Free Republic

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A store owner who says he was just protecting his north Houston business shot and killed a suspected thief overnight. That owner claims he had no other option but to use deadly force. Tamika Hall came back to the New Land convenience store on West Little York near Andy Street, where her brother, the accused robber, was shot and killed. Hall says she needed answers. "He didn't have to shoot him like that when he was behind the glass," she said. But according to police, Hall's brother, 33-year-old Terrance Hall, showed up at the convenience store last...

HUFFMAN, Texas – People who live in a Huffman neighborhood weren’t surprised when Bradley and Dennis Turner made headlines this week. They say their Lake Houston-area neighborhood was peaceful until four years ago when the Turner family moved in. Deputies say it was the Turner brothers who broke into a woman’s home in the Commons subdivision earlier this week. She hid her 10-year-old son in a closet, grabbed a gun and fired at the suspects. "I was scared and trembling," said her son, who heard the shot. She missed and the robbers fled, but they left fingerprints behind, according to...

HOUSTON - A northwest Houston food store owner shot and killed a man he said was trying to rob him, but police did not find a gun on the man, investigators said Friday. Houston police said the 49-year-old owner of the New Land Food Store, 822 West Little York, called 911 at 9:30 p.m. Thursday and said a man was trespassing. Investigators said Terrance Hall, 33, was agitated when he entered the store and tried to get into a back room. When he couldn't, he climbed onto an ATM machine, over plexiglass and fell behind the counter, police said. During...

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Investigators have made an arrest in a home invasion near Lake Houston, thanks in part to fingerprints left at the crime scene. The home invasion happened Wednesday, on Yonder Way in the Commons subdivision. According to Harris County deputy constables, a mother and her 10-year-old son were home by themselves when two robbers broke in. The woman put her son in a closet and grabbed her gun, shooting at – but missing – one of the suspects. On Thursday, deputies said they caught one of those suspects, Bradley Wayne Turner. They believe the other suspect is...

USA --(Ammoland.com)- “Mom Runs Burglars Off with Gun,” Damali Keith of MyFoxHouston reports. “A couple of burglars chose the wrong woman to pick on,” she writes. “They came sneaking into her house, and she sent them running out. Perhaps they didn’t count on the woman fighting back, but that’s just what she did.” “Conventional wisdom” says kids and guns don’t mix. The gun she used to repel the home invader was a .22 rifle that belonged to her son. “Conventional wisdom” says get a dog for home defense. She had two, including a 200-pound English Mastiff, that the intruders were...

An argument during a poker game in north Harris County ended in a shootout early today, leaving one man dead and three more hurt, KRTK reports. The incident began in a house on Varnell near Northington when a disruptive poker player was asked to leave: According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, there was a gathering of people at the home while a poker game was going on. Witnesses told them the suspect started causing a problem, so several people asked him to leave and shoved him down the driveway. The suspect then went to his car, got a gun,...

SNIPPET: "Moeed Abdul Salam didn't descend into radical Islam for lack of other options. He grew up in a well-off Texas household, attended a pricey boarding school and graduated from one of the state's most respected universities." SNIPPET: "It is not clear to what extent Salam's family knew of his radicalism, but on his Facebook page the month before he died, he posted an image of Anwar al-Awalki, the American al-Qaida leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, beside a burning American flag." SNIPPET: "The family, originally from Pakistan, immigrated to the U.S. decades ago."

A homeowner took action to protect his property when he determined a burglary attempt was happening once again. An unidentified 51-year-old man informed the Beaumont Police Department he had fired shots at the culprits who were attempting to burglarize his barn shortly after 3:15 a.m., Monday, in the 5300 block of Seale in Beaumont. The homeowner had installed surveillance equipment on his barn following several previous thefts at the location and interrupted the burglary in progress on Monday. He informed police he had fired shots at the burglars and possibly struck one. While police were at the scene of the...

An Overton ninth-grade math teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave after a freshman student said the teacher threw a mechanical pencil at him. Overton Police Department Cpt. Clayton Taylor said a 15-year-old and his parents went to the police station Wednesday to file assault charges against the teacher. Taylor said the student, who has Tourette syndrome, told police that the teacher threw a mechanical pencil at him Monday afternoon. Clayton said the pencil left a cut on his lip. Overton ISD Superintendent Alan Umholtz said the ninth-grade teacher, whose name will not be released, was placed on paid...

