Should I be surprised? Not sure how many of you remember this semi-recent event:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/30/b ... ry.shooting.ap/index.html

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home was cleared in the shootings Monday by a grand jury.

Joe Horn, 61, shot the two men in November after he saw them crawling out the windows of a neighbor's house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena.

Horn called 911 and told the dispatcher he had a shotgun and was going to kill the men. The dispatcher pleaded with him not to go outside, but Horn confronted the men with a 12-gauge shotgun and shot both in the back.

"The message we're trying to send today is the criminal justice system works," Harris County District Attorney Kenneth Magidson said.

Horn's attorney, Tom Lambright, has said his client believed the two men had broken into his neighbor's home and that he shot them only when they came into his yard and threatened him.

The two Horn suspected of committing burglary, Hernando Riascos Torres, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30, were unemployed illegal immigrants from Colombia. Torres was deported to Colombia in 1999 after a 1994 cocaine-related conviction.

The episode touched off protests from civil rights activists who said the shooting was racially motivated and that Horn took the law into his own hands. Horn's supporters defended his actions, saying he was protecting himself and being a good neighbor to a homeowner who was out of town.

"I understand the concerns of some in the community regarding Mr. Horn's conduct," Magidson said. "The use of deadly force is carefully limited in Texas law to certain circumstances ... In this case, however, the grand jury concluded that Mr. Horn's use of deadly force did not rise to a criminal offense."

Lambright did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Texas law allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves if it is reasonable to believe they are in mortal danger. In limited circumstances, people also can use deadly force to protect a neighbor's property; for example, if a homeowner asks a neighbor to watch over his property while he's out of town.

It's not clear whether the neighbor whose home was burglarized asked Horn to watch over his house.

Matthew

Cool. Good thing his instincts are right.

No deterrent works better than a bit of lead shot in the spine.

Ha! Check out this guy's photo:

Quote:

Holy damned!!

I'm not sure if he should yodel of shoot?
It looks like some Danish version of Bubba!!!

Sort of a feel good story.

It's good to see that the justice system prevailed and also that these two will not be repeat offenders anymore. Mr. Horn just saved his fellow taxpayers in Texas hundreds of thousands of dollars in the coming years. He should get a commendation.

I heard the audio of the 911 call a while back - pretty amazing!

Quote:

I don't give a sh1t if he looks like Daisy Duck, he did the right thing!

I was thinking more on the lines of the Little Drummer Boy.


The mental image of that face chasing after me with a shotgun gave me nightmares.

Well, as much as I love to see the bad guys blowed up, I'm not so sure about this one...

I wasn't there, so I certainly can't judge, but if it were me, I would have tried to keep the two knuckleheads at bay until the police showed up to deal with them.

If they made even the slightest move toward me, then I would feel alright about doing what I had to do.

I'd like to think that this would send a nice message to would-be criminals, but most are too stupid to learn anything from this.


Are you allowed to shoot an intruder in the back if he is running from your property with stolen goods in Texas? If that is the law, then I guess this guy was kinda doing the same thing... I dunno...

I can't say I'm sad for the two that got offed.

The father-in-law of one of the guys at the music collaboration site I hang out at was recently tried for murder - he shot a guy who reached into his cash register:

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/361183.html

That sucks, coulda been much much worse for him though.

I can't imagine how consuming that is to go through 3 years of dealing with attorneys, depositions, court dates, negotiations, he probably finds it relieving to be on probation and paying restitution.