Texans take their BBQ seriously. So seriously, in fact, that a homeowner in Harris County, Texas, which is in the Houston area, responded with deadly force when an individual stole his BBQ pit from him. Such is what Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced in a statement released on Facebook after the Sunday, February 18 incident.
According to Sheriff Gonzalez, the dispute began with the attempted theft of a BBQ pit and led to a vehicle chase and deadly shooting. The shooting apparently came when the owner of the stolen BBQ pit thought the thief had retrieved a weapon. Sheriff Gonzalez added that a grand jury will now need to consider the case and whether it was permissible self-defense use of force.
Beginning the announcement, Sheriff Gonzalez warned community members that there was a deadly shooting in their area, saying, “To our community members in the Humble/Timber Hills area: Harris County Sheriff’s Office units responded to the 15000 blk of Ralston Rd/Kentington Oak (near Tollway & Woodland Hills), in reference to a male who was shot and confirmed deceased.”
Continuing, he gave a brief description of the incident, saying, “Preliminary information: the deceased male had allegedly stolen or attempted to steal the shooter’s bbq pit from his residence. The male fled in a vehicle and the owner gave chase in his vehicle. It is unknown if both individuals exchanged gunfire, or if only the owner discharged a pistol.”
Concluding the original statement, he added that the law enforcement authorities had detained the shooter and that the alleged thief had died at the scene. In his words: “The alleged thief was struck by gunfire, while still in the car, and pronounced deceased at the scene. The shooter/pit owner is currently detained. Investigators and I are enroute to the scene.”
Later, he edited the announcement and added an update in which more details where given on how the situation escalated into a deadly shooting. He wrote, describing the attempted theft and resulting car chase, “Update: investigators determined the deceased male had stolen a bbq pit from the shooter’s residence. The homeowner exited his residence and gave chase in his own vehicle. The homeowner caught up and confronted the male who was stealing the bbq pit, a short distance away from the original scene.”
Then, explaining how the chase ended in deadly gunfire, Sheriff Gonzalez wrote, “When he exited the vehicle and confronted the individuals in the suspect vehicle, he believed the driver of this suspect vehicle, had possibly retrieved a weapon. Fearing for his safety, the homeowner fired several times at the suspect, striking him. A second person who was in the car with the suspect was not injured and is not being charged at this time.”
Concluding the update, he wrote, “The homeowner cooperated with investigators and provided a detailed statement about the incident. The case will be referred over to a grand jury. Once the investigation is complete, the case will be turned over to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for presentation to a grand jury.”
"*" indicates required fields