One block from a kill'n

[Bill]

I stopped by my friend Jim's to return a paint sprayer, 10 mins latter hen I go to leave I get back into my truck I can see emg lights on the next block over. As I cruse past we have fire and ambulance and 8 hpd cars.i know this can not be good so later while checking internet I find this http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 52958.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Remember I did not see any lights when i pulled up to Jim's house. It can happen anywhere!!!!

[USA1]

It can happen anywhere!!!!

it sure can .
unfortunately the vast majority is unaware of this fact .

i'm just glad to hear that the homeowner was prepared to defend himself
and there's no question this was a justifiable shooting .

[KD5NRH]

The homeowner fired three blasts of birdshot.

One wonders what he fired the second and third at, since there's so much testimony on every gun board that a load of #8 that will barely bust a clay at 20 yards will vaporize a bad guy at 15 feet.

[Oldgringo]

A whole lot of 'clean-up' left to do.

[old farmer]

The neighbor in the video has "sawed off shootgun by the bed..". Will the feds be visiting his house?

[WarHawk-AVG]

The homeowner fired three blasts of birdshot.

One wonders what he fired the second and third at, since there's so much testimony on every gun board that a load of #8 that will barely bust a clay at 20 yards will vaporize a bad guy at 15 feet.

Because bird shot is for birds, 00 buck is for badguys.

[Kawabuggy]

That first shooting in the 8500 block of Norton is only blocks away from my home. I live in the Binglewood subdivision. To say that this area is little Mexico is an understatement. That story ended as I would have hoped. One less dirt-bag roaming the streets.

There were HPD cops chasing someone down the bayou off of Hollister yesterday afternoon. Multiple HPD officers both on foot and in cars trying to "lay hands on" another fine, upstanding, Houston "resident".

If you guys get anything stolen from your home or business, they run a nice "outdoor market" of stolen goods every weekend on Hollister between Kempwood and Clay Rd. Just drive through you can't miss it. It looks like an outdoor flea-market with high end electronics, car audio (ripped wiring still hanging off most of it), car radar detectors, TV's, computers, and anything else that is easily lifted from the homes & vehicles they break into. Most of the vendors look like they don't own a car, or are homeless, and yet they have $20,000 worth of merchandise to sell. I have reported this multiple times to HPD, and they have come out on 2 occasions and shut them down temporarily. One of our neighbors DID FIND his stolen stuff over there and the cops met him up there. The vendor told the police that he bought the items from someone else... Of course he did. He bought them from his sons/nephews who rob at night, and he sells the loot during the day. The vendor gave the guy all of his stuff back-what was left of it-and was shut down. The next week the same guy was back out there again.

If there is anything that I can impress upon you guys reading this... Please get a good alarm system for your home. Know your neighbors. Look out for each other. Lastly, mark every thing you own so that there is no doubt that it's yours. Something like this: This property Stolen From Mike Smith, 123 Anyplace St, Houston, TX 77080, 713-555-5555. I got the idea to mark stuff from that outdoor market. Yes, there is stuff at the location I mention above that is thus marked... I guess when you only speak/read Spanish it's easy to miss that you are openly selling stolen goods.

Alarm systems should scare off potential burglars before any interaction with gun-toting home owners occurs.. In a sense that means fewer home-owners will be put in a position to have to make a life or death decision. On the other hand, alarm systems will slow the attrition rate of thieves from death by home-owner.

[Rex B]

Here's the story:

2 Houston-area residents shoot burglars
By DALE LEZON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 5, 2009, 10:53PM

One man was killed and another wounded in separate incidents when two Houston-area residents surprised and shot burglars in their homes early Monday, authorities said.
.........snip
In the latest incident, a man returning from a grocery store at 9:30 a.m. Monday shot and killed a man intruder he found hiding in a closet, said Homicide Detective C.E. Elliott. The homeowner, who had taken the day off from work, returned to the 8500 block of Norton and noticed items has been disturbed inside his northwest Houston residence.

Mark Brown told police he grabbed a shotgun he kept for security, and began to search his home. He found the intruder hiding in a closet, carrying a screwdriver. A confrontation developed, and Brown fired three rounds of birdshot at the man, Elliott said.

“It was a horrible experience, a scary experience,“ said Brown, who works for a local beer distributor. He said he had hoped he never had to use the weapon. “Thank God (the thief) didn't find it first.“
........snip
Earlier on Monday, a man who broke into a kitchen window of a home in the 13000 block of Lima, near Beechnut in Harris County, was shot by a resident.

Harris County Sheriff's deputies confirmed that Johannson Rios, 19, has been charged with burglary of a habitation to commit an assault. Rios is accused of entering the resident's bedroom around 2 a.m. while the man was on the telephone with 911 operators. He was shot in the arm. Rios was taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

A woman waiting for Rios in a car outside, Yajaira Ayala, 20, was charged with burglary of a habitation, deputies said.

Investigators said Rios was bagging up electronics and other goods in the living room when he woke the resident.

[stroo]

On the other hand 3 rounds of birdshot did kill the guy.

[Fangs]

Did he hit him in the eye?

[NcongruNt]

There certainly is enough force to seriously wound or kill someone with birdshot at close range. The problem is, the further away from the muzzle you get, the more it spreads out, and single pellets of birdshot won't have the penetration capabilities that the aggregate force of many following one after another will.

Myself, I'd rather shoot an intruder from as far away as possible, and that's why I only load up buckshot or slugs for my defense needs.

[nils]

Look, if we kill enough of them, maybe they'll get the point...or possibly keep it in their small minds that here in Texas, we carry guns, we know how to shoot them, and we'll aim and shoot them at you if we need to.....one can only hope for a little Lead-ucation.....