San Marcos: Home invasion stopped

[seamusTX]

Early this morning, residents of a house in San Marcos fatally shot two 16-year-old alleged home invasion robbers and seriously injured a third. A fourth teen was uninjured and was arrested.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... repor.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[Purplehood]

You play, you pay.

[joe817]

All three residents of the home were interviewed by police, Williams said. He said it was too early to say whether or not the resident who shot the suspects will be charged

Hmmm.....I wonder why he would be, unless there are other key details we are not privy to at this time?

[seamusTX]

The police have to investigate and see if the witnesses' stories are consistent. If something nefarious like drug-dealing was going on, the residents may have tried to make the shooting look like self defense.

It's also possible for someone who legitimately defends himself to be charged with weapons violations if he is a prohibited person.

- Jim

[gemini]

"All three residents of the home were interviewed by police, Williams said. He said it was too early to say whether or not the resident who shot the suspects will be charged. Four guns were taken from the home, he said, but he did not know who owned the guns."

Were the guns seized from the residents of the home? Were these the guns used by the invasion crew?
I expect the gun used to defend the residents was taken as evidence, surely the PD would not seize other
legally owned firearms not involved in the shooting.

[android]

...surely the PD would not seize other
legally owned firearms not involved in the shooting.

Of course they would. They do what they want.

[austin-tatious]

Here's the version from keyetv http://weareaustin.com/content/news/story/?cid=26911.

San Marcos police say they do not plan to charge a person who shot and killed two teenagers police say were breaking into a home.

Shortly before 2 a.m. on Chestnut Street on the west side of San Marcos, police say four teenagers from Luling broke into a home. One of the people inside fired several shots with a 40-caliber Glock handgun.

Three of the suspects were hit. Two 16-year-olds died. Another is at University Medical Center at Brackenridge with severe injuries. The fourth, 17-year-old Frank Castro, is charged with aggravated robbery. (pictured left)

Three of the suspects were carrying weapons including a handgun and two pellet guns.

Police Chief Howard Williams said Friday afternoon police will turn the case over to the Hays County District Attorney’s office for review upon completion of the investigation.

“At this time, we do not anticipate filing charges against the resident for firing the shots,” Williams said.

Three residents were in the home at the time of the incident and were not injured. Police did not release the names of the residents. One is a Texas State University student and two are non-students.

The teenagers are from Luling, a tiny town of about 5,000 people just southeast of San Marcos.

"I heard stories that they'd do all these bad things and everything," Luling High School student Naomi Lopez said. "But still -- just because they're still children, they didn't deserve to die."

"I don't know what they were thinking," said student Jonathan Hidalgo.

"Three of the suspects were carrying weapons including a handgun and two pellet guns." explains why 4 guns were removed.
Note the quote from Naomi Lopez...

[ELB]

...
I expect the gun used to defend the residents was taken as evidence, surely the PD would not seize other
legally owned firearms not involved in the shooting.

In this particular instance, I think which four guns that were seized was answered in that article posted just above.

However, as much as am not in favor of cops storming around the house arbitrarily grabbing stuff, to be fair, you have to look at the situation as one coming in from outside and trying to figure out what just happened. And they would be foolish to blindly accept what anyone on the scene tells them at face value. If there is somebody shot, then which gun? If I was a cop, I would check every gun anywhere close to the scene that I became aware of. It's part of verifying the witnesses' stories. I don't like it, but it is part of being thorough.

It's a good reason to keep your spare gun, the one for when your primary one is in the shop or whatever, well out of the way...

elb

[surprise_i'm_armed]

The home invaders were 16 and 17. They were 24 miles from home.
It was a school night. It was 200 AM.

It sounds like the parental controls in these 4 families were non-existent.

I saw one of the neighbors, a young woman, state that "shooting a 16 year
old seems harsh". Well, I guess if they were in her house she'd have been
dead since she wouldn't think it proper to have a gun and fire back at 3 young
men with weapons and in the midst of multiple felonies. Sheesh.

SIA

[CLTX11]

From what I saw on the news the LEO's were carrying some guns out including 2 rifle cases, not sure if there were 2 rifles in there.

Would they take the guns used in the crime and put them in softback rifle cases? I figured they would just take them as is, unloaded of course.

[A-R]

It's a good reason to keep your spare gun, the one for when your primary one is in the shop or whatever, well out of the way...

elb

Also probably a good idea to own a shotgun. I can't imagine even the most overzealous CSI would take a shotgun as "evidence" if someone was clearly shot with a handgun, and vice versa. If there are one or two entry wounds and all shotguns in the house are clean, then take any pistol and/or rifle you want to examine, but at least leave the guy a shotgun in case there is some sort of retaliation afterward.

This is also a good reaon to keep all your guns clean at all times. If you shoot with one gun, seems they might take any other gun with powder residue on it for further examination to determine which was actually used in the shooting. But if you have another gun with a mirror-clean bore that obviously had not been fired, perhaps they let you keep that one?

[stevie_d_64]

Amazing how the story itself borders on the same ole, same ole...

Words like alleged, teens, Glock, etc etc etc...

Nieghbors ignorant statements and assumptions that obviously must stand for fact...

We are not seeking (at this time) to charge the homeowner with any crime...(Doesn't mean they are not activly seeking to do so, and turning every stone over to make it happen)...But then again it is something to try and discover why the wayward yutes invaded the home in the first place...

Many of us are not going to be surprised if there is a follow up to this one...

But then again my cynicle side got up before my lucid side this morning...

[Abraham]

An armed home invasion is an armed home invasion.

You don't get a pass from self defense by the home owner if you're a teenager.

For anyone to think otherwise defies common sense.

Or - "Hey, we've come to invade your home bristling with guns, torture, maim, rape or even kill you if we care to and take what we want, but it's O.K. - we're TEENAGERS..."

"Well then, come on in..."

Uh-huh, makes sense, right?

[Keith B]

Any LEO will tell you that a teenager can be just as dangerous as an adult. There are some pre-teens out there that would pull the trigger on a gun to kill you and never blink an eye.

Since we don't know the mentality and shear meanness of the individual that is pointing the gun at us, we have to assume they have the capability of killing us and respond as such, whether they are 8 or 80.

[seamusTX]

Indeed. I think probably half the shooting crimes in this country are committed by teenagers, many of them minors: http://news.google.com/news/search?pz=1 ... n+shooting" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim