Wednesday feel good story
Chief Tango sends us a link to the story of an East Dallas man who stopped a man from turning his life around with the homeowner’s weed eaters;
According to police, around 5:30 am on June 24, [Emilio] Paez awoke to a security alarm at his home in the 2700 block of Blyth Drive. He grabbed his .45-caliber handgun and headed outside with four witnesses in tow.
That’s when Paez spotted a man leaving his storage shed with two weed eaters. Police say Paez fired at the suspect six times, hitting him at least twice.
The suspect dropped the stolen lawn equipment and fled the scene. Police found Festus Johnson, a 35-year-old man matching the description of the burglar, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds a few blocks from the scene of the crime. Johnson was transported to Baylor Hospital and treated for his injuries.
Paez is not being charged and he was brilliant to to take four witnesses with him.
Category: Feel Good Stories, Guns
There are people who would say “Are weed eaters worth shooting someone over?”
I reply “Are weed eaters worth dying over?”
Good for the homeowner. Another good guy wins. But…I have to say it…more range time.
@1 Excellent point!
Have to love Texas! Where I live, the homeowner would be in jail awaiting trial on assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, numerous firearms violations, and facing a huge civil lawsuit that he would lose by the man who was simply trying to turn his life around by stealing his property….
The other lucky think is that this was Texas. That wouldn’t be a righteous shoot in many places. That said, this story makes me feel good.
A weed whacker is worth stealing?
Thanks for reminding me that if the rain ever stops, I need to mow the lawn. I’ll have elephant grass out there before too long, if we don’t get a break. The dill is up, the basil is up, the catnip is up, the radishes are thriving, but still no parsley. Poor parsley.
In the daytime, I bet he would be charged, luckily it was at night!
From Article:
“The Texas Penal code allows for the use of “deadly force to recover stolen property during a nighttime theft.””
“But, but, he was such a good, smart boy, turning his life around, getting ready to go to college and do such Great Things.”
Cue the relatives, ready to sue, aided by the ACLU, in 3. . . . .2 . . . . . 1 . . . . .
Funny, Woodman. Yes, just turning his life around.
His name was Festus? Really? He sure as hell saw Gunsmoke didn’t he? nyuck, nyuck
If you don’t get that joke you’re just too young…
2+ hits out of 6-8 on a running target at an unknown distance at night. I’d take that.
@10, Gunsmoke ended before I was born, but I still love watching reruns on TVland.
A bungling thief AND named Festus? Please… that sounds like a cliche. Or too much for God to do to one man…. jeez, he musta been begging for a bullet.
It would be a problem here. If they come in your house, or assault you in an outbuilding, you can certainly defend yourself. Shootings for property crimes are looked at on a case-by-case basis, and I wouldn’t have a lot of faith in a local jury thinking a weedeater was worth a man’s life.
#4 are you from New York? Sounds like the same thing would happen here!!
Just goes to prove, “Don’t Mess With Texas!”
Full disclosure: Houstonian here… 🙂
Lot of that (Houstonian) stuff going around.
PintoNag – it’s not a question of whether a weedeater is worth killing a thief over, it’s whether a thief in general is worthy of consuming oxygen.
More than anything else, I am curious – 5 people awake in the house at 5:30AM? That’s an early-rising family… think of this as well – that many people awake means lights etc – that thief wass pretty brazen to hit that place. Sounds career-criminal class to me….
If you are not able to shoot someone over stealing a piece of lawn care equipment, then where would it stop? A television, computer, car, jewelry?
Personally, I think that the homeowner was well within his rights as he was protecting his property. As I said, it might have “just been a weedeater,” but the next time, it could have been something more valuable.
I am with NHSparky, though. At least two shots hitting at night and distance on a moving target is really good.
@18 In broad daylight, an 18 year old man from next door broke into my house. I wasn’t home at the time. If I had been, I would have ventilated him, since I would have been in the house. But I wouldn’t have wanted a neighbor to shoot him on his way out of my house with my property. A life it worth another life, and if a life had been involved — well and good, shooting justified. I can replace property.
(The cops actually caught the perp within an hour–he left his footprints across the yard.) 🙂
Please send my house. I have two weed eaters that are broke. Cheaper than the dump.