Criminals still haven’t learned the lesson that stealing from their fellow citizens in the Southeast is a terrible idea because people down here are armed, keep those arms on them, and stay ready to use them when crime rears its ugly head.
There were the attempted gas station robbers in North Georgia that got three guns drawn on them. There was the attempted burglar in Louisiana who didn’t make it long enough to regret his decision when an enraged mama bear drew down on him. There was the Texas taqueria patron that used his concealed carry pistol to stop a robbery and end a criminal’s crime spree for good.
And now there’s an alleged, attempted purse snatcher in Texas who learned his lesson the hard way too after trying to steal an elderly lady’s handbag in front of a group of Texans…and promptly got chased down and held at gunpoint, which is where the video picks up. “This is what happens when you steal a purse in TEXAS” is what the caption said, but the video was deleted from Twitter.
We have to say “alleged” here because, though the purse snatcher was being held at gunpoint, the alleged, attempted robbery wasn’t itself filmed, just the end result of the man being held at gunpoint by a group of Texans.
Apparently, during the brief chase, one of the pursuers fired a warning shot at the purse snatcher, which worked in slowing the guy down and the police were then able to arrest him and get him in a police car.
Many people in the Twitter posts comments did not have much sympathy for the alleged purse snatcher. Instead, they said things like:
“People so confused in the comments on whether this was justified 😂 wait till they find out the punishment for stealing cattle in TEXAS..ask a rancher 😈”
“I’ve seen that here in Texas! Community steps up and in… I love it!”
“Politics aside, when you see someone out of gas on the road or stranded, theres a gang a people who stop and help push..ive done this plenty of times and ive been helped as well..its a TEXAS thing.”
But, of course, not everyone was anti-crime. A few were upset with the woman for firing when the purse snatcher posed no threat, saying things like:
“She is going to jail, he posed no threat, was running away.. will people please take a damn gun safety and law class.”
“You don’t shoot someone for stealing a purse. No, it’s certainly not acceptable, but neither is deadly force for a property crime that might even be a misdemeanor.”
Despite their moaning, the Texas law is permissive of the use of deadly force to stop property crimes in some situations. Section 9.42 of the code provides that deadly force can be used to protect private property when:
A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property:
(1) if he would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.41; and
(2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:
(A) to prevent the other’s imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; or
(B) to prevent the other who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property; and
(3) he reasonably believes that:
(A) the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means; or
(B) the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.
So, if the woman who fired the shot fulfilled all of those requirements, then she was justified, and depending on the circumstances of the situation not in the video, that could possibly have been the case.
Featured image credit: screengrab from embedded video, but the user on Twitter deleted it.
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