Posted on 08/21/2005 8:38:27 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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.
Or waiting for the homeowner to get distracted or go to sleep so he could enter and do what he wished.
In this case, you shoot first, ask stupid questions later.
I don't know what I'd do in a similar situation. I'll trust his judgement, he was there. I might very well do the same thing.
Did he sleep well that night? Probably better than if he had called the police, they came racing with sirens, the man ran before they got there, and so he would have sat all night wondering.
I think there's a saying in the south "Some people just need killing". It's a good saying, and I believe it fit the situation. That's my take.
Ya hear the joke about a Mexican who walks in on a old Texan playing Doom?
If police response time is an hour he could have sat in his kitchen sipping mint iced tea and eating crackers until the troops arrived.
I'm the biggest RKBA proponent around, but I can't see having an elderly man actively looking for someone in his darkened backyard so that he can shoot him. The dead guy was a drunk who left the house earlier. The old man could have simply locked his doors, ensured his sidearm was loaded, and awaited police. No muss, no fuss.
~ Blue Jays ~
Not sure I could classify this justified shooting as "unpleasantness". In fact, I find it quite pleasant that there will be no more waste of taxpayer monies to incarcerate him, feed him, clothe him, etc. Great ending as far as I am concerned. Same thing would happen here, except I don't play video games.....Mr Remington lives here for a reason, folks.
He had entered, and considering there were two elderly and unarmed people at that point, he could've done whatever he wanted to then and there. If you were a burglar, would you hang around a house in which the people are probably calling the police?
Yeah, you're going to wait 60 minutes in the slim hope that the police *might* get there while you pray the big thug in your yard doesn't do something like:
1. Steal your car.
2. Cut your phone and electricity and assault the house in the confusion.
3. Get pissed off and vent/blow your propane tank.
4. Torch your house with you in it and assault you if you try to escape.
Remember, this is a rural setting. No outside help.
No, but that's just me. Burglars in TX have done exactly that - then when their friend came to help them, assaulted the house, killed the inhabitants, looted the house, and left long before the cops got there.
I'm sure that this poor guy just took a wrong turn leaving the bar and ended up at this house he probably thought was his. Was he too drunk to forget his real ID? Since when did being drunk fly as an excuse? Why would a harmless drunk choose to fight a homeowner with a pistol? And why would a homeowner choose to shoot a harmless drunk?
I notice Lake Wildwood is not far from a place that has one of the best names anywhere, "Cut 'n Shoot" Texas.
I too would be very angered by a drunkard waltzing through my door, yet if I commanded the boozer to leave and he did...it's shaping-up to be a decent night without a gunfight.
The point that we seem to be missing here is that the victim was described as elderly while the criminal was described as being in his early-thirties. The homeowner had complete superiority by being in a fortified position (his house) with access to firearms, telephones, lights, and anything else he might have needed.
The imminent threat was over and the older man put his wife in a weak tactical position by abandoning her and going outside.
~ Blue Jays ~
Cut'n shoot is just one of the many gems in Texas.
Gunbarrel City is another treasure - and yes, they used to make that there.
Law-abiding citizens surviving a dead intruder; I love it. I just hope the mutt's fellow hijos de las putas don't decide to seek vengeance.
He left the house but not the property. That's still a threatening position - could be waiting for friends to come and reinforce him.
You do know that rural houses in TX have their utility connections exposed on the outside of the structure, right? It's stupidly easy to cut telephone lines, power, and remove some of the other "advantages" the homeowner has according to you. In the dark of a moonless Texas night, without power, without lights, without commo, and with an unknown number of assailants, you're fair game.
An aside, this scenario should be played out any time this situation occurs so the homeowners who pop the perps aren't left feeling like the lone ranger. They could form a support group ;^)
FGS
Yup, that name's about as good as Gun Barrel City, Texas (up around Cedar Creek Lake).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.