After reading about the following case, I know that it is going to elicit emotional responses from many different quarters with many different agendas. While I support the right of all citizens to protect their homes and their lives what occurred in this case does appear to support that doctrine. There were numerous forces at work that day in this neighborhood that all came to a head in the fatal shooting of two men. The case revolves around Joe Horn, a 61 year old retiree who happened to witness the burglary of a neighbor’s house. Mr. Horn did the neighborly thing and contacted 911 to report the crime in progress. So far so good, neighborhood watch is working. However, it is at this point where the story takes a tragic and bizarre twist.
“O.K.,” Mr. Horn said. “But I have a right to protect myself too, sir,” adding, “The laws have been changed in this country since September the first, and you know it.”
The operator said, “You’re going to get yourself shot.” But Mr. Horn replied, “You want to make a bet? I’m going to kill them.”
Moments later he said, “Well here it goes, buddy. You hear the shotgun clicking and I’m going.” NY Times
This is part of the exchange between Mr. Horn and the 911 operator. During the call the operator continually instructed Mr. Horn to stay in the house and let the police who were enroute handle the situation. As you can see from the exchange Mr. Horn had gone and retrieved his shotgun and was dead set on confronting the would be burglars. Before expounding on the larger issues raised by this tragedy and yes it is a tragedy because two men lost their lives, I want to touch on the two things that trouble me the most about this incident. Were they illegal aliens? Yes. Were the criminals? Yes, but two men still lost their lives that day over some stuff and that is a tragedy.
The first thing that stands out to me is in the second line of the above exchange. Mr. Horn explicitly states that he is not going to stop them, he is not going to shoot them, but that he is going to “kill them”. To me this implies intent on the part of the “so-called” hero in this story. It appears that Mr. Horn had determined for whatever reason that he was going to not only have to intervene, but that he would have to slay the criminals. Based on his own words, he had come to the conclusion that these two men deserved to die by his hands. It is one thing to have to kill someone while defending one’s own life, family, or even property; but to leave the safety of your own home to confront criminals at a neighbor’s home, who were not home at the time nor in any danger, in my opinion crosses the line.
Captain Corbett said that a plainclothes officer had pulled up just in time to see Mr. Horn pointing his shotgun at both men across his front yard, that Mr. Ortiz had at one point started to run in a way that took him closer to Mr. Horn, and that both men “received gunfire from the rear.”
That fact, alone, however, was not necessarily conclusive, Captain Corbett said. “It tells an investigator something, but not everything,” he added. “They could still have been seen as a threat.” NY Times
The second and most damaging to me against any argument of home owner’s rights is the report that the burglars were shot in the back. The case is being spun as a justifiable homicide case, but having the victims shot in the back has got to (pardon the pun) blow holes in that defense. I will be curious to see how it will be demonstrated that two suspects with their backs turned or maybe even fleeing from the shooter could have been a threat. If you put the two together it seems that Mr. Horn decided that he was going to go and kill a couple of ni**ers that day, legally. It should be noted that Mr. Horn was white and even though his victims were illegal immigrants from Columbia, he misidentified them during the 911 call as black. So, in his mind at the time he was confronting two black men.
This story encapsulates the current state of America on so many levels. There is the right to bear arms, the right of citizens to protect their homes, crime, fear, illegal immigrants, race, the role of the media, and the criminal justice system. Anyone searching for a case that has all the current hot button issues couldn’t find a better one than this if they had written it themselves. This one has something for everybody and I am sure it will bring out the fanatics on all sides. But the question now becomes what went wrong here and why? It would be easy to chalk it up to another frustrated white man who saw his chance to kill a couple of blacks and get away with it, but is it that simple?
I for one don’t think so. Of course Mr. Horn’s prejudice played a role in this and anyone who says it didn’t is either a liar or a fool and both are dangerous. But there are larger forces at work and these to me are more sinister. These are the forces that allow Mr. Horn’s prejudice to be played out in this scenario. What usually fails to get mentioned in the right to bear arms argument is that fact that this “so-called” right comes with responsibility. Just because a person can purchase a gun doesn’t mean they should have a gun. I am not talking about the certifiable nut that shoots up malls or schools, I am also talking about the average Joe who watches too much “COPS”, local news broadcasts, or 24. All of which are designed to heighten the fear of the public and increase the level of paranoia and bravado. But of course any talk about responsible gun ownership is immediately shouted down by the gun lobby and the NRA, because to them any concession to complete freedom of guns is considered sacrosanct. This man had no reason to be doing what he did, he was not a trained professional. If he were a policeman who shot two suspects in the back he would still have to answer for his crime. How anyone can justify an armed citizenry performing police work without training is beyond me.
