Posted on 03/20/2006 7:41:12 AM PST by Ninian Dryhope
When intruders held his family at gunpoint, victim fought back and survived 3 bullets
Bill Harvey can't explain why he's alive to tell how he wrestled a gun from a robber, shot the man and then survived a barrage of bullets from the suspect's three accomplices.
The violent scene unfolded about 6 p.m. Saturday inside Harvey's west Houston home in the 2200 block of Woodland Park Drive while his wife and five children watched.
"I don't know what to think," Harvey, 34, said Sunday. "I absolutely have no remorse now for killing a man, and I'm trying to figure out if that's right or wrong."
Police said Harvey would not face criminal charges. He was shot in the neck, side and lower back. The wound to his neck barely missed his carotid artery.
The name of the intruder Harvey shot has not been confirmed. He wasn't carrying any identification but investigators said they found an electronic hotel door key in his pocket.
"We're trying to see who he might have been with," said Houston Police Sgt. J.T. Wyers.
Harvey gave this account of the night of the gunfight:
The men showed up at his house posing as customers to the family's shipping business, which transports goods to Honduras. Hondurans living in Houston often use the service to send goods back to family and friends, Harvey said.
Demanded money
Before the men arrived at his home, someone called Harvey to ask if he had any shipping boxes. Though an unusual request on a Saturday, Harvey told the caller he had some at his home.
Four Spanish-speaking men seeking boxes arrived outside Harvey's home about 15 minutes later. While showing the men boxes in his garage, they pulled out guns and ordered Harvey and his wife to give them money. Inside, the men rounded up the couple's five children in the living room and stood guard over them.
The men repeatedly pointed their weapons at the heads of family members as they demanded money. One man vaguely threatened Harvey by telling him not to worry because he would be sleeping after they left.
"I knew he was going to kill me," Harvey said.
As one man stood guard over Harvey in the kitchen, another took his wife into another room to seek her jewelry.
"After they took my wife I knew I had to do something," he said. "I felt I had to react."
He wrestled the gun out of his captor's hands then shot him dead before the other three men ran back toward the kitchen. A shootout followed as the men fired their weapons at Harvey. He was struck three times as he returned fire until emptying the gun in his hand. His wife and children were unharmed.
"They came out spraying bullets at me," he said. "I wasn't trying to dodge the bullets. I was walking right up to the men to shoot them because I thought I was gonna be killed."
Description of car
After Harvey left the hospital Sunday, he and his family returned home to gather some belongings before spending the night with family members. Crime scene investigators marked 21 bullet holes and casings.
"It was a miracle to walk in that house and see all those bullets," Harvey said. "I don't know how my family wasn't grazed and I didn't get hit more than three times."
Police believe at least one of the other men was shot before they fled the home in a late-model gray or silver Honda Accord with temporary license plates.
Harvey's wife later told police she thought the intruders might be from Honduras. "They all spoke Spanish — she thought it was a Honduran accent," Wyers said.
Although the investigation into the armed robbery is continuing, Wyers said police believe Harvey's account.
American robbers won't work that hard and would demand a lot more money.
Gotta wonder what caliber he was shot with since he only spent one day in the hospital. Other than that, good shooting to take out one and wound another.
Nice!
He shouldn't feel guilty for not feeling guilty. He did the right thing.
The only sad part to this story is the fact that he only killed one of the robbers, not all four.
This man obviously stands good with the Lord.
Could have just as easily been a .45 or a .357. Just depends on where you get hit.
He should only feel guilty that he didn't kill all three.
Darwin strikes again!
What kind of mental defective do you have to be to commit an armed robbery in the most armed state in the union, and the one that executes the most people?
Well, that was an incredibly stupid thing to do....
"I wasn't trying to dodge the bullets. I was walking right up to the men to shoot them "
WOW! Can you just picture that!
A .45 or .357 in the neck would be kinda lethal IMHO.
Every illegal alien is a predator.
Caliber isn't everything. I well placed .380 Remington Golden Sabre to the solar plexus is more effective than a .44 magnum graze to the arm.
This "my gun is bigger than your gun is childish".
Reaquisition is a big factor in a home firefight as well. I'll take my 9mm over my .357 any day for home defense. The 9mm Kurz is for carry.
A few years back, a Miami man was shot dead in front of his house by robbers, but his wife was unharmed. At first, the cops believed the wife's account of the incident.
Later, it was revealed that the wife knew the shooter, and the whole incident has never completely explained satisfactory. CSI Miami is probably taking ideas from real crime scenes.
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