Texas Man Who Shot Illegals Will Not Stand Trial

By Selwyn Duke

The story began on November 14, 2007, when Joe Horn witnessed two men robbing a neighbor’s house. Like any good citizen, the 61-year-old grandfather called 911, but he also did something else — he fetched his shotgun. While the emergency operator implored Horn not to confront the burglars, the Pasadena, Tex., resident made a decision. Here is a partial transcript of the 911 call:

Horn: They’re getting away!
Dispatcher: That’s all right. Property’s not worth killing someone over, OK? Dispatcher: Don’t go out the house. Don’t be shooting nobody. I know you’re p***** and you’re frustrated, but don’t do it.
Horn: They got a bag of loot.
Dispatcher: OK. How big is the bag . . . which way are they going
Horn: I’m going outside. I’ll find out.
Dispatcher: I don’t want you going outside, Mr. Horn.
Horn: Well, here it goes, buddy. You hear the shotgun clicking and I’m going.

Read the rest here.

 

Comments

[Nathan R. Adams]

Selwyn,

Now don’t get me wrong on this one. I’m all for shooting illegal aliens. But I think it should be the Border Patrol doing the shooting, not chubby-granddaddy-computer-geeks, who look in the mirror and see Charles Bronson before they brush their teeth at night.

Somebody has put a heck of spin on this Joe Horn story. I don’t know if it’s you or your very favorite daily The New York Times. I’m inclined to go along with you on most things. And I do believe, as you do, that sparing the rod will spoil the child and that also, that concept can be applied to adults as well. But in this case, the rod was a shotgun and the learning curve fairly steep for Seniors Ortiz and Torres.

If quotes of the 911 call are accurate, it seems Mr. Horn intended to kill the two burglars even before he stepped outside the walls of his castle. He told the dispatcher so.

“I can’t take a chance of getting killed over this, O.K.? I’m going to shoot,” Mr. Horn says.

And, “You want to make a bet? I’m going to kill them.” (Kind of gives insight into his mental state and intentions.)

But, of course when he did close with the unarmed burglars he got scared and had to, for his own safety of course, let a little shot fly down range, even though the cops were right across the street, which to be fair, he probably didn’t know.

But come on! The guy went out there to shoot the invaders. He shot them. They died. That’s murder! And in the same way that O.J. got a Not Guilty; just because Horn didn’t get charged, doesn’t make it anything else.

[Cowboy]

Anybody know Joe Horn's address? I'd like to mail him a couple of boxes of buckshot to keep up the good work.