Then there is the media that feeds the fear and paranoia of its viewers, the worst of which is local news. In their drive to get ratings these broadcasts are filled with either murder and mayhem or misleading stories. If one were to watch and believe the local news broadcasts one would believe the home invasions are happening on every block almost every hour, carjacking is rampant, and all violent criminals are minorities, preferably black. These broadcasts cater to the most sleazy and lowest common denominator. They seemed designed to only reinforce already engrained prejudices and stereotypes.
Then of course, there is the tone of political discourse today. With potential candidates for the highest office discussing torture, locking down the borders, and the mass expulsion of immigrants it is no wonder the public is frustrated and wanting to take matters into their own hands. Rather than providing leadership, today’s candidates are merely pandering to the worst elements of our society. For some reason those who harbor the fanatical views are more politically active and therefore receive the bulk of the attention.
Whenever you have an atmosphere charged by racism, guns, and vigilantly justice, incidents like these are bound to happen. I am very interested in seeing how this one plays out in the criminal justice system. The political agendas are being served; I only hope that justice is served. Regardless of what you think of those two men, none deserves to be gunned down in the back for a burglary. Mr. Horn seems to have come to the conclusion that in this case he was the “decider” of guilt, sentence, and execution.
Many of us believe that wrongs aren’t wrong if it’s done by nice people like ourselves. – Author Unknown
Excellent diary.
This part:
reminded me of another fantastic diary posted over at dKos after the Virginia Tech tragedy, when all the right wing warrior heroes were busy ejaculating all over themselves about how much shooter ass they would kick had they been in the halls that day. You can read it here: Whom do you shoot?
Excellant diary, seconded, especially for the conclusions drawn.
I read the original article and it appears that, rather than being arrested by the police, Mr. Horn will face a grand jury. So to date, he has not been charged with a crime. Should he be? No question about it. Furthermore, he should be convicted.
The racial overtones are actually murky and it is not possible to say whether Mr. Horn would not have acted in the same manner to twart white burglars. Still, the act obviously involved intended killings. The burglary was stopped, the burglars were fleeing, then they were shot in the back.
In contrast to how this white homeowner is being presented go read the case of Mr. White who is being tied for manslaughter after a “posse” of white teenagers came over to his house shouting racial slurs in an attempt to hurt his son who they wrongfully believed had made threats of rape on the internet against one of the white teenager’s sister.
Link
Thank you StevenD, I am familiar the case and it is an eye opener I wish more people were aware of…
Self-defense is not the only acceptable justification for deadly force in Texas law, and you do not have to be in fear for your life. If someone comes into your house or onto your property for what you reasonably can consider nefarious purposes, there is no longer a “duty to retreat.” You can stand and defend your own property and, as of last September, you can also defend your neighbor’s property as well. (I don’t know the precise definition of “neighbor” in this, but since Horn was watching the crime through the window of his own home before the shooting started, I suspect that the house in question qualifies. From news reports and the tapes of the 911 calls, Horn saw the men break into the house, go in, and emerge carrying bags they didn’t have when they went in, so “nefarious purposes” seems a slam dunk.)
The law is obviously quite new and as of now I haven’t heard of any case history to help clarify it. However, it’s entirely possible at this point that he actually broke no law by shooting the burglars.
Assuming that the DA gets an indictment, which I’d judge highly unlikely, I can’t see any way he’d be able to get a panel in SE Texas that would convict Horn of anything.
Which pretty much sucks.
I DO feel sorry for that 911 operator, though; he did just about everything he could to prevent it, and now he’s going to have to live with it too.
Not that there was ever much chance of my living in Texas — I’ve been there often enough to know better — but that pretty much seals it for me. I don’t want my neighbors to “defend” my property with armed force. If my house is on fire, I’d appreciate it if they’d call the fire department, but shooting at people on my property? Forget it. There’s too much risk that I might be the one climbing into my window because I lost my damn keys.
