Texas Home Invasion Leave 6 Dead

[Steel]

I got to thinking about home invasions last night. It was about 10:00 pm and the doorbell rang. As I alway do at night, I answered the door with my Beretta 96 in hand, hidden. No one there -- weird. I thought how eaily it would be for me to stroll out the front door, get wacked over the head, then a gang of animals comes into my house and has their way with my pregnant wife and son...yikes!

I have an attached garage, so I went in, crawled on the ground, checking for someone under my vehicles [it happens!] -- no one there. I then surveyed the whole property with my dog and gun. Probably just my impatient neighbor who did not want to wait.

Anyway, be careful about just walking outside when someone comes a knockin!

p.s. when a "cop" comes to your door, as to see their ID, not their badge, which can be obtained by most any freak. In Texas, make sure you verify a current "TCLEOSE" identification. If they do not know what TCLEOSE is, they are the enemy.

 

[MLH]

4v50 Gary

I'm glad they have the death penalty too. I just wish they would do it a little faster. Instead of giving them a cot and three hots for 20 years when they're convicted they should just take out back and do the deed (hang, shoot, inject, draw and quarter, etc.), then maybe the death penalty would have some real meaning.

 

[Steel]

Instead of giving them a cot and three hots for 20 years when they're convicted they should just take out back and do the deed (hang, shoot, inject, draw and quarter, etc.), then maybe the death penalty would have some real meaning

you got that right -- isn't cruel and unusual to keep someone on death row for so long?

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

Texas doesn't waste as much time as other states when it comes to lethal injection. They have a good turnover rate. As for federally convicted criminals, Tim Mcveigh's actions in OKC helped get the number of federal appeals limited. I think after the gavel hits the wood is when the sentence should be carried out !

 

[TallPine]

If police act like criminals (kick down doors and enter armed and masked) and criminals act like police (wear clothing marked police), how are we supposed to be able to tell the difference?

I suppose when the (real?) police come to check out the dead body.

 

[JohnKSa]

A couple of updates from today's Dallas Morning News. (7 January 2003)

Excerpts from the first article. The second appears in its entirety.

Scope of Massacre jars Valley officials
Authorities say home invasions are common but rarely so grisly
By Brenda Rodriquez
Valley Bureau

It's a crime border officials are all too familiar with. The objective is always the same: Enter a home under disguise as law enforcement officers and take the loot--drugs, weapons and money.

...police officials have said that three to five men in ski masks, and one wearing a jacket that read "POLICE," enered the home apparently looking for drugs and weapons.

...

The mother of two of the shooting victims survived the attack. She was tied up with electrical cord.

...

"It's a pseudo-cop deal," Chief Munoz said. "They simulate police raids, and some of them even wear police attire, and we call those pseudo-cop, home invasion-type of break-ins."

Chief Munoz said his community (Cameron County) has experienced few home invasions in the last year.

...

Hidalgo County and farther north...(are a different story)...

According to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department, between January and November of last year, authorities recorded 110 aggravated robberies, of which 60 percent to 70 percent were home invasions.

...(goes on to say that over 10% of homicides in Hidalgo County occurred during home invasions)...

"It's quite frequent that it happens, and most of the time it isn't even reported," said Sgt. Norberto Leal, with the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department's special crimes unit.

...(goes on to say that most of these crimes are drug related)...

...border officials said home invasions aren't going away.

"It's a never-ending story," Sgt. Leal said.

Dallas Morning News
Police shooting concerns FW council members
7 January 2003
By Laurie Fox
Fort Worth Bureau

FORT WORTH--Several City Council members said Monday that they are willing to wait for Police Chief Ralph Mendoza to conduct his own departmental investigation into a police shooting last week but said they have concerns about the incident.

Officials said that while the matter isn't on Tuesday's meeting agenda, they could ask for a briefing in the coming weeks.

An undercover narcotics officer was wounded Thursday night when she entered a convenience store to arrest a drug suspect and was shot by the shopkeeper's son.

The business owner said that the officer did not identify herself, had concealed her face and was brandishing a gun when she entered the E-Z Food Store on Elmwood Street in the Morningside neighborhood.

Police said the night of the shooting that the officer had identified herself, wasn't wearing a hood and was wearing a protective vest. They changed their account Friday and said they would investigate departmental procedures.

Bao Nguyen, the store owner's son, told police that he shot at the officer fearing she was a burglar.

The officer, who is not identified because she works undercover, was in serious condition Monday at John Peter Smith Hospital.

Police officials declined to comment Monday.

Council member Becky Haskin said she would ask city officials for a briefing on the event. "I just have some serious questions about the policy," she said. Council member Clyde Picht said he's concerned about the msisinformation that police initially released. "This is an issue of integrity and of being honest with the public," Mr. Picht said.

On Friday, officials recanted much of the original version of events, including where the bust took place. Initially, police said the buy occurred in the store. It was later revealed that the store owners had nothing to do with the sting and that the purchase occurred on the street. James E. Crenshaw, 27, of Fort Worth was charged with delivery of a controlled substance and remains in the Tarrant County Jail with no bail set.

Read elsewhere that the storeowner and his son armed themselves with pistols after being advised to do so by the Fort Worth Police.

Ironic...