The Lone Star State has a rich tradition of honoring Second Amendment rights and the freedom to defend oneself in the face of a violent attack.
Not to mention the fact that stealing a person’s truck could be considered an even more egregious crime than trying to make off with someone’s four-door sedan. Most reasonable people understand this concept.
An attempt to steal a Ford truck from a San Antonio resident Thursday afternoon resulted in a tragic shootout between the owner and the alleged thief. The owner was shopping in a mall, and as he went to leave he discovered that his truck had been taken.
It did not take long to track the vehicle, which was found on the other side of the mall. According to reports, the alleged thief and a female companion were inside the truck when the owner located it.
According to NBC News, the owner produced his weapon and ordered the pair inside the truck to the ground as he called police. However, a fatally bad decision was apparently made by the man on the ground. He allegedly produced his own weapon and shot the truck’s owner.
The wounded man then returned fire, killing the alleged thief and injuring his companion.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus confirmed that the alleged thief, who he referred to as “the bad guy,” was killed in the exchange of gunfire.
“We would prefer that [you] call the police before taking that into your own hands,” he explained. “But he did what he felt he needed to do, and we have one dead suspect, and we have a critically wounded passenger who was with the suspect, and we have a wounded owner of the vehicle.”
McManus did not fully endorse the owner’s actions, adding “I guess it would depend on who you asked if he did the right thing or not.”
However, Texas law gives much leeway to owners attempting to recover stolen property, and NBC News quoted an expert saying the truck’s owner may not face legal trouble.
Yet another case of a violent attempted car theft played out just hours before the San Antonio incident, this time in Harris County, Texas. And another suspected car thief was shot and killed by the vehicle’s owner.
Investigators reported the vehicle was taken from an apartment complex around 4 a.m. The car owner did the right thing and called 911 before he and his girlfriend began following the stolen Dodge Charger. As they trailed his vehicle, shots rang out as the alleged thief began firing at the Lexus they were following him in.
The owner of the Dodge fired back, striking the 19-year-old driving the Charger several times. About three miles from where the car was allegedly stolen, it came to a stop.
When authorities arrived, they found the teenage driver dead with several bullet wounds.
The reaction by local law enforcement was not so positive as in the San Antonio case. A Harris County Sheriff’s Department official, Sgt. Ben Beall, said that weapons were being fired while driving on the roadway. “Law enforcement is not allowed to do that. You’re endangering other people, and ‘is it worth the person’s life to recover your stolen vehicle?’ is the question people need to ask themselves.”
This, of course, ignores the fact that the alleged thief initiated the shootout. It is not clear whether the Dodge’s owner will face charges in the case.
What is clear is that at least two people made a terrible decision and it cost them their lives. Was it worth the chance to make off with a stolen vehicle knowing that they might and indeed did encounter an armed citizen willing to defend their property?
