A Houston man is facing a pretty severe penalty for defending his property , after shooting and killing one carjacker and wounding another.
It all started around 9:30 in the evening when a man pulled up to a Redbox movie rental machine in Houston, Texas. The man was busy trying to select a movie when a pair of criminals approached him, pulled a gun and demanded he hand over his car keys and cell phone. The main obliged the two crooks and they quickly climbed into his vehicle and began to pull away.
As the criminals began backing out of the parking spot, the victim pulled his own concealed weapon and fired several shots into the vehicle, killing the driver and hitting the passenger two or three times. With the driver dead, the passenger leapt from the car and sped away in another accomplice’s vehicle.
The police are now looking for the wounded carjacker and his accomplice(s).
The victim may have more worries of his own on their way. The state will convene a grand jury to hear what happened on the night in question and consider the evidence in the case before deciding whether or not the carjacking victim should be charged with a crime. Charges could range from manslaughter to murder, depending on what the grand jury decides and what the prosecutor thinks he can prove. A legal analyst for the local TV station will decide that his is a case of “justifiable homicide.” "It definitely appears to fall under or potentially fall under the penal code for defense of one's property."
It seems unconscionable that a law abiding citizen would have to worry about the legal ramifications of defending their own property, especially when it comes at such a harrowing experience. The facts of the case and the findings of the police seem to make this a clear cut case of self-defense, but in today’s convoluted legal system where roles can quickly become reversed … one never really knows. For now, the police are not expecting the man to be charged with any crime, as Texas law seems to give him clear latitude to defend his property. The man will have to suffer the stress of waiting for the grand jury’s decision before knowing for sure about his future.
Hopefully, this entire experience will soon be over for him and he can leave the terrifying incident behind him.
