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Dallas man shoots burglar and goes back to bed


Euler

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Dallas Morning News

...

James Michael Meyer, 72, has been charged with murder. He was in the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail Friday evening.

 

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, officers were dispatched at 7:04 a.m. on a home invasion call in the 5400 block of Philip Avenue, near Interstate 30 and Grand Avenue, where they found the body of an unknown male face down in a park behind the home.

 

Dallas-Fire Rescue workers noted that blood on the body was dry and eventually determined that the person had been dead for some time.

 

Meyer told police that he had been awakened about 5 a.m. by noise outside and saw someone trying to break into his storage shed with a pickax when he looked through the window, the affidavit said.

 

Meyer said he grabbed his handgun and chambered a round, then came out of his home yelling at the person to stop what he was doing and not come any closer or else he'd shoot.

 

Instead, he told police, the person took several steps toward him, so he fired his gun, according to the affidavit.

 

At that point, the burglar dropped the pickax and ran toward the park.

 

Meyer said he fired an additional shot "into the night" in the direction of the park, even though "from the suspect's accounts, the threat of serious bodily injury against him was over when the complainant dropped the pickax and ran off," the affidavit said.

 

Meyer said he didn't know whether he had struck the person, so he went back to bed.

 

As the sun began to rise, Meyer again looked outside and saw "a black bag" in the park. Upon closer inspection, he found the individual lying face down in the park.

 

Meyer's wife called an attorney for advice before Meyer called 911, the affidavit said.

 

According to the affidavit, he refused to answer the dispatcher's questions, saying repeatedly that he was the victim of a crime and that medical assistance was needed.

 

When investigators couldn't find any spent shell casings, Meyer told them he had thrown them in the trash.

IMO:

  • Not calling 911 when someone attacks you on your property and you shoot him: Not good
  • Calling an attorney before you do eventually call 911: Okay, although plenty of cops won't like it
  • Not answering the 911 operator's questions: Good (probably as advised by the lawyer), because those things are recorded, and plenty of people have been convicted based on what they said in a 911 call
  • Stating to the cops when questioned, after having talked to a lawyer, that you altered the crime scene and destroyed evidence: Wow, did the lawyer not mention about not talking to the cops without him? Even if it's what you did, there has to be a better way to state it formally.
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This is Texas. He had the right to use deadly force to prevent a burglary at night. He may have committed crimes but based on the victims stated chronology of events, murder is not one of them. If the deceased was fatally injured while not on the victims property, then there might be two victims of separate crimes.

 

 

 

 

^ this ***

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Shooting a man in the back while he runs from you is a crime. That's what I was tawt. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

That is not always the case. If that were a universal all a criminal must do is quickly turn his back to you and your rendered useless.

 

I did not see in the story I read were the offenders fatal wound(s) were.

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This is Texas. He had the right to use deadly force to prevent a burglary at night. He may have committed crimes but based on the victims stated chronology of events, murder is not one of them. If the deceased was fatally injured while not on the victims property, then there might be two victims of separate crimes. ^ this ***

 

This is really what Illinois needs and will never get, they just con't steal bicycles from your yard in Texas.

I wonder what their carjacking numbers look like ;)

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This is Texas. He had the right to use deadly force to prevent a burglary at night. He may have committed crimes but based on the victims stated chronology of events, murder is not one of them. If the deceased was fatally injured while not on the victims property, then there might be two victims of separate crimes. ^ this ***

 

This is really what Illinois needs and will never get, they just con't steal bicycles from your yard in Texas.

I wonder what their carjacking numbers look like ;)

Texas is becoming liberal, he should not have been arrested.

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A similar incident happened in East St Louis a few years ago. An elderly lady heard someone banging on her door, she thought (correctly) someone appeared to be breaking in. So, she fired a warning shot or two through the closed door, and the banging noises stopped. She went back to bed. The next day, a friend/ family member stopped by to check on her. Lo and behold, what do you suppose they found on her porch? Yep, a dead guy.

 

A cursory investigation was done, and she was not charged.

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This is Texas. He had the right to use deadly force to prevent a burglary at night. He may have committed crimes but based on the victims stated chronology of events, murder is not one of them. If the deceased was fatally injured while not on the victims property, then there might be two victims of separate crimes. ^ this ***

This is really what Illinois needs and will never get, they just con't steal bicycles from your yard in Texas.

I wonder what their carjacking numbers look like ;)

Texas is becoming liberal, he should not have been arrested.

 

 

If it was Auston, he would have been convicted of at least 12 crimes by now.

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A similar incident happened in East St Louis a few years ago. An elderly lady heard someone banging on her door, she thought (correctly) someone appeared to be breaking in. So, she fired a warning shot or two through the closed door, and the banging noises stopped. She went back to bed. The next day, a friend/ family member stopped by to check on her. Lo and behold, what do you suppose they found on her porch? Yep, a dead guy.

 

A cursory investigation was done, and she was not charged.

 

In this case the man was trying to enter (invade) the woman's domicile. In the Texas case the criminal was trying to break into a detached storage shed.

An attempt to forcibly enter an occupied home is of greater threat than that of breaking into a storage shed.

 

Without more information on the Texas case, I will pass on convicting or condemning the homeowner.

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