Houston Self-Defense Shooting

 

You have probably already read, seen, or heard news accounts of the customer at a Houston restaurant that shot and killed an armed robber. If not, the New York Post has the basic facts of the incident:

    An armed robber at a Houston restaurant was fatally shot by a customer when he demanded the other patrons hand over their money, authorities said.

    The shooting unfolded inside of Ranchito Taqueria around 11:30 p.m. Thursday when a masked suspect walked in the front door, pointed a gun at customers and demanded their money and wallets, Houston Police Department said.

    Disturbing footage of the incident shows terrified customers hiding under tables as the robber, dressed in all black, marched around and grabbed their belongings, which some had flung on the floor.

    As the robber heads to the door to leave [ed: they don't know the robber was leaving--the video appears to show him approaching a customer near the front of the establishment], a patron sitting in a booth suddenly stands up and opens fire on the suspect with a handgun, video shows.

    The customer can then be seen shooting him in the back four times before the robber collapses to the ground. 

    Then, while standing right over the robber, the customer shoots him once more at point-blank range, video shows.

    The customer then collected the stolen money from the suspect and returned it to other patrons before he and other customers fled the restaurant, according to police.

You can also view a video clip of the shooting here (note that because Twitter thinks it is disturbing you will have to click an approval to watch the video before the video will actually pop up). 

    The robber--a young black male--was apparently carrying an air-soft or BB gun, although that doesn't really make a difference because all that is required was a reasonable fear of bodily harm; and his handgun certainly looked like the real thing and he certainly was pointing it at customers. Besides, he could have shot someone's eye out which would certainly qualify as serious bodily harm. 

    I think that the guy that shot the robber did a good job as far as not telegraphing that he had a weapon or was trying to access it. One of the articles about the incident indicated that "Texas law allows for deadly force when justified by robbery or threat of robbery." 

    The problem for the shooter will be the final shot(s) fired after the robber had collapsed and the shooter approached the robber--particularly where the shooter pauses then takes one last shot. Those will be harder for the shooter to justify (although perhaps the robber made a furtive movement that we can't see on the video). And it is probably for this reason that the police, according to news reports, want to talk to the shooter. The news accounts say that the police want to question the shooter, with the Post article reporting:

    Now, investigators said they “want to speak with the man for his role in the shooting” and asked the public for help identifying the shooter. No charges have been filed against him.

    “One of the reasons that law enforcement is seeking out this individual is to find out whether he was in fear for his life or the lives of the people around him because that’s absolutely essential to a self-defense claim under the law,” said KHOU Legal Analyst Carmen Roe.

    Roe said it appears to be self defense, and even if the suspect’s gun was fake the customers in the restaurant “clearly believed it was a real gun.”

The police have enough objective evidence that the shooter would have been in fear of his life or the life of others as to justify his shooting the robber in the first place. No, they are fishing for information as to the subsequent shot(s) after the robber was already down. They want to prosecute him for that. Particularly because this shooting is likely to generate considerable ire amongst the BLM crowd.