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. ***
But it has bothered me ever since because I could tell that this was a really bad person and if I had been a fraction faster on the trigger that there could have been many future victims saved. It is something I try not to think about much.
That is likely true. Also "true" is that he will have to spend zillions on a lawyer to go thru the "formalities" of getting to that end.
In Florida we’d probably have a parade
>>Clip?
Amateur<<
Oh God, let’s not go down the revolver vs. auto rabbit hole!! :) ;)
Lookup the Doucette case in Louisiana. He shot his son’s molester on live broadcast TV. Not guilty.
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.
Mag dump. Adrenalin rush maybe? A bit excessive but I would not vote to convict or pursue charges.
Whenever the police or any LEO “just wants to talk to you”, it means that they are trying to determine if they can charge you with a crime. He did right in lawyering up before he went to the police.
a simple double tap probably would have got the suspect’s attention. More than that is just being ostentatious.
I agree but I’m looking at this from the legal standpoint. Some years ago we had a case in a low crime suburb near me. Some white neighborhood teens were breaking into their neighborhood cars looking to steal anything of value inside. An armed black resident heard them outside his house, and went outside to confront them. A couple of the teens managed to flee, the last one begged for his life saying I’m just a kid, but the guy went ahead and killed him anyway although the kid was unarmed and clearly presented no threat at that point. I don’t think it was even the black guy’s car, it was his neighbors.
Anyway the gun folks all came out to support him and he surprisingly got off (surprisingly because this happened outside a city in upstate NY). Personally I think he should have been charged with something, but many of the white gun owners here were happy because then they got to support a black guy who was ostensibly defending his property, supposedly demonstrating that it wasn’t just white people needing guns. Seems a lot of these cases get decided on emotion instead of the legal facts.
I would personally NO TRUE BILL this in 30 seconds but the last four shots, and especially the shot to the head after he was down may be very problematic for a Soros backed DA and Houston’s cast of characters who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.
This guy was clearly a career criminal who wasn’t very bring, using an airsoft gun.
I’m waiting for the family to show up telling us he was a good boy, he was only stealing to eat and that he was an aspiring (name of dream occupation...and of course, that he was murdered in cold blood by a white guy.
Ilhan Omar must be busy getting a riot ready...
Actually it was a wise move. They had him on video, and a pic of his truck. They eventually would have found him. I am sure he talked to a lawyer and followed his advice. By turning himself in it will be better in court, if it goes to court. Good man with a gun and a bad man dead. I can live with that. If he had of not killed him as a Texas Taxpayer, I would probably pay for the bad guy's incarceration for many years.
If it goes to court, I will pledge 100 dollars to his defense expenses.
“But he was certainly dead already.”
... and you know this how? Many are the stories of robbers getting perforated multiple times and were still able to leave the scene or do additional harm. In 2020 I remember a story where a home alone wife emptied the clip of her .380 into a black intruder and even though he was disabled he was coherent enough to ask her to stop shooting and call an ambulance.
A lot of scumbags get turned loose to offend over and over again in spite of the "legal facts". Until the "legal facts" are again used to protect We the People, We the People need to protect each other. Keep that in mind next time you're on a jury.
Smart PATRIOTS don't try to get out of jury duty. Smart Patriots try to make sure they're ON the jury.
If it was me on the jury I would let it slide. You would have to take into account that this was a high stress situation, you had some crazy acting guy waving his gun around recklessly and there’s no telling what he might do. So maybe the last shot was unnecessary, the adrenaline was pumping and one has to make a split second decision.
I’m just saying that in many parts of the country he could very well be prosecuted for that last shot. In NYC he’d have been prosecuted for sure. Just something to keep in mind if you ever find yourself in that situation. You want to make it look like you didn’t use any more force than was necessary.
And to start first aid right away.
You may not want to touch this piece of scatology, but you must go through the motions.
Stuff like this happens in latin America daily, and when the police determine the bad guy got shot doing something bad, they bag him up and that’s the end of it.
He was NOT retreating. And despite hit TV shows, there in nothing enshrined in the law that says you must only shoot them in the front.
A LARGE CASH award-—NON-Taxable.
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