Posted on 10/25/2023 8:32:28 PM PDT by grundle
A man tracked down his stolen truck in Texas Thursday and confronted the alleged car thief, who was killed in an ensuing gunfight with the car owner, police said.
The Ford truck's owner and a woman with the suspect were also wounded in the shootout at the South Park Mall parking lot in San Antonio, authorities said.
The truck's owner spotted his stolen vehicle a short distance from where he had left it, police said.
He came up to his truck and, at gunpoint, ordered a man behind the wheel and a woman in the passenger seat outside, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters.
The man and woman were seated on the ground, being held at gunpoint, when police were called, McManus said.
Then about two minutes after that call but before officers arrived, the suspect pulled his own gun and shot the Ford's owner prompting him to return fire, killing the alleged car thief, McManus added.
The woman with the suspect was critically wounded in the shooting.
"The bad guy is the one dead, yes," McManus said. "The driver of the stolen vehicle is deceased, shot by the owner of the stolen vehicle."
While McManus called the truck owner's actions an act of self-defense, the chief stopped short of endorsing what he did.
"Look, he was trying to recover his property," McManus said. "I guess it would depend on who you asked if he did the right thing or not."
The law enforcement official urged the public not to take matters like this "into your own hands."
"We would prefer that (you) call the police before taking that into your own hands," McManus said. "But he (the truck's owner) did what he felt he needed to do and we have one dead suspect and we have a critically wounded passenger who was with the suspect and we have a wounded owner of the vehicle."
The identities of the three people involved were not immediately revealed.
The truck owner is 45, the suspected car thief was 34 and the woman with him is 25, authorities said Friday.
There was a woman accompanying the truck owner when gunfire erupted but she was not wounded, police said.
Texas law allows greater latitude for recovery of stolen property, so the truck's owner could be in the legal clear, said Alexandra Klein, an assistant law professor at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.
"It's certainly more desirable to ask law enforcement for assistance in these kinds of situations and the whole thing is terribly tragic — but potentially, under Texas law, he may have been acting within what the law says he got to do," Klein told NBC News on Friday. "The specific provision that authorizes deadly force to recover property is different (in Texas), a lot of other states don't allow the use of deadly force under any circumstances to recover property."
I’m sorry you missed the original posting. You were pinged to it though.
I live in the San Antonio area and never heard any follow up story to that effect.
With a pickup costing $100,000 I say it is ok to hang em.
I am so sick of that line.
If the police did their jobs, then Joe average citizen would not be forced into that position.
I'm sorry to hear the truck owner was injured. The thief and the woman got what they had coming.
Actually, the thief was not shot for stealing, but rather for attempting to murder the truck owner.
What a story! I laughed. I cried. I was deeply moved. Can’t wait for the movie comes out on Net Flics
Yup. In the good old days, horse thieves were hanged.
Actually they didn't take bullets until the male thief pulled a gun and shot the owner.
Me too! We need permission to use deadly force to protect property everywhere. Most states require “reasonable” force. It’s not a fair fight in most instances, eg., female vs male. A weapon would be a great equalizer.
It can only be “tragic” because the victim was injured.
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Exactly right!
He didn’t shoot the thief to recover his truck, he shot him in self defense when the thief tried to kill him. Self defense is always a valid reason.
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Has the Chief forgotten that little fact? Seems he might have!
We need permission to use deadly force to protect property everywhere.
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Permission? I don’t like asking for permission.
“It’s certainly more desirable to ask law enforcement for assistance in these kinds of situations ...”
This is a perfect example of the saying “when seconds count the police are only minutes away”.
Another point: if you are familiar with the price of mid-range to high-end pickups these days you know why the owner acted quickly.
“We would prefer that (you) call the police before taking that into your own hands,”
“So we can come and fill out paperwork and tell you there is little we can do...”
Dead, armed perp is good in my book of life.
The thief shot the auto owner. Period.
Then, the owner defended his life. Period.
The thief is dead. He won’t do it again. Period.
Yes. This is still Texas where I live. Period.
exactly... the thief thought the stolen goods was worth a man’s life, and it was.
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