Man cleared of killing two unarmed burglars in his neighbours front yard

[Puckoon]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5866865.html


Smalll breakdown of the case.

1. In texas
2. man hears breaking glass in his neighbours house
3. calls police and explains that he is going outside with his shot gun
4. police dispatcher tells him 13 times not to go outside
5. joe horn goes outside, telling the officer he is cocking the shot gun
6. kills two men as they run away from him.
7. texas grand jury lets him away scott free.





WHAT HORN SAID

On the 12-gauge shotgun Horn retrieved from his car: "The gun saved my life. It took two lives but it saved mine. How do you evaluate that? Yes, it's awful but it saved my life"

Contrary to what can be heard on the 911 tape, Horn insists his plan was to go outside to see if he could get a better description to give police: "My plan was very simple. Nothing was going to get me out that door without a plan. As far as shooting a shotgun goes, I knew I wasn't going to shoot anybody. There was no danger to any of the bad guys or police officers"

His attorney and friend, Tom Lambright , was the first to tell him he had been cleared: "It felt like a huge weight had just been removed from me. I immediately called my daughter at work. She squealed. She was just ecstatic. There was a lot of emotion. It was a huge relief"

For seven months, Horn thought he would be indicted largely on account of the 911 conversation: "How was I ever going to try to explain that? The manner in which I talked was just not me"

Horn became even more frightened when he lost sight of the alleged burglars: "It was bad enough when I was upstairs and looking at them. But I could see them. When they disappeared and I went downstairs, the fear was magnified tenfold because now I can't see them and they could come into my house. There is the unknown that was terrifying. I thought it was bad but it got worse"

On looking back at the life he had before the shootings: "I want it back so bad. I'm scared I won't get it back. I hope this is the beginning of better times for me"
The voice of Joe Horn on the infamous 911 tape, the one telling police he wasn't going to let the men burglarizing his neighbors' house get away, that he was "gonna shoot" them, is not the voice of the real Joe Horn, he told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday.

Nor is the man who grabbed his shotgun, left his house against a 911 operator's orders, pumped a shell into the chamber and shot the men down after shouting "move, you're dead," the real Joe Horn.

The real Joe Horn, he insisted in an exclusive interview the day after he was cleared by a Harris County grand jury in the deaths of Diego Ortiz and Hernando Riascos Torres, is just a boring retired engineer.

And a 61-year-old Pasadena grandfather who, energized by fear that afternoon last Nov. 14, made a decision that has haunted him since, a decision he would take back if he could.

"I would never advocate anyone doing what I did," Horn said from his attorney's west Houston home. "We are not geared for that."

Gunning down the two unemployed illegal immigrants from Colombia rocketed Horn from his suburban obscurity into a deeply divided vortex of public scrutiny. He has been hailed on the one side as a hero, as a neighbor anyone would want; and on the other as nothing more than a vigilante taking the law into his own hands.

In a calm, soft voice, Horn said Tuesday he was neither — not a man worthy of praise, nor one who merits scorn.

"I know what a hero is, and that's not me," he said. "I'm a human being that was in a situation that I'd never been in before, and I didn't want to die."


'You lose track of time'
Horn's account of the events leading up to the shootings differs sharply in parts with what can be heard on the tape of the call he made to 911 shortly after seeing the men allegedly breaking into his neighbors' house.

He said he was upstairs in his gameroom, tinkering with a computer, when the quiet of the Village Grove East subdivision was shattered by the sound of breaking glass. He instinctively blamed the family cat, Horn said, before realizing that the noise had come from outside.

He looked out the window and saw two men, both dressed in dark green T-shirts, blue jeans and tennis shoes, breaking into his neighbors' home through a block glass window.

He called 911 on his cell phone.

He said he began to feel scared. He didn't know who the men were, nor if his neighbors were home and were in danger. Was his home the next target?

He went to his car to get a 12-gauge shotgun he kept in a leather case on the floorboard.

"All I was thinking was, 'Oh my God,' " he said. "You lose track of time. You don't ever think about that. You start thinking about all kinds of things. ... I was feeling helpless."

From his upstairs window, Horn said he saw the men leave his neighbors' home and walk around the back of the house where he couldn't see them.

While still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, he said he went downstairs with the goal of getting a description of the men to give police.

But, according to the transcript, he provided the dispatcher a far different motive:

Operator: Mr. Horn, do not go out the house.

Horn: I'm sorry. This ain't right, buddy.

Operator: You're going to get yourself shot if you go outside that house with that gun. I don't care what you think. Stay in the house.

Horn: You wanna make a bet? I'm gonna kill 'em.

As he was going downstairs, Horn said the fear and adrenaline rush was intense.

"I'm thinking if they go out the front door, I can't see them at all," he said. His plan was to look out the front door window to get a better view of his neighbor's house. Seeing nothing, he ventured outside.

He said he took one step off his front porch and saw nothing. "I felt great. I was so relieved that I didn't see anything. I thought, 'It's over with.' "

Then he saw the men come around the corner and head into his front yard. Horn had his cell phone in his front shirt pocket while he handled the shotgun.


'No fear in their eyes'

"It went from 'I'm glad it's all over' to instant fear," he said.

