One more reason to avoid being out and about at 2:00 a.m.

[Greybeard]

And if you must, keep the lips zipped!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... c8b3a.html

Man shot to death outside northwest Dallas gas station

Suspect upset about perceived insult of girlfriend, police say


12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, June 24, 2007

By TANYA EISERER teiserer@dallasnews.com

Authorities say Hector Lara was enraged by a perceived insult early Saturday when he jumped out of his car, waved around two handguns and fatally shot a Fort Worth man in the parking lot of a northwest Dallas gas station.

Mr. Lara was captured soon after the shooting by Irving police and faces one count of murder.

Witnesses said that before shooting Terrance Frazier, 25, Mr. Lara made karate-chopping motions with two handguns and smacked them together above his head. As he fled, he fired at least 12 shots in the air, police said.

"We're hearing that when he's drinking, he's just uncontrollable," said Sgt. Raymond Beaudreault, a homicide supervisor. "He does some crazy things."

According to police, it was around 2 a.m. when Mr. Frazier and Mr. Lara were in the a gas station parking lot in the 2400 block of Walnut Hill Lane. Mr. Frazier was in a car with his friends. Mr. Lara was in a car with his girlfriend, police said.

Mr. Lara heard Mr. Frazier and his friends say "hos" and thought they were talking about his girlfriend, Sgt. Beaudreault said.

"The suspect became enraged over the comments," Sgt. Beaudreault said. "We don't know if the comments were directed at the suspect's girlfriend or not."

Confronted by Mr. Lara, Mr. Frazier denied they were talking about his girlfriend, witnesses said. He then went in the store.

When Mr. Frazier came back out, Mr. Lara confronted him and got out of the vehicle, waving the two .45-caliber handguns, authorities said. Mr. Frazier backed away but was shot once in the chest. The couple fled the parking lot with Mr. Lara firing into the air and his girlfriend driving, police said.

Mr. Frazier died at a hospital.

Witnesses wrote down a license plate number and a description of the vehicle, which helped authorities track down Mr. Lara, police said. About 12 to 15 minutes later, Irving police saw Mr. Lara's blue Dodge Magnum behind an apartment complex near Shady Grove Road and Loop 12, officials said.

Irving officers used a Taser on Mr. Lara when they took him into custody, authorities said. Two handguns were found in the front seat of the car.

"We can't make any sense of it at all," Sgt. Beaudreault said. "The fortunate thing is that he's off the streets."

[chewy555]

Prayers sent for the family of Mr. Frazier.
I hope that Mr. Lara was not a CHL holder.

[frankie_the_yankee]

Prayers sent for the family of Mr. Frazier.

Amen to that.

I hope that Mr. Lara was not a CHL holder.

No chance.

[CHL/LEO]

Welcome to my world at 2 AM on the weekends. I know that gas station very well - it sits at the corner of I-35 and Walnut Hill - a fairly busy station due to its easy access off the interstate.

Just like the title to this thread stated - if you don't have to be out in Dallas at 2 AM then you probably shouldn't be. We've always said that if we could do a breathalyzer test on every driver after 2 AM in Dallas, people would be stunned at the number of drunk drivers on the road - that alone is reason to be off the roads at that time. We don't have a choice but you learn to adapt your driving habits by suspecting that every driver you see is right at or over the limit.

One hint I'll share - NEVER drive in the left hand lane of the highway at this time of the morning. Too many times we've seen drunks get on the freeway and start driving the wrong way. They think they are in the right hand lane of their roadway when in fact they are driving directly at you in your high speed lane. The wrecks that occur from this are usually some of the worst that we see and are not survivable. We've actually had multiple officers killed on duty by this type of incident. Avoiding driving in this lane has saved me more than once - both on and off duty.

[Skiprr]

Just a note: I learned that if you're writing what turns out to be a fairly lengthy reply and if, during that writing time, a Topic is locked, you can click "Preview" and your text is gone forever. Sigh. That's what I just now did in reply to the Topic that duplicated this one. Lesson learned. From now on, I'll create in the word processor, then cut-and-paste.

Not even gonna try to repeat my missive; was too long anyway. The other Topic opened with a question about what could have been done if a CHL holder finds himself or herself in Mr. Frazier's situation.

Suffice to say I enumerated four areas where I think we can reasonably believe Mr. Frazier failed himself in situational awareness and de-escalation effort. This event was not like stumbling on an armed robbery in progress and getting plugged before you know what's happening. Guys with, uh, rage issues--as Lara evidently is--usually offer plenty of clues that their fuse is lit. Mr. Frazier absolutely is the victim here, but if we had been there to witness the entire encounter, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Mr. Frazier and/or his buddies in the car exacerbated the situation...be that by either direct action or inaction (like turning your back on Lara and going into the store instead of just driving away).

Like Sgt. Beaudreault said, at least Lara is off the streets.

[Venus Pax]

This is really sad. Please pray for the family.

[dihappy]

If the guy got out of his car and confronted Frazier, there is little he would have seen from inside the store.

Not very much he could have done except ran off when he saw him step out of his car with a couple .45's

[Paladin]

One hint I'll share - NEVER drive in the left hand lane of the highway at this time of the morning. Too many times we've seen drunks get on the freeway and start driving the wrong way. They think they are in the right hand lane of their roadway when in fact they are driving directly at you in your high speed lane. The wrecks that occur from this are usually some of the worst that we see and are not survivable. We've actually had multiple officers killed on duty by this type of incident. Avoiding driving in this lane has saved me more than once - both on and off duty.

Good advice. Thanks!

I've seen more than my share of drunks in the I-45/central area at that time of the morning. Gave 'em a bunch of room.

[pbandjelly]

right across from SpeedZone, eh?
great, another prison "hero."

this is where moving to cover and firing would have been good.

[sting3r]

I lived in irving and recently moved out...I lived off of hidden ridge and even there in las colinas violence was getting bad. More than once I had wished I had my chl. My car was broken into and the gentleman who did it and I ran into eachother and at that point I really thought it was going to get bad. We also had an elderly indian man beaten pretty badly in our park. These incidents drove me to get my CHL and get my family out of the metro area. I have 4 kids and a lovely wife and felt it was my RESPONSIBILITY as the protector to keep this trash away from my family. My thoughts and prayers go to the victim but one must not forget it could have been any of us in that situation....doesnt have to be at 2am.

[Sara_XD]

1)"We're hearing that when he's drinking, he's just uncontrollable," said Sgt. Raymond Beaudreault, a homicide supervisor. "He does some crazy things."


2)Mr. Lara heard Mr. Frazier and his friends say "hos" and thought they were talking about his girlfriend, Sgt. Beaudreault said.

"The suspect became enraged over the comments," Sgt. Beaudreault said. "We don't know if the comments were directed at the suspect's girlfriend or not."

3)"We can't make any sense of it at all," Sgt. Beaudreault said. "The fortunate thing is that he's off the streets."

okay first of all did the "crazy things" comment really need to be made? this is all obvious right?

one more reason to to NEVER engage a stranger who may in the least seem to be a threat.

indeed it is good this trash is off the street.

good vibes and thoughts being projected to the family of the victim.