Posted on 08/18/2009 6:30:34 AM PDT by Bubba_Leroy
A clerk at a Ben White Boulevard convenience store has been charged with murder after police say he shot and killed a man who was stealing a 12-pack of Budweiser early Sunday morning.
Jorge Luis Vielma, 22, and another man were on a "beer run," according to police, and attempted to flee after taking the beer. Police say Juan Romero, 23, a clerk at the Shell gasoline station at Ben White and South First Street, fired about a dozen shots at Vielma outside the store as he ran for a friend's waiting Mitsubishi Eclipse.
Vielma later died inside the car; his body was found early Sunday in the 1000 block of Mansell Avenue in East Austin.
Romero was charged Sunday with first-degree murder and was being held Monday at the Travis County Jail. His bail has been set at $250,000. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.
According to an arrest affidavit, Vielma and a friend, David Campos, 30, were looking for a store to take beer from and settled on the Shell station. Campos told police that he parked the car while Vielma went inside for the beer. Campos said he then saw Vielma emerge running from the store and a short man with a limp in pursuit firing at him.
After Vielma made it back to the car, Campos said that he went "into shock" and drove mindlessly to Mansell Avenue, abandoned the car and fled. He later called 911 to anonymously report the shooting, according to the affidavit.
Police found the car, which was registered to Campos, shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday. When police arrived at Campos' apartment on East Oltorf Street, he was in the process of reporting his car as stolen, according to the arrest affidavit, but police said he soon admitted his role in the incident. Police didn't say whether Campos would be charged.
Police said they later interviewed Romero, who said he fired a pistol about 12 times at Vielma, picked up the shell casings and put them in his vehicle.
He also told police that he picked up the beer dropped by Vielma and threw it into a trash bin, and he deleted images of the incident from the store's video surveillance system.
Sgt. Joseph Chacon said that although Texas law allows residents to take reasonable measures to defend their property, officials determined that, "at least on the face of it," the shooting was not reasonable.
He said it did not appear that Vielma was armed at the time of the theft.
Chacon said police are still trying to determine who owned the gun used in the shooting. The store's owner, José Carranza, told police that he had not authorized Romero to use deadly force to protect the store's property.
Carranza said Monday that he did not know where Romero got the gun and that firearms are not kept in the store.
Theft, however, has been a constant problem for Carranza and his clerks, he said.
A sign taped to the door of the store addresses beer theft: "Due to the high number of dishonest people grabbing and running away (and) stealing our beer, we must require prepayment for beer."
Carranza said that people have stolen from the store at least 10 times this year and that store clerks were robbed at gunpoint four times in the past two years.
Each time, Carranza said, he was unable to get the attention of police, even though his workers were being threatened.
"I'm frustrated with police," Carranza said. "They told us that's not our priority. Now it's a priority because somebody got hurt."
Statistics from police on incident reports at that address were not immediately available.
Consulting police records, Cpl. Scott Perry said there have been several thefts, but only one report of a robbery at the store in the past two years — in November — and that the suspect in that case was not armed. A robbery is defined as threatening or causing injury in the course of committing a theft.
Whoopsie!
I guess this was beer “to die for”, huh???
Try reading the whole story.
Beer Runs have consequences......
I’m foursquare against theft, but it isn’t a capital crime.
Due to the demonization of guns, more and more people don’t know how or when to use them. So this happens because of that ignorance.
This is the result of years of commie rat propaganda. We’d probably have 350 million happy, productive citizens in this country right now, our economy cooking along, everybody doing great, and the world emulating us, if the commie rats had never been allowed to creep in on us and prove, over and over, the law of unintended consequences.
Try reading all my posts.
Okay. Guess I’ll hit my list, too ...
before the thread gets TOO long! :)
Ping a few Texans!
Ping! Ping! Ping!
(with apologies if you’ve been pinged already!) :)
The way I read it is the clerk is in the clear as far as Texas law. The problem seems to be it’s Austin.
Here is the problem with the laws. They don’t mean that much to a D.A. that wants to make a name for himself. The D.A. can throw the guy in jail. He can press charges and he can force the accused to pay for a lawyer. When he figures the accused has sweat enough, he can also drop the charges somewhere along the line proving that Austin or any other lib city doesn’t condone that type of behavior.
What I have been trying to explain to Freepers is you have to stay well within legalities and moralities if you choose to strap on a gun.
In Texas, EVERY firearms incident when shots are fired goes to the Grand Jury.
“I agree, to shoot someone in the back as he is running away from you.. in a store.. is cowardly.”
Perhaps the clerk should have screamed insults at the perp’s mother so he would turn around, maybe even advance on him.... would that satisfy you?
“On the other hand, I don’t see it as murder.. clerk must have went temporarily nuts..”
When you see the merchandise that you depend on for your livelihood carried away a twelve pack at a time and deal with the “interesting” people that frequent these establishments between eleven at night and five in the morning I could understand “temporarily insanity”.
Good to know that deadly force is never justified for simply resisting arrest by fleeing.
It’s not just about things; it’s your very life they are stealing.
I'm going to shoot up the gubmint. They steal a lot from me and Hubby.
I would acquit the clerk and charge Campos with murder under the felony-murder doctrine - still good law in Texas.
Yep!
1. Dead beer STEALER! (he won't do THAT again!)
2. Murder charge for beer stealer Killer!
3. Possible Life Sentence for #2 above.
He really should not have killed the guy and with a little time to think about it he would probably agree. He didn't have time to think about it though. The thief forced him to make a quick decision and a life was lost over it. I don't know if it was a hardened criminal that got killed or a kid pulling a stupid stunt but the stupid stunt was pulled by the thief and not the clerk.
I feel sorry for all involved but most sorry for the poor, poorly paid clerk that is now going through hell.
1st degree murder was a stupid charge. Manslaughter would have been the reasonable charge and 1 year on the shelf would be the correct punishment IMHO.
What a terrible waste of life.
Not that interested.
Then what are you replying to me for you dirtbag cracker?
Nope, just tacks on the fleeing and eluding charge for a longer stay in jail if you do it. Also makes it harder to get bail, shows you are the kind who will run.
“nothing good happens after midnight”
Many a young lad, and lass, has heard that and stopping for a cup of coffee, or a soda, at two in the morning in many parts of most cities will give that warning new meaning.
Property Thief. Thieves should be shot.
I am not in favor of mandatory testing but some of this is getting ridiculous. It’s as insane as driving a car and not knowing what the traffic signals mean.
Hey, don’t get mad, you just aren’t that interesting.
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