He shouted the words he now regrets: "Move, you're dead." The men — about 10 feet and 13 feet from him — stopped immediately. They looked at one another and said nothing.

"There was no fear in their eyes," Horn said.

One of the men, believed to be Torres, started to charge him, Horn said. He fired.

"There was no time to aim," Horn said. "To this day, I still don't know where I shot."

Horn said he turned slightly to the right and fired toward the second man, Ortiz, who ran at a fast pace back in the direction of his neighbor's house. Torres remained in his yard and was walking back toward Horn. He fired a third shot.

Horn didn't think his shots struck either man.

"I went inside because the guy (Ortiz) disappeared," he said. "I thought he was behind the house. ... I was desperate for the police to get there."

A police car screeched to a halt in front of his house. An officer drew his gun and ordered him "on the ground."

Horn, who still had his cell phone to his ear, dropped face-first and was handcuffed.

He was eventually allowed to sit up and saw one of the men across the street, lying prone. "I thought I scared him enough to fall to the ground."

It wasn't until he overheard one officer tell another that "there were two burglars and this man just killed them" that he realized both men were dead.

The moment was surreal.

"It was like nothing I've ever felt," Horn said. "It was like it wasn't really happening. Just numb."

[pintsofguinness]

Well they won't be robbing anyone else.

[5 Sams]

Has he any relatives in Mayo?

[Evil Genius]

Well they won't be robbing anyone else.

Congratulations! Undisputed winner of the "All-Time Crassest Comment of the Thread" award, with a Gold Star for being first to reply, and all in only 15 minutes.  I guess the rest of us shouldn't bother even trying to top it...

P.S. Of course, it was only two illegal Colombians who died, so they hardly count compared with, say, had it been an Irish illegal:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0703/breaking25.htm

[Puckoon]

Well they won't be robbing anyone else.

Regardless,
my point is that this man, was told not to go outside - he was in no imminent danger (one burglar, in another house was weilding a tyre iron). He was repeatedly told not to leave the house - and before he did leave the house he told police - "Im going to shoot them" "Im going to kill them".

Wish I could find the tape transcript - because its rough listening. Out he goes, cocks the shotgun says:

"Move! You're dead!"

Bang
Bang
Bang

No charges.

[nrico2006]

If they hadn't been robbing they wouldn't have been shot - the punishment is obviously a bit severe but I'm sure it has lowered the number of robberies in that area!

[pintsofguinness]

Well they won't be robbing anyone else.

Congratulations! Undisputed winner of the "All-Time Crassest Comment of the Thread" award, with a Gold Star for being first to reply, and all in only 15 minutes.  I guess the rest of us shouldn't bother even trying to top it...

P.S. Of course, it was only two illegal Colombians who died, so they hardly count compared with, say, had it been an Irish illegal:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0703/breaking25.htm

I don't give a f**k who it was or where they were from - I do think he should do jail time though. 
If that Irish lad was robbing a house then same goes for him - no tears here.  Though, again, the police man should face punishment.

[AZOffaly]

Smalll breakdown of the case.

1. In texas
2. man hears breaking glass in his neighbours house
3. calls police and explains that he is going outside with his shot gun
4. police dispatcher tells him 13 times not to go outside
5. joe horn goes outside, telling the officer he is cocking the shot gun
6. kills two men as they run away from him.
7. texas grand jury lets him away scott free.

I could have stopped reading there and guessed the rest. As the saying goes, 'Don't mess with Texas'.

[tyssam5]

Well they won't be robbing anyone else.

Congratulations! Undisputed winner of the "All-Time Crassest Comment of the Thread" award, with a Gold Star for being first to reply, and all in only 15 minutes.  I guess the rest of us shouldn't bother even trying to top it...

P.S. Of course, it was only two illegal Colombians who died, so they hardly count compared with, say, had it been an Irish illegal:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0703/breaking25.htm

I don't give a f**k who it was or where they were from - I do think he should do jail time though. 
If that Irish lad was robbing a house then same goes for him - no tears here.  Though, again, the police man should face punishment.

While not many details have been released, it would appear that he was not a robber, just a young lad with some mental problems. While not referring to the particular case in Texas, I'd have more sympathy for a house-holder in many circumstances than a police officer, who is supposed to be trained to handle such situations. In the Oregon case you're not talking about a cop in a gang-infested inner city who might be in daily fear for his life, it is a quiet town about the size of Cookstown or thereabouts where there is never any trouble. The training for cops is way to aggressive for a lot of situations.

Whatever one might think robbers deserve POG, your 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' approach will lead to a lot of innocent people dying as well.

[pintsofguinness]

Whatever one might think robbers deserve POG, your 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' approach will lead to a lot of innocent people dying as well.

I agree we don't want people going around taking the law in to their own hands or trigger happy cops and Ive said they should face punishment.

That said, these boys we're talking about on this thread were robbing a house so I can't have much sympathy

[tyssam5]

The crime that sickens me most in Ireland is when you hear of old farmers in their 80's or even 90's being tied up and robbed in their homes. I know of one old lad round my way at home who cleared a few out of his yard with a shotgun. He didn't even fire it, but in cases like that I would definitely put aside my normal attitude and almost wish he had.

[Yes I Would]

'Joe Horn' What a cool f**king name. He will no doubt be starring a a few porn movies shortly!!