http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5383422.html
Colombian community here, abroad weighs in on slayings
Horn shootings draw attention of foreign media
By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
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''License to Kill," reads the headline in Colombia's largest news magazine.
The recent news story, however, was not about endemic drug-related violence in this South American nation, but a double-homicide that has riled Houston.
The slayings of two Colombians by a Pasadena homeowner last month during a burglary has upset Colombians in Houston, and has consular officials closely monitoring the ongoing criminal investigation.
''Whatever they were doing, I don't think it was right what this guy did," said Jorge Herrera, owner of the Colombia Cargo shipping company and a Houston resident for 27 years. ''To me, it's a racial deal."
Two black men from Colombia — Diego Ortiz, 30, and Hernando Riascos Torres, 38 — were shot Nov. 14 by Pasadena computer consultant Joe Horn, who is 61 and white. The deceased, both illegal immigrants, were shot from behind as they left a house next to Horn's residence that they had broken into.
Colombian officials in Houston ''will be very attentive to the case," said Consul General Maria Cristina Chirolla who expressed confidence authorities here will conduct an ''honest and truthful" investigation.
''I have faith in American justice," said Chirolla, a former federal drug prosecutor who has worked with U.S. officials. ''We are respectful of the investigations that are being made by the authorities, and we believe the results will tell us exactly what happened."
Horn has received an outpouring of support from people hailing him as a hero for his actions. Others, however, have said he should be charged in the deaths of the two men.
Large community
Colombians comprise one of the largest community of South American immigrants in Harris County, with the Census Bureau estimating there were 23,317 residents of Colombian origin here in 2006.
In Colombia, the Houston slayings were featured in the Dec. 8 issue of Semana, the nation's largest weekly news magazine, which carried a story under the headline ''License to Kill." The daily newspaper El Pais in Cali used the headline ''Firearms in the Household Divide Americans" in its story about the controversy generated by the killings.
A number of Colombians residing in Houston contacted last week said Horn had a right to defend himself from attack. But they questioned the use of deadly force against burglars who were fleeing a neighbor's home with police on the way.
''They weren't invading his house," said Herrera. ''It was the neighbor's house, and even though he was protecting the neighbors, he had already called 911. He knew the police were on the way."
Fabio Longas, a Colombian businessman, said he wasn't familiar with all the details of the case. ''But I don't think you should shoot someone in the back," he said.
Chirolla, the top Colombian diplomat here, said she hopes the inquiry will resolve the issue of whether the shooting of her two countrymen was lawful.
''The great question is, 'does a person have a right to kill other people only because he suspects them?'; and moreover, when these people had their backs to him and were unarmed," Chirolla said.
The consul questioned why Horn did not stay in his home, as advised by 911 dispatchers. ''We should always be respectful of the police and have confidence in what they tell us and don't take justice, as in this case, into our own hands," she said.
Vigilantism opposed
It was a sentiment expressed by a number of Colombians, including relatives and friends of the two slain men who want to see Horn prosecuted.
''Whatever someone is doing wrong, the only ones who have the right to prosecute them, to put them in prison, are the authorities," said Jairo Riascos, a cousin of Hernando Riascos Torres. ''The only thing we want is for the authorities to bring charges because he didn't kill two animals; he killed two human beings."
Marling Quiñonez, a 30-year-old Colombian native, said she lived with Diego Ortiz for six months before his death and described him as quiet ''and a very good guy, a sweet man."
She said Ortiz leaves behind an 8-month-old infant in Houston, as well as an 11-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter in Colombia from a previous relationship.
Pasadena police and federal authorities said both men were in the country illegally, and they are trying to determine if they were members of a burglary and fake identity ring. Riascos Torres had been deported to Colombia in 1999, after a cocaine-related conviction.
But local Colombians say whatever crimes the two men committed, they were not deserving of death.
''Nobody has the right to cut short a life," said Lucia Hernandez. ''From what I heard, they weren't harming anyone. What they were doing was bad, but they didn't deserve to have their lives shortened."
