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.
Indeed. One would think the clerk woke up with the notion of killing someone from reading the posts here.
I have zero sympathy for the ripoff artist, or his accomplice. And as for the liberal DA in Austin, may he be ripped off daily until he gets an inkling of who the real criminals are.
So then if I go and grab jewelry from ajewelry store nobody can touch me????
I agree, if I didn’t feel threatened, I imagine I would not use deadly force either. But, I just think this is what we are in for, as people get more frightened and angry. And I know in the human being is the ability to do things we consider grossly uncivilized. That is why I have never understood a generation (or 2) who thinks it’s a good idea to destroy what took thousands of years to build, a civil society.
He was being robbed, he had a right to shoot to kill.
If a man is braking into your home, are you suppose to question him about his intentions before you shoot to know if he was braking in to get beer out of your refrigerator or was there to rape and slaughter your family?
The Texas law allows deadly force at night to protect property that can not be recovered otherwise.
I’m not comfortable with shooting someone for a case of beer that belongs to my employer.
On the other hand, there is an old west saying which states: We don’t hang horse thieves for stealing horses. We hang horse thieves so others won’t steal horses.
This sort of reminds me of the scene in “American Graffiti”.
I don’t know about that. In Texas, AFAIK, you can shoot thieves and skulkers in the night on your property. While the reaction is well overboard in this case from a societal perspective in general, getting even a manslaughter charge will probably be work for the prosecutor. While I personally wouldn’t shoot a guy for stealing a 12 pack, I can see the frustration at general lawlessness contributing to ends like this.
A few years back they had a case in Texas where a person fired a rifle into the cab of a tow truck repo’ing a car from the guy at O’dark thirty in the morning, killing the driver. He was aquitted of any wrongdoing and the admonition was, IIRC, that if you had to do something like that you needed to do it in broad daylight and get the Sheriff with you if needed...
I might agree that shooting the guy was wrong IF it had only been a SIX pack, but a TWELVE pack? You have to draw the line somewhere.
Well put.
Depends on the beer. Budweiser certainly ain’t worth it.
Here is my bottom line on property theft: You are stealing my life. The things I own that weren’t “given” to me cost me hours of my life to obtain.
Those hours I spent obtaining them through hard work, I would MUCH rather have spent with my family or fishing.
I feel NO sympathy for those who steal, ESPECIALLY considering the billions spent every year on charitable resources in this country that insure that NO ONE goes hungry unless they are too lazy to take advantage of said resources.
Bottom line: Stolen property = stolen life...
I don't either. If we want to keep the right to self defense, we need to keep out powder dry for when we are really defending ourselves.
Just my opinion...
The person who brought up the example of a hurricane where looters are taking items from a store hit the nail on the head.
If you are stealing something from my store, I have every right to shot you, period.
Kill a man over a pack of beer? I really don’t get that mentality.
At what value would you get that mentality? Personally I wouldn’t have done it but then the guy was deliberately stealing, went there to do so and got killed for his criminal actions.
They can touch you and more, but the law says they aren't supposed to shoot to kill you. Now if you were in England, they would be in trouble if they touched you.
Bub is never a beer to die for. It is p(** water.
I can hear the late-night parody writers kicking into overdrive...”The One Beer to Have, When You’re Going to Get Shot for It!” or, “We Salute You, Mr. Case-Snatching Target Practice Shoplifter Guy”, or “If I were going to get shot for a beer, I’d be sure and make it a Dos Equis....stay thirsty, my friend!”
“Kill a man over a pack of beer? I really don’t get that mentality.”
As a young man it may seem reasonable at the time, however, this guy is going to learn why it’s just not worth the sh*tstorm and expense he will go through (especially since he tampered with evidence). Once you do that, it makes the Grand jury and DA’s job alot easier.
You know I asked myself that question and I guess I don’t really have an answer. I very possibly might shoot at a guy stealing my car, but then that begs the question what’s the dividing line dollar wise? I guess it’s under $1500, since I would definitely blast a guy trying to steal the ring my wife inherited from her mother.
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