An intruder is in the hospital after a mother walked-in on him in her house, according to Fort Worth police. The woman picked her son up from school and arrived at her home on Peggy Drive around noon Friday. She said she walked inside her home and found a man in her house. She confronted the unwelcome guest and shot him once in the leg, police said. The man ran out of the house and the woman continued to chase him down the road. The man was quickly found by officers hiding in a nearby creek. He is being treated...

Lubbock Police Sgt. Jonathan Stewart said there is a misguided perception as to when most burglaries occur. "A burglar crawling in the middle of the night, that is usually not what we see at all." Indeed, a burglary that turned deadly in Slaton Thursday occurred right in the middle of the afternoon. "That is a time that we see a lot of burglaries, because that is the time people are not home." Lubbock County Sheriff's deputies said 69-year old Fred Melcher entered his home with his friend Edith Ayers when they surprised a burglar. Deputies said the burglar is a...

FORT WORTH -- A wounded burglary suspect was found in a creek bed Friday afternoon by police who had been called by a woman who said she shot an intruder in her home. The woman told officers that she had picked up her 16-year-old son at school shortly before noon. When they returned to their home in the 6400 block of Peggy Drive, a man was inside, said Sgt. Pedro Criado, a police spokesman. The woman said that she fired several shots and that she and her son then chased the man out of the house. The son reported that...

Long before Al Gore "created" the Internet, gun owners were busy perfecting grassroots networking. Today, gun owners have an almost unlimited number of ways to spread information crucial to our community. And, while the Internet is certainly an indispensible tool for protecting our rights, an unfortunate side effect has been the fast and easy spread of rumors. The latest of these, appearing on Internet message boards and in emails, warns of a growing trend of gangsters marking the license plates or wheels of vehicles parked at shooting clubs, gun stores, ranges and gun shows. According to the rumor, the thieves...

CONVERSE, Texas -- Police say a man will not face charges for shooting a suspected burglar over the weekend, and we've learned late Monday that the two suspects are just out of Judson High School. A spokesperson for the Converse Police Department says a woman ran to her neighbor's house for help around 4:20 p.m. Saturday after she arrived home and spotted a burglar inside her house on Anderson Court. As the neighbor came out of his house with a gun, the burglary suspect took off. Reportedly, the driver of the getaway car tried to run him over with a...

by John HillStand with Arizona The border is "safer than ever". So says DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Again and again. Barack Obama has mocked those who say the border is unsafe: "Maybe they'll need a moat. Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied." But for Texas ranchers in the Rio Grande Valley, the border has never been more dangerous. And they are stocking up with the hardware to do the job that the Feds refuse to do - AK47 rifles to defend their property and lives from border violence. Barbed wire fencing doesn't keep illegal aliens...

A federal judge in Lubbock on Thursday threw out the National Rifle Association's move to overturn a Texas law prohibiting 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying concealed handguns. In dismissing the case that had drawn national interest, U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings ruled that "Texas has identified a legitimate state interest — public safety — and passed legislation that is rationally related to addressing that issue." Under current law, Texans must be 21 or older to get a concealed-handgun permit. Members or veterans of the armed forces who are younger than 21 can also be licensed. The ruling was seen as...

Ted Cruz is surging. Ted Cruz has climbed 6 points to 18% in a new poll, putting him a solid second place in the 8-candidate field. Meanwhile, the frontrunner -- Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst -- has dropped 5 points to 36%. Cruz has cut Dewhurst's lead from 29 points in September down to just 18 points today. This is great news, but it's even better than it looks. If Dewhurst fails to get 50% of the vote in the April 3rd primary, he will be forced into a run-off with the second place finisher. And if Cruz makes it into...

TEXAS CITY, TX (KTRK) -- Officials said a teen in Texas City was alone when a pair of intruders broke into her family's house, but she turned the tables on the suspects by grabbing her father's handgun. It happened Saturday afternoon at the 15-year-old's home on Meadowlark. Texas City police said it wasn't a home invasion. They believe it was a burglary and the goal was to steal the family's truck. But the would-be thieves had a spunky high school freshman standing in their way. "She says she was in the bathroom showering and when she came out she met...

HOUSTON – A homeowner shot and killed an armed man who was trying to break into an apartment in southwest Houston Thursday, according to Houston police. Police said two men, with guns drawn, tried to force their way into an apartment on Oakmoor at Airport Blvd. around 8:45 p.m. Two people were inside the apartment and one of them had a gun. The homeowner opened fire and shot one of the suspects. That suspect died in front of the apartment. The other suspect fled the scene on foot.

