Posted on 11/27/2007 6:15:36 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
PASADENA, TEXAS -- When he saw two men pry into his neighbor's house with a crowbar one afternoon earlier this month, Joe Horn did what many people would do: He called 911.
But when police had not shown up by the time the suspects were about to leave, the 61-year-old retiree did something most people probably would not: He stepped outside with his 12-gauge shotgun and killed them.
"I'm not going to let them get away with this," Horn told the 911 dispatcher, who responded: "Property's not worth killing someone over."
Seconds later, the sound of a gun being loaded could be heard on the 911 tape, followed by a warning -- "Move [and] you're dead" -- and then three bursts of gunfire. Miguel DeJesus, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30, both of whom had small-time criminal histories, died of their wounds.
The six-minute recording of Horn's anger, frustration and eagerness to take the law into his own hands has made him the focus of a national controversy. Critics condemn him as a vigilante bent on meting out murderous justice. Admirers praise him as a courageous hero whom any law abider would love to have next door.
"Why is he still a free man?" Linda E. Edwards wrote in a letter to the Houston Chronicle.
"Joe Horn gets a Texas 'attaboy' from me," countered John E. Meagher in the next letter. "Justice was served, law or not."
As the debate rages on talk radio and cable-TV news shows, Horn remains free.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Sounds to me like he meant exactly what he said. Anybody stoopid enough to disbelieve a Western man in that situation gets what he paid for.
Somebody moved.
A similar incident happened to my Cuz in Ohio.
I was there.
The Cops never did come out to take a report, and we had to insure the house was clear of criminals.
But boy! let me not wear a seatbelt in a 20 mph zone and BAM! $150 fine
“to protect and to serve” my eye!
It also sounds like they were on Horn’s property at that point
********************EXCERPT********************
Nov. 15, 2007, 9:58PM
By RUTH RENDON and PEGGY O'HARE
In a case legal experts say may "stretch the limits" of the state's self-defense laws, a Pasadena man shot and killed two suspected burglars during a confrontation as they attempted to flee his neighbor's property Wednesday afternoon.
In the minutes before the fatal shootings, Pasadena police said the man called 911 and reported that he had heard glass breaking next door and saw two men entering the home through a window. Still on the phone with police, the man, believed to be in his 70s, saw the suspects leaving from the back of the home.
"I'm getting my gun and going to stop them," the neighbor told the dispatcher during the 2 p.m. call, according to Vance Mitchell, a spokesman for Pasadena police. "The dispatcher said, 'No, stay inside the house; officers are on the way.'
"Then you hear him rack the shotgun. The next sound the dispatcher heard was a boom. Then there was silence for a couple of seconds and then another boom."
After the shotgun blasts, the telephone line went dead. But the neighbor called police again and told a dispatcher what he had done.
When police arrived moments later, they found two dead men in the 7400 block of Timberline Drive. One was across the street, and the other had collapsed two houses down behind a bank of mailboxes in the Village Grove East subdivision.
********************snip********************
AUDIO AVAILABLE AT THIS LINK!!!
I’m thinking that if I don’t hear a siren and the thugs are leaving and going to easily get away, that stopping them is doing the public a service.
A citizens arrest.
I heard the tape too.
He didn’t stutter when he said “Move, and your dead”.
Course, the immigrants probably didn’t know English.
But they still know right from wrong.
I’m thinking that if someone is pointing a shot gun at me, I am going to do anything they say without hesitation.
They probably have insurance for that.
They were killed for invading the sanctity of the neighbor's home.
But you have to admit, they had the courtesy of some pretty powerful sign language...
So nothing new?? Same old story!
The football player who was killed this week was also confronted by a burglar.
Anyone who blatantly breaks in to another's property with the intent to steal has to reasonably expect to engage in a violent act during the commission of the initial crime if discovered.
To break into a house during broad daylight is a blatant disregard of the law and an obvious challenge to authority.
Mr Horn met that challenge enthusiastically.
This is the breakdown of our society. When the police don’t care or have the time to respond, we need to take it in our own hands.
Good job! Let me know if he has a defense fund set up
******************************EXCERPT*******************
Dramatic 911 call from right before shooting released
By Kevin Quinn
(11/15/07 - KTRK/PASADENA, TX) - A dramatic 911 call from the Pasadena man who allegedly shot and killed two men accused of burglarizing his neighbor has been released. The dispatcher tried to talk him out of it.
At about 2pm Wednesday, Joe Horn called 911 from inside his Pasadena home. He says he saw two men break into his neighbor's house. Horn tells police that he is armed with a shotgun.
"Hurry up, man. Catch these guys, will ya? I ain't gonna let them go, I'm gonna be honest with ya," said Horn on the 911 call. "I'm not gonna let them go. I'm not gonna let them get away with this (expletive)."
Horn and the dispatcher spent more than seven minutes on the phone, much of that with the dispatcher trying to convince Horn not to go outside.
"I'm gonna shoot, I'm gonna shoot," said Horn.
"Stay inside the house and don't go out there, OK?" responded the dispatcher. "It's not worth shooting someone over this."
"I don't want to, but if I go out there to see what the hell is going on, what choice do I have?" said Horn.
"I don't want you to go out there. I asked if you could see anything out there," said the dispatcher.
Horn tells the dispatcher that he understands his rights and even makes reference to the September 1 expansion that gives homeowners greater protection from prosecution should they choose to confront someone breaking into their home.
Before he can be convinced otherwise, Horn tells police he sees the burglars coming out of his house.
"He's coming out of the window right now," said Horn to the 911 dispatcher. "I gotta go, buddy. I'm sorry, but he's coming out the window."
"Don't, don't , don't go out the door. Mr. Horn? Mr. Horn?" said the dispatcher.
"(Expletive), they just stole something," said Horn to the dispatcher. "I'm sorry. I ain't gonna let them get away with this. They got a bag of something. I'm doing it."
Remind me if I’m ever in Pasadena, TX to buy that guy a beer.
I’d want neighbors like this..
There is an old joke almost like this:
An old man calls the police to report that his shed is being broken in to by burglars. The dispatcher says that there are no police available.
In frustration the man hangs up but then calls back a few minutes later and says: “Never mind about the burglars, I shot and killed both of them.”
Within minutes there were several squad cars on the scene who found a very much alive burglar in the process of trying to get away with the his loot.
The first cop said the to old man, “I thought you said you killed them?”
The old man responded, “I thought there weren’t any policemen available.”
I'd really like to know some more details about this because it sounds wrong, especially since guns were among the stolen goods. I had two different break-ins during my 20 years in Houston and the police were extremely concerned and wrote reports, and there was no really valuable or dangerous items taken. And, if I recall correctly, my insurance company wanted the police report to confirm that there was a break-in.
They wouldn’t even come out to take a report.
Yeah, we had the cops come to a neighborhood meeting to discuss the numerous break ins we've experienced. They told us they don't bother to come out if you tell them the thief is gone. They fill out the forms over the phone.
As the details are investigated on that one, I think it will be more of a case of a thug-related killing, not a burglary.
God bless the poor dear man. He did the right thing, but like all who are in that situation, he will always have to live with himself. He’s the sort I’d like to have as a neighbor, and would feel perfectly safe around.
When the police will not come, or cannot come immediately (as in a rural area), there is nothing else to be done except be your own law. Just because people have insurance on their belongings and home is no reason to stand back and let lawless illegal alien thieves steal everything of value in broad daylight. That is just an invitation to further burglary and, since they stole guns, murder in the commission of their crimes.
Mr. Horn is a hero, and he will always pay the price such men pay. God bless him.
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