 If
youre thinking of commiting a crime, think twice before doing it in
Texas. After calling 911 to report a burglary in progress, Joe Horn,
61, shoots and kills the 2 would be burglars while talking to the 911
operator.
NN played the dramatic 911 recorded call from a Pasadena, Texas
resident, who called in to alert police to his neighbor's home being
ransacked.
The two burglary suspects were on a neighbor's property, but as they
were observed leaving the property with confiscated goods, both men
were shot dead.
Joe Horn, 61, told the dispatcher what he intended to do: Walk out his front door with a shotgun.
"I've got a shotgun," Horn said, according to a tape of the 911 call. "Do you want me to stop them?"
"Nope, don't do that - no property is worth shooting somebody over, OK?" the dispatcher responded.
"Hurry up man, catch these guys, will you? 'Cause I'm ain't gonna let
'em go, I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm not gonna let 'em go. I'm not
gonna let 'em get away with this s***."
Shortly after, Horn said he sees one suspect was standing in front of his house, looking at it from the street.
"I don't know if they're armed or not. I know they got a crowbar 'cause
that's what they broke the windows with. ... Man, this is scary, I
can't believe this is happening in this neighborhood."
The dispatcher asks if he can see the suspects but they had retreated
into the target's house, out of view: "I can go out the front [to
look], but if I go out the front I'm bringing my shotgun with me, I
swear to God. I am not gonna let 'em get away with this, I can't take a
chance on getting killed over this, OK? I'm gonna shoot, I'm gonna
shoot."
"Stay inside the house and don't go out there, OK?" the dispatcher
said. "I know you're pissed off, I know what you're feeling, but it's
not worth shooting somebody over this, OK?"
"I don't want to," Horn said, "but I mean if I go out there, you know,
to see what the hell is going on, what choice am I gonna have?
"No, I don't want you to go out there, I just asked if you could see anything out there."
The dispatcher asks if a vehicle could be seen; Horn said no. The dispatcher again says Horn should stay inside the house.
The police still had not arrived to the scene.
"I can't see if [the suspects are] getting away or not," Horn said.
Horn told the dispatcher that he doesn't know the neighbors well,
unlike those living on the other side of his home. "I can assure you if
it had been their house, I would have already done something, because I
know them very well," he said.
Dispatcher: "I want you to listen to me carefully, OK?"
Horn: "Yes?"
Dispatcher: "I got ultras coming out there. I don't want you to go
outside that house. And I don't want you to have that gun in your hand
when those officers are poking around out there."
Horn: "I understand that, OK, but I have a right to protect myself too,
sir, and you understand that. And the laws have been changed in this
country since September the First and you know it and I know it."
Dispatcher: "I understand."
Horn: "I have a right to protect myself ..."
Dispatcher: "I'm ..."
Horn: "And a shotgun is a legal weapon, it's not an illegal weapon."
Dispatcher: "No, it's not, I'm not saying that, I'm just not wanting you to ..."
Horn: "OK, he's coming out the window right now, I gotta go, buddy. I'm sorry, but he's coming out the window. "
Dispatcher: "No, don't, don't go out the door, Mister Horn. Mister Horn..."
Horn: "They just stole something, I'm going out to look for 'em, I'm
sorry, I ain't letting them get away with this --. They stole
something, they got a bag of stuff. I'm doing it!"
Dispatcher: "Mister, do not go outside the house."
Horn: "I'm sorry, this ain't right, buddy."
Dispatcher: "You gonna get yourself shot if you go outside that house with a gun, I don't care what you think."
Horn: "You wanna make a bet?"
Dispatcher: "Stay in the house."
Horn: "There, one of them's getting away!
Dispatcher: "That's alright, property's not something worth killing
someone over. OK? Don't go out the house, don't be shooting nobody. I
know you're pissed and you're frustrated but don't do it."
Horn: "They got a bag of loot."
Dispatcher: "OK. How big is the bag?" He then talks off, relaying the information.
Dispatcher: "Which way are they going?"
Horn: "I can't ... I'm going outside. I'll find out."
Dispatcher: "I don't want you going outside, Mister..."
Horn: "Well, here it goes buddy, you hear the shotgun clicking and I'm going."
Dispatcher: "Don't go outside."
On the tape of the 911 call, the shotgun can be heard being cocked and
Horn can be heard going outside and confronting someone. Horn is heard
sayng, "You move your dead."
A loud bang is heard, then a shotgun being cocked and fired again, and then again.
Then Horn is back on the phone:
"Get the law over here quick. I've now, get, one of them's in the front
yard over there, he's down, he almost run down the street. I had no
choice. They came in the front yard with me, man, I had no choice! ...
Get somebody over here quick, man."
Dispatcher: "Mister Horn, are you out there right now?"
Horn: "No, I am inside the house, I went back in the house. Man, they
come right in my yard, I didn't know what the -- they was gonna do, I
shot 'em, OK?"
Dispatcher: "Did you shoot somebody?
Horn: "Yes, I did, the cops are here right now."
Dispatcher: "Where are you right now?"
Horn: "I'm inside the house. ..."
Dispatcher: "Mister Horn, put that gun down before you shoot an officer
of mine. I've got several officers out there without uniforms on."
Horn: "I am in the front yard right now. I am ..."
Dispatcher: "Put that gun down! There's officers out there without
uniforms on. Do not shoot anybody else, do you understand me? I've got
police out there..."
Horn: "I understand, I understand. I am out in the front yard waving my hand right now."
Dispatcher: "You don't have a gun with you, do you?
Horn: "No, no, no."
Two days later, Horn released a statement through an attorney.
"The events of that day will weigh heavily on me for the rest of my
life," it said. "My thoughts go out to the loved ones of the deceased."
The identities of the men killed were released Friday.
They are Miguel Antonio Dejesus, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30. Official
records show that each of them had a prior arrest in Harris County for
drug offenses.
The men were reportedly shot at a distance of less than 15 feet.
A woman who lives nearby who asked not to be identified told CBS News
affiliate KHOU correspondent Rucks Russell that she always saw Horn as
a grandfather figure. "He is the guardian of the neighborhood," she
said. "He takes care of all our kids. If we ever need anything, we call
him."
But according to Tom Lambright, Horn's attorney and a friend for more
than four decades, he's the one in need now. "He just needs everyone to
know he's not a villain, he's not a bad guy," Lambright said.
He went on to say that Horn voluntarily gave an extensive video statement to police immediately following the shooting.
Horn was not taken into custody after the shooting. A Harris County grand jury will decide if charges are to be filed.
Lambright says Horn acted in complete and total self defense and has nothing to hide.
The incident may prove a test for a new law recently passed in Texas which expands the right of citizens to use deadly force.
Under Texas law, people may use deadly force to protect their own
property or to stop arson, burglary, robbery, theft or criminal
mischief at night.(MC)
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