From Public Policy Polling, this is really bad news for Rick Perry -- although at this point it cannot be unexpected: Rick Perry's Presidential campaign is doing about as bad in Texas now as it is everywhere else in the country. When PPP last polled the state in September he was at 49%, leading Mitt Romney by 39 points. Now Perry's support has declined by 31 points, leaving him in 3rd place at 18%. Mitt Romney at 24% and Newt Gingrich at 23% lead the way with Rick Santorum at 15%, Ron Paul at 12%, and Buddy Roemer at 0%...

DALLAS - Vehicles in Texas must display both front and back license plates. It’s been a state law since 1934. But lawmakers in rewriting the state transportation code recently made what could be a serious omission. “Absolutely it is a potentially very big problem,” said Robert Gregg, a criminal defense and personal injury attorney. “The issue is not whether it is a fine. That’s where we start. The issue is whether or not it’s a crime.” The old law read, “A person commits an offense if the person operates… a passenger car or commercial motor vehicle that does not display...

SAN ANTONIO -- A man is dead and two more are in the hospital following a home invasion that turned into a gunfight early Wednesday morning at 8219 Quail Creek, police say. The homeowner told police he heard a knock at the door and then some commotion around the garage just before 5:00 a.m. Thinking it was suspicious, the man got his shotgun and went to see what was going on. Police said the man met two suspects, armed with a AR-15 assault rifle, in the kitchen and began shooting. One of the suspects was fatally shot, police said, while...

Police are on the scene of a shooting on the 8200 block of Quail Creek. They say a homeowner caught two men trying to break into his home. One of the suspects shot the homeowner through the cheek. He is expected to be okay. The homeowner managed open fire with a shotgun, killing one of the suspects and critically injuring the other.

HOUSTON - A home invasion suspect was fatally shot at a southeast Houston apartment complex Friday evening. The shooting occurred around 7 p.m. at Roandale and Dumore drives. Houston Police say a group of people gathered at the door of a homeowner and knocked on the door. When the homeowner answered the door, the group forcibly rushed their way inside. A visitor at the home pulled out a weapon and shot at one of the suspects, killing him. The others fled the scene. No other injuries were reported.

GLENN HEIGHTS, Texas - Glenn Heights police say they have decided not to charge a homeowner who shot someone trying to break into his back door on Monday. At 12:30 p.m., police received a 9-1-1 call from a resident in the 1600 block of Lakeside Drive who said he fired on someone who tried to break into his house, even though the homeowner and his 1-year-old daughter were inside. When police arrived, they found a 44-year-old suspect bleeding in the back yard. The suspect, whose name has not yet been released, was taken to a hospital in Dallas under police...

The highest court in the nation will be the latest to take up arguments relating to Texas’ redistricting mess. A hearing is scheduled Monday, January 9, before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to settle which maps will be used for this spring’s state and congressional elections.

Democrats and San Antonio valedictorian Benita Veliz accused Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Monday of pandering to party extremists for his pledge to veto proposed legislation to provide citizenship for children of illegal immigrants. Veliz, a Jefferson High School and St. Mary’s University graduate, was spared deportation last year and has become a spokeswoman for the so-called DREAM Act championed by Latino and other minority groups. “I was appalled when I heard Mitt Romney say he would veto the DREAM Act,” Veliz, 26, told reporters during a conference call arranged by the Democratic National Committee. “So many young people...

January 5, 2012Behind Perry's Decision to Keep Running South Carolina team urged Texas governor to make a last stand. Rebecca Kaplan AUSTIN, Texas – It is rare for a politician to announce that he is reassessing his candidacy -- and then continue his campaign. But that’s just what Rick Perry decided after discussions with his family, two top aides, and a South Carolina team that saw a path forward for Perry to win the Republican nomination for president. Even some of Perry’s senior advisers were shocked when Perry tweeted a mere 12 hours after his fifth-place Iowa finish that he...

A man on Texas' death row for the 1997 killing of a Kerrville rancher is asking a judge to set aside his capital punishment, arguing his constitutional rights would be violated if he's put to death because he is intellectually disabled. Appellate lawyers for Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas made the request Wednesday at a hearing in San Antonio before U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez. In September, Rodriguez turned down Hernandez-Llanas' request for habeas corpus (a type of appeal), but his lawyers Wednesday asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that Rodriguez made his decision based on incorrect information provided by a clerk who...

This is the teenager shot dead by police for brandishing a pellet gun in the hallway of his school - posing with a friend holding the 'weapon'. Jaime Gonzalez, 15, was gunned down because he would not lower the gun which officers believed was a loaded pistol. --- He said he heard police run down the hallway and yell 'put the gun down,' before several shots were fired.