Of course, I’m not some idolatrous sumbitch who worships property, so while I’d prefer my stuff wasn’t stolen, I’m not inclined to murder someone over a VCR.
I can sure understand that; you probably wouldn’t fit in here any more than I do. Lately I’ve been kind of thinking that if the rest of y’all had any sense you’d see if ICE and Congress would move that border wall north a bit, and kind of a little east and westish too… `cause there’s gonna come a time when you gonna want to bottle these folks up in one easily watched place for a fairly long time….
Thanks for this enlightenment. Only in Texas!
What you are saying then is that when Horn told the 911 operator that he was going to kill them, he was acting within the law. Thus, he was not arrested by the police and will probably not be indicted by the grand jury.
Did I say only in Texas? Only in America! If the ACLU or even the family of the robbers would appeal this case, I wonder how the SC would view it. Obviously, the strict conservatives would affirm, given that Horn acted under a Texas law. But isn’t there something about “cruel and unusual punishment” here that would nullify this Texas law. As someone else stated, it does appear as if Horn acted like judge and jury and executioner.
Does the same law apply to juveniles or even children committing a home invasion?
I’m reminded of a case some years ago in Baton Rouge. A couple of teenagers got the address to a Halloween party confused & went to the wrong house. While they were heading back to the car, the home owner came out with his gun and shouted “Freeze”. One of the kids was an exchange student from Japan & didn’t understand the word. He was killed. The shooter was not convicted.
That was Louisiana. This is Texas. Think there is a difference? Don’t count on it.
Course not. There was a trial, but he was found innocent. There was a lot of talk about tragic mistake, and the right to defend one’s home. This could happen in any state.
While reading the comments, I noticed the advertisement for American Fascists over in the sidebar. It seems a fitting punctuation to your diary. Civility and the rule of law is out. Fear and the great grab for power is in.
The 21st century brownshirts – coming soon to a neighborhood near you!
Good morning,
The more I see of these stories the more I finally begin to understand that what is happening in this country now, nationally, with our aggressive, brutal occupations, our thumbing our noses at international treaties, right down to the logic that compelled this man to aggressively seek out and destroy two humans with unnecesarry force, is not so much a fundamental change in our beliefs and how we act on them as it is a regression back to who we truly are at our national, collective heart. There has been a brownshirt psychology at the root of nearly all our relations with one another, no matter our lies to ourselves and to the rest of the world about our lofty ideals of fairness and freedom for all. And especially since WWII, our international relations have taken a more imperialistic slide, probably I guess because we became powerful enough to begin really throwing our weight around. And where we’re at now is just a logical progression of our true identity. We are better, more enlightened, and believe ourselves so noble as to insist on bringing our gifts to the rest of the world. And God forbid you trespass on our right to trespass on you, as our shotgun shells and our cruise missiles will surely fly.
Your comment reminded me of my own trip away from my exceptionalist indoctrination where now I see brownshirts decked in red, white, and blue. It’s a hard lesson. It wasn’t so long ago that I remember being at an air show in Maryland and the great, now ignorant, pride I felt as my whole body trembled with awe when an F-15 Tomcat swooped in low over our heads and shook the ground. I saw it (the plane) as evidence of our great technology and strengnth, when all it ever signified was death magnified in it’s capabilities and in it’s theft from hungry families here. My pride has been replaced with great shame as I come to unlearn all I’ve believed for so long.
I apologize for attaching this comment to yours, but when you said brownshirts were coming to a neighborhood near you, I thought, well, they’ve been here all along…..
Take care
I apologize for attaching this comment to yours, but when you said brownshirts were coming to a neighborhood near you, I thought, well, they’ve been here all along…..
Oh, I agree with you completely. See my comment in Steven D’s taser diary on a police taser death near my home a few years ago.
“a brownshirt psychology?”
This is possibly the best summary of where America is at today. I think of the (racist) Minutemen patrolling our borders with Mexico, and no better description applies, only these are presumably the volunteer brown shirts.
You know, I did watch Top Gun and know that a Tomcat is an F-14, not an F-15. Another of the important things I’ve learned along the way :o)