tnieto2004
Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2007
- Messages
- 1,389
I feel for this man.. Although I wouldn't have handled it the way he did ..
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5308746.html
He should have hung up after he told them to send police ..
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5308746.html
HOUSTON — A 61-year-old Pasadena man, who shot and killed two men he believed were burglarizing a neighbor's home, said Friday the shooting would "weigh heavily" on him.
But the tape of Joe Horn's call to 911 reveals his determination to stop the men he saw leaving a neighbor's house against the dispatcher's clear warnings to stay inside.
Horn, in a written statement issued by his lawyers, also expressed sympathy for the families of the two burglary suspects, Miguel Antonio DeJesus, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30.
"Any loss of life casts permanent devastation over the lives of everyone involved," Horn said. "The events of that day will weigh heavily on me for the rest of my life. My thoughts go out to the loved ones of the deceased."
Horn fatally shot the two men Wednesday afternoon with a 12-gauge shotgun after he saw them breaking into a neighbor's house. He confronted DeJesus and Ortiz as they were leaving the home through a gate leading to the front yard.
Horn called 911 first, and told a police dispatcher that he planned to kill the two men — just moments before he opened fire.
"I'm not going to let them go. I'm not going to let them get away with this," Joe Horn tells the dispatcher.
Moments later, Horn tells the operator: "I'm gonna shoot. I'm gonna shoot."
"Stay inside the house and don't go out there," the dispatcher tells Horn in a calm, measured voice. "I know what you're feeling, but it's not worth shooting someone over this."
The neighbors, who Horn told the dispatcher he did not know well, were not at home.
During the 911 call, which runs about six minutes, the dispatcher repeatedly tells Horn not to go outside or use his shotgun.
"Mr. Horn, I want you to listen to me carefully, OK? I've got officers coming out there. I don't want you to go outside that house and I don't want you to have that gun in your hand when the officers are poking around out there."
But Horn, who tells the operator that he is upset by a robbery happening in daylight, seems to brush those instructions aside, telling the dispatcher:
"I have a right to protect myself. And a shotgun is a legal weapon. It's not an illegal weapon."
Under state law, Texans are allowed to defend themselves with deadly force to protect their own property. The person using deadly force must believe there is no other way to protect their belongings.
However, it is unclear whether that law extends to using deadly force to protect a neighbor's property.
After Horn spotted the men coming out of the neighbor's house, he tells the dispatcher: "I ain't going to let them get away with this. They stole something. They got a bag. I'm doing this."
"Don't go out the house," the dispatcher cautions. "Don't be shooting nobody."
A few moments later, the click of a shotgun can be heard, then a warning barked by Horn: "Move. You're dead."
Three shotgun blasts follow.
After shooting the suspects, Horn again called police:
"Get the law over here quick. I had no choice," a frantic-sounding Horn says. "They came in the front yard with me. I had no choice."
A Harris County grand jury will decide whether charges will be filed against Horn, said Pasadena Police Capt. A.H. Corbett. As of Friday, no charges had been filed and Horn was not in custody.
He should have hung up after he told them to send police ..