Northwest Harris County - A group of burglars targeted a home in Northwest Harris County. One was caught, but there may be as many as two others on the loose. They may have all gotten away, had it not been for one observant neighbor, armed with a gun. For the second time in just a month, Carmen Cadwell answered a call that sent her into a panic. It was from her home security company alerting her to a possible break-in at her house on Melody Park. She says the first time, the criminals took off without any valuables as the...

Seven People Found Dead in Dallas-Area Apartment Published December 25, 2011 GRAPEVINE, Texas – Seven people believed to be related had opened their Christmas gifts and started cleaning up the wrapping paper when they were shot to death in a suburban Texas apartment, police said Sunday. Authorities said they believe the shooter is among the dead, but got a warrant before doing a full search on the small chance that it was otherwise. Four women and three men, aged 18 to 60, were found in an adjoining kitchen and living room area when police entered the apartment around midday, said...

EL PASO, Texas -- A man is recovering in a hospital from a gunshot wound he received during an alleged attempted robbery at an auto salvage yard Thursday night. El Paso Police Department officials told ABC-7 they believe the man was one of several trying to rob a man who works at the A&M Salvage Yard in the 9700 block of Alameda. Police said an employee was within the security gate of the yard when he said he was approached by several men who then tried to rob him about 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The employee pulled out a gun and...

A woman will not be charged after police say she shot a man inside her Fort Worth home early this morning. Fort Worth police were called to a home in the 6700 block of Fortune Road just before 3:30 a.m. in reference to a prowler. The woman told police she woke up to a man ringing her doorbell and called 911. Police said before officers got there, the man somehow got inside the home and the woman shot the man in the torso. When officers got to the house they found the man with a gunshot wound inside the home,...

FORT WORTH - A woman reportedly shot and killed an home intruder in her exclusive Fort Worth neighborhood early Thursday morning. Police first received reports of a prowler in the 6700 block of Fortune Road near the Ridglea Country Club about 3:30 a.m. Initial reports indicate the woman was home alone and heard knocking on the doors. She called her absent husband, who advised her to retrieve a gun kept in the home for protection. Details of the shooting are still sketchy. Fort Worth police are interviewing the woman at downtown headquarters. Stay with FOX 4 News and myfoxdfw.com for...

GALVESTON — Two months ago Francisco Martinez feared the University of Texas Medical Branch would ship him back to Mexico with a broken back and an uncertain fate because he is undocumented. Instead of going to Mexico, three days before Christmas he moved from his hospital bed at UTMB into temporary housing in Houston with his family.

Houston, Tx --(Ammoland.com)- This Monday, December 19th, the city of Shavano Park, near San Antonio, will reconsider the passage of an ordinance dealing with the discharge of a firearm within the city. Mayor David Marne refused to sign the ordinance, sending it back to the 5 member city council. In a letter to the Shavano Park City Council, Mayor Marne lists the ordinance as unnecessary and over-reaching. Mayor Marne also notes that state law, currently in place, adequately covers public safety concerns. This far-reaching ordinance could be read to prohibit the legal use of a firearm for self defense. The...

Dear , The mayor and city council of Austin, Texas have pledged to make the city coal-free. This is an incredible step toward sustainability in a very coal-heavy state. Please send a note to Austin's mayor, telling him you support his no coal pledge. Mayor Leffingwell recently pledged to phase out Austin's dirty Fayette coal plant and begin moving the city toward a clean energy future. Shortly thereafter, the entire city council joined the pledge, setting a huge precedent for cities all over the country. In the coming months, we'll need to convince Austin Energy to support Mayor Leffingwell's pledge....

Marine Scott Wood died four weeks ago after suffering injuries during combat in Iraq. Before his burial, his wife dressed him in two uniforms. On the outside, Scott wore his military dress blues. Underneath, he wore the blue No. 80 jersey of Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson. Sara Wood had been married to Scott for eight years. They have a five-year-old son together named Landon. Now he and Sara live in a single room in her parent's house. "He knows daddy's in heaven," Sara said of Landon, "though I don't know if he fully comprehends what that means. He...

Two banks in College Station have been robbed at gunpoint in the past two weeks. The person responsible for robbing a bank in Snook is also still on the loose. At a bank in Chappell Hill though, they haven't had a problem with robbers since implementing some new bank rules. Bank customer, Steve Moreland, said, "It's none of your business." You won't be able to tell who has one, just by looking at the people inside the Chappell Hill Bank. "These women, they've taken the concealed handgun carry course and of course, they can't tell you if they're carrying or...

