Assess this recent in-the-news defensive shooting incident (Houston)

From the article

Therein lies the rub.

They have a photo of him and his vehicle. Unless he was a random traveler passing through the odds are they will identify him.

The smartest thing he can do (IMO) is retain an attorney and turn himself in.

 

My anticipation is that the person dining (with his buddy across the table) felt in his gut this was imminently going to become a murder scene of various innocent restaurant patrons…so he elected to shoot. .

My sense is he might NOT have made that same decision, for example, if it was wide-open outdoor dining and the criminal gunman was rapidly sprinting down the street far away from the people he had just robbed. His assessment probably was that they were still just trapped fish in a barrel at that precise time.

I concur he should retain counsel and turn himself in to authorities to yield as positive an outcome as possible.

 

When the robber was shot, the robber still had his gun arm and hand outstretched ready to shoot* at anyone. When he walked "toward the door" he could have been going for the guy in the left corner by the door, or the customer on the far right under the TV, or may have been ready to turn around one more time, etc.

I can't understand the Spanish that the Taqueria owner was saying, so all I have to go by is the English translation that ABC13 is throwing at us. ABC13 says the robber was leaving, but it's probable that the robber was going after the remaining customers that he walked past when he entered the restaurant .

Not to mention, if anyone thinks that man with the worn out 40+ year old truck has the wherewithal to put an attorney on retainer, well they ought to start a GoFundMe on his behalf.

*Fake gun, but nobody knew.

 

I don’t think they are super sleuths. That “ ‘70’s to ‘80’s “ truck couldn’t have been made after 1977 because Ford went to square headlights in ‘78 and the 7th generation came out in 1980 with a completely different body altogether.

I agree with shouldn’t have left and turn yourself in. There are probably more lime green Lamborghini’s registered in Harris county than 70-77 red Ford trucks, especially with distinguishing characteristics like that one. They must not be looking very hard…

 

The shooter may be in a ton of trouble as the perp was apparently leaving posing no threat at that time to the shooter so it’s not a case of imminent threat to the shooter or anyone else.

 

^ that seems like speculation.

What if the shooting in the video didn’t occur and when the bad guy got to the door, he locked it and turned back around. Might be a little too late for action at that point and your indecision cost you your only opportunity at living for more than a few seconds longer. Of course that too, is speculation…

Actually impossible with the information we have but they were acting on what they knew at the moment, not what we know, now that it’s over.

 

Silly me.
I always thought that a man walking around while threatening people with a gun is a man walking around while threatening people with a gun.
I guess that he's no threat if he's doing it while walking away from somebody that he has just robbed - while walking toward other people that he hasn't robbed yet... .

 

If you watch a copy of the video that isn't chopped up with idiotic chattering by talking heads, the perp wasn't :just leaving". He was pacing back and forth, circling the room erratically. What might have been can never be known for certain. But we can know he wasn't "just leaving" by video evidence. We can know that several seconds before he had threatened yet another patron with his pistol. How many times does a dude have to point a gun at people before he's a legitimate threat? Our perp was beginning a third time around the room when he was shot.

Leave this guy and his pickup truck alone.

 

The customer that did the shooting will be identified, but unless he has some other legal issues, he will skate on the shooting of the robber. Thank goodness for Texas. His best course of action is to lawyer up and contact the police.

 

Not something previously done, but something he is currently doing. Pacing the room pointing a firearm at people. You conveniently omitted my statement that he was, on video, beginning another trip around the room.

 

The robber's gun was extended towards the customer sitting by the door. I can guess the plan of action for the DA in Houston but if I wound up on the jury (impossible, I know, but theoretically) guy would have one "Not Guilty" vote in the bag already. There is a case in Monroe LA that happened a couple of days ago in which a clerk at a dollar store shot and killed a robber who was in the process of leaving the store (and also wounded a customer), he has been charged with manslaughter.

 

And that is nothing more than speculation.

 

As long as the robber is in the establishment he is a deadly aggressor. He's an imminent and unavoidable danger to anyone and everyone on the premises until he exits.

 

If you've seen the full video, when the perp is down, the defender advances and continues to shoot--including a final shot in the back of the head. That is going to be an issue, as well as leaving.

What started as justified may have escalated to excessive

Link to video
https://twitter.com/i/status/1611808197316075521

 

That unfortunate innocent patron in the black polo shirt, seated in upper-left corner, arms raised straight up, with robber's gun pointed straight at him…was undoubtedly thankful this mystery man bravely intervened.

 

Not likely. Not around here.

 

Personally, I think this is absolutely wonderful. If every potential criminal was forced to consider this as a likely outcome, the country would be a much better place, and I sincerely hope that neither the cops nor the citizenry put any particular effort into "catching" the armed citizen in question.

Having said that, approaching a downed criminal and putting an "insurance round" into the back of his head is liable to result in criminal charges regardless of how justified the previous rounds may have been, and I would strongly argue against it in nearly any conceivable engagement.

 

If they find him that video is going to hang him.

I could almost justify shooting the guy in the back. Because there were customers at the door that he could have been approaching. And I will give the shooter the benefit of the doubt on that.

But when he got up and approached the guy who was laying on the floor and shot him in the back and it looks like shot him in the back of the head he went over the line.

I don't know if I could say in good conscience that he committed murder but he went way beyond the bounds of self defense