otherwise.

Used a lot in divorce proceedings or "word vs word" arguments. More than likely, the person who is in posession is the one who is more credible.

 

[Rickstir]

Standing Wolf,
One for you, well done.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

Sometimes I wish they'd hire reporters after they write a nice thesis on something and have it graded by a good, stern English professor.

Or just have them write a couple of news stories and have an eighth-grade English teacher correct it.

The frightening thing is that by the time we read these stories, they have probably been edited by the reporter, a section editor, and a copy editor.

 

[Standing Wolf]

The frightening thing is that by the time we read these stories, they have probably been edited by the reporter, a section editor, and a copy editor.

Not one of whom spent longer than thirty seconds on any given "article."

 

[chris in va]

Almost makes me want to live in TX again. Sortof.

Can't you guys turn the heat down a little?

 

[Matt G]

Almost makes me want to live in TX again. Sortof.
Can't you guys turn the heat down a little?

Don't we wish. It was 99 degrees on my front porch at 10PM last night.

 

[SBaker]

It's obvious none of you being so critical knows anything about breaking news or you'd know that reporters who cover it often don't have time to proof their own stories and cringe when they see what they've done in print the next day. In fact, some are dictated over the phone to someone in the office and go to print with just a glance.
As for an English teacher - that would be useless because they know nothing about AP style. If you don't know what that is, you're not educated enough on the topic to be critical of a journalist.