Shell Pipeline Co. said today it received customer support for a new pipeline that would move crude oil from St. James, La. to the refining hubs around Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas. The Westward Ho should allow refineries to access the growing supply of domestic and foreign crude oil coming through St. James, the company said. The new pipeline would also complement new storage and logistics infrastructure that are currently being built in the St. James and Clovelly, La. areas. The new pipeline would allow for the distribution of about 600,000 bbls per day of crude across the region depending...

SAN ANTONIO- An argument at a party south of Downtown led to a shooting at another home. It happened just after midnight on Friday morning, at a home off Yellowstone near Haines. Police say two men got into a argument, and one of them flashed a gun and made some threats. The other man left the party and headed home. The man with the gun followed him but ended up getting shop himself when the man he followed grabbed his own gun from his home and opened fire. Police say the victim refused medical treatment, and no charges will be...

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), regulator of oil and gas production in the Lone Star state, recently amended agency policy to allow licensed employees to carry concealed handguns on the job. RRC Commissioner Barry Smitherman promoted the policy as a security measure as well as a recognition of basic rights. “During the normal course of performing their jobs, RRC employees often work alone in remote and desolate areas of the state where they may encounter criminals or dangerous wild animals,” Smitherman said. “The least we can do is allow them to exercise their legal right to carry firearms in...

SAN ANTONIO — A Texas woman who for months was unable to qualify for food stamps pulled a gun in a state welfare office and staged a seven-hour standoff with police that ended with her shooting her two children before killing herself, officials said Tuesday. The children, a 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, remained ...

HIDALGO, TEX. — President Obama’s decision last year to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border may have been smart politics, but a growing number of skeptics say the deployment is an expensive and inefficient mission that has made little difference in homeland security. Critics of the deployment include budget hawks, who say it is a waste of money, and residents here along the border, who say they are tired of seeing armed troops in their back yard. State Department officials worry that the domestic use of U.S. troops increases the perception that the border is militarized, while...

“Mayor: Freedom of speech is over,” a story filed this morning by Bob Unruh on WorldNetDaily reports. A citizen attempting to address the El Paso City Council was given only 70 seconds to speak by Mayor John Cook when he abruptly cut her off, declaring: "Thank you, your time is over. If you can't remove yourself from the podium, I'll have you removed. Yeah. You can take your freedom of speech outside." This is spite of the fact that the First Amendment specifically articulates a right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” and all public officials, per...

A Texas woman was arrested after relatives said they caught her having sex with a 15-year-old boy on Thanksgiving Day. The scene unfolded at a family gathering held on the holiday at a house in Oakridge Forest Lane in Spring. Police arrested Amanda Billiris, 23, after relatives said they witnessed her having sexual intercourse with the boy, the arrest report states. The avid motorcycle racer has been charged with sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony, reports the Houston Courier. According to the Texas Penal Code, if convicted, she faces between two to 20 years in prison. Ms Billaris...

Talk about fighting to your last breath. An 81-year-old woman defending her Memorial Village home was brave enough to pull a gun on the bad guys and managed to scare them away. However, the stress took its toll, and the woman lost her life. Two burglars dressed as utility workers convinced the elderly homeowner to let them inside, but it wasn't this gal’s first rodeo. When she started to get suspicious, police say the woman pulled out her gun and shot at the undercover-robbers twice. The schemers escaped. The 81-year-old called 911, but collapsed after help arrived and died of...

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, appeared alongside her colleagues today to speak out against a new immigration law in Alabama that Democrats say allows for police to racially profile and needlessly deport illegal immigrants. Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez led a delegation of 11 Democratic members of Congress to Alabama in late November to hear about the effect the new immigration law, HB56, has had on Latino families across the state. The law, implemented in late June, requires that law enforcement officers request proof of citizenship status from those they detain if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that person may be...

DREAM Act supporter and Co-Founder of the Tequila Party Movement Shirl Mora James said she’s outraged about the suicide of 18-year-old Joaquin Luna, an illegal immigrant and senior at Juarez Lincoln High School in Mission. "Maybe it took Joaquin to sacrifice himself, to bring attention to the desperate situation that the Dreamers are in," Mora James said Monday. “These kids are American - they are Americans without status - but they are still Americans!" Family members said despite Luna’s achievements in school and talent for design, the teen thought he would never reach his goals of becoming an engineer, and...