Posted on 01/10/2023 12:45:42 PM PST by thegagline
A grand jury will decide whether an armed taqueria customer, who shot and killed a robber last week in southwest Houston and is now being hailed a hero, will be criminally charged.
Investigators said the 46-year-old customer, who police have not identified because he's not under arrest, turned himself in and is cooperating with detectives.
The 46-year-old's attorney sent Eyewitness News the following statement:
"My client, who wishes to remain anonymous, was dining with a friend at El Ranchito Taqueria and as it has been seen on video, a robbery suspect entered the restaurant, and pointed a weapon at my client and the other customers demanding money. In fear of his life and his friend's life my client acted to protect everyone in the restaurant.
In Texas, a shooting is justified in self-defense, defense of others and in defense of property. The customer has met with the Harris County District Attorney's Office and Investigators with HPD homicide. He fully intends to continue cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
When the investigation is complete, this case will be presented to a Grand Jury. We are confident that a Grand Jury will conclude that the shooting was justified under Texas Law. This event has been very traumatic, taking a human life is something he does not take lightly and will burden him for the rest of his life. For that reason, he wishes to remain anonymous. Due to the overwhelming coverage, we ask the media and the public to respect his privacy."
University of Houston Law Center Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson said even if he is indicted, a jury likely would not convict.
"When a person uses force during an armed robbery, they have very heightened protection under the law," Thompson explained. "I know that there are a lot of questions about the use of a gun because it wasn't a real firearm, but that really doesn't make a difference because it was used as a firearm and a person would reasonably believe that they were facing an immediate threat of deadly force."
The suspect can be seen on video taking control of the taqueria and pointing what looks like a gun at customers.
Suddenly, one customer starts shooting, even moving closer to the suspect as he keeps firing shots.
He puts what looks like the customers' stolen money back on the table, then appears to realize the suspect's gun wasn't real.
***
On Monday, the medical examiner identified 30-year-old Eric Eugene Washington as the robbery suspect who was killed.
Records show Washington had an extensive criminal history and was out on bond during the would-be robbery.
Records show that in 2015, Washington was convicted on a lesser charge of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 15 years in prison in connection to the shooting death of 62-year-old Hamid Waraich, a cell phone store owner. Houston police also charged two other men.
According to records, Washington was released on parole in 2021 and charged with assaulting his girlfriend in December 2022. ***
He shot an armed assailant. What the hell is wrong with this country that he gets arrested for that?
He did what was right, but you can’t pick up the dead offender’s gun WHILE shooting him in the head.
Yeah butt, he killed a Negro Utte. Can’t do that.
We the People need to look out for each other. The police won't protect us; the prosecutors and judges will protect the criminals. So we need to protect each other, both on the street and in the courtroom.
Sorops + tree + rope = Justification
Yes. The shooter saved the public from future encounters with the robber animal. Doing what the courts fail to do when they give a slap on the wrist and release criminals to rob and threaten others. The shooter is a hero.
He would have been found anyway so coming in with a lawyer was wise. He was right to not wait for the cops. Instead of being interviewed with his lawyer the cops would have arrested him, run him through the system, and blasted his information all over the media and kept him in jail until he could find a lawyer to get him out.
>He shot an armed assailant. What the hell is wrong with this country that he gets arrested for that?
He shot him 4-5 times, then approached and shot twice while the assailant lay prone, THEN picked up the assailant’s gun and a second afterwards shot one final bullet into the assailant’s head. That’s what is going to get him prison.
As a side note, armed robbery of a low-end taco joint in Texas has got be nearly as risky as armed robbery of drug dealers.
In fact, the risk-reward ratio is probably in favor of robbing drug dealers - at least they have large sums of money.
It was an IQ test, and this perp failed.
Yep. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Clip?
Amateur
Would you, personally, convict him?
But the police just wanted to talk to him. What could possibly go wrong?
Never shoot a person after they’re dead. I’ll have to remember that.
I think they would have found him anyway. The truck is quite distinctive and someone would have turned him in. It’s best to lawyer up and shut up and turn yourself in so as to not appear to be running because you think you did something wrong.
JURY NULLIFICATION.
But he was certainly dead already. So, -MAYBE- discharge of a firearm, abuse of a corpse.
Sending shootings to the Grand Jury in Texas isn’t a bad thing. If he is No Billed, it makes suing him much harder to do. A guy I worked with had to shoot a robber and his case went to the Gran Just. He was done in one day and never got legally hassled afterwards for the shooting.
In a just world he would not be prosecuted. The person he took out was a real POS. However, I think the main problem here is the last shot he took after the robber was obviously disabled.
I know in the movies they advocate doing a “double-tap” (just to be sure), but that does not go over as well IRL.
A guy I worked with had to shoot a robber and his case went to the Grand Jury.
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