Police: Homeowner Didn't Have To Use Deadly Force

NBC5 Internet ^ | January 14, 2004 | Staff

[tberry]

Police: Homeowner Didn't Have To Use Deadly Force Shooter Says 2 Men Tried To Rob Him

POSTED: 9:54 AM CST January 13, 2004 UPDATED: 5:49 PM CST January 14, 2004

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Police now say they think a shooter in Grand Prairie did not have to use deadly force.

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Homeowner Fatally Shoots Men

SURVEY A Grand Prairie homeowner, with a concealed handgun license, says two men stormed his home and forced him to withdraw cash. He says he felt his life was in danger before he fatally shot them. Should he have been arrested on capital murder charges?

Yes, the shooting was not justified No, the shooting was justified Unsure

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Foyil Edward Deal, 63, says two men stormed his home and forced him to withdraw cash from an ATM Tuesday morning.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Live Vote Should Homeowner Be Charged With Capital Murder? Discussion: Was Man Justified? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the drive home, Deal, who has a concealed handgun license, says he pulled out a pistol from his pocket and shot Wesley Lewis Duncan, 40, and Wylie Bailey Casey, 35, in the head.

"They may have known about him, may have known he had monies," Detective John Brimmer (pictured, left) said.

Deal is in the Dallas County Jail after a judge set bond at $750,000.

A grand jury will hear the case to decide if there is enough evidence to prosecute the case.

Consuelo Mendoza is standing by her neighbor's story.

"I can only tell you that people have been coming in and out of there that we don't know, that is not normal for him," he said.

"For him to have done this, he would have been extremely threatened," he said.

Duncan had a lengthy criminal record that included burglary charges.

[FITZ]

I had a feeling while reading the article that it was something like that. Otherwise he should have shot them when they first came into his home.

[American_Centurion]

Ask the DA if the perps had kidnapped a cop would deadly force be justified? You already know what the answer is, if you even look like you may touch the uniform of a LEO then you have "assaulted" him and deadly force is automatically justified.

[Sloth]

There has been speculation in the local press that Deal did, in fact, know these two and that they were coming to collect a drug debt.

Speculation on the basis of evidence (conspicuously absent from this story), or speculation on the basis of the press's hatred of gun owners?

[philman_36]

It happens. One half of the Rightous Brothers died of a cocaine overdose at 67 recently....
Point taken.
Part of the reason I laugh with scorn at the "5% of the population" statistic oft bandied about.
Methinks letting the cat out of the bag would change many minds.

[Deguello]

"were in there with permission to start with"????

Uh, one had a full face mask on. The good guy shot both in the head while all were inside the vehicle. Seating position has not been revealed.

[sinkspur]

Speculation on the basis of evidence (conspicuously absent from this story),

Cop-talk. My sons are Dallas cops, and beat cops know what goes on in neighborhoods, especially those where drug deals are common. This neighborhood was one of them.

[Protagoras]

More to the story than we know is my guess.

[sinkspur]

Your gratutious swipe at LE has nothing whatever to do with the subject of this thread.

[steve-b]

So, the basis for this defamatory "speculation" is that it was a bad neighborhood?

Sounds like I called this one (see Msg#32).

[smith288]

I hope the victim emptied his weapon into the goblins, reloaded, emptied it again, and then urinated on their stinking corpses.

That post was worthy enough for me to laugh (and agree with) even through my current migraine.

[Slings and Arrows]

Thank you very much. It came from the heart.

[Gerasimov]

if you even look like you may touch the uniform of a LEO then you have "assaulted" him and deadly force is automatically justified

Someone watches "The Shield" too much.

[American_Centurion]

It absolutely does.

Go kidnap a LEO and when he kills you see if there is one question in anyones mind if "deadly force" was justified.

It matters not that he may have known them, it matters not that he may have bought drugs from them. If they indeed did kidnap him, a question that wouldn't arise had he been a LEO regardless of alleged drug use, then deadly force is authorized for him as it would be for a LEO.

Deserved and served.

[gridlock]

He didn't have to use deadly force. He could have just surrendered meekly and been killed. That way there would be only one dead person instead of two. That's a 50% reduction in handgun deaths right there... How do you expect the police to define success?

< sarc> Definitely remembering to close the sarcasm tag on this one...

[sinkspur]

Nothing to do with the thread, soldier. If you stay here long enough, you'll find plenty of cop-bashing threads where you can jack up your testosterone to your hearts content.

You're trying to turn this thread into one.

[American_Centurion]

OK I'll admit some hyperbole in the sentance Gerazimov quoted. But my statement still stands about the kidnapping.

[US_MilitaryRules]

I'd like to replace the ammo for him. Who knows what they were going to do to him later. He had a chance to save his life and did what he had to do.

[American_Centurion]

Though my "born on date" doesn't show it. I have "been here" longer than you.