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Lucky45 wrote:

Autopsy: Burglary Suspects Shot In Back
By Ryan Korsgard

POSTED: 5:40 pm CST December 7, 2007
UPDATED: 6:19 pm CST December 7, 2007


HOUSTON -- An autopsy showed two burglary suspects were shot in the back allegedly by a Pasadena neighbor who witnessed their crime, KPRC Local 2 reported Friday. The suspects were also in this country illegally, according to authorities.

Pasadena police said suspects Diego Ortiz and Hernando Torres should not have been in the United States. Police said they made the discovery while investigating the fatal shootings of the two men from Colombia using multiple names.

Pasadena police spokesman Capt. Bud Corbett said, "We understand that one of the suspects originally identified as DeJesus, later identified as Hermano Torres, was incidentally deported in 1999 back to Colombia."


Police said Torres was arrested in 1994 and charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to deliver. He got a 25-year sentence, started serving time in prison, but was paroled and deported back to Colombia in 1999.

Corbett said, "Their alien status doesn't really change anything about what we do."

The autopsies showed the suspects were shot in the back. Police first thought the chest and side wounds were the bullets' entrances. Instead, police said, they were the exit wounds.

Pasadena resident Joe Horn said he shot and killed the two men after he saw them breaking into his neighbor's home.

The 911 call taker repeatedly told Horn not to shoot. Some in Pasadena say no one would have been shot had they not broken the law.

Manuel Palomarez said, "They've broken the law twice over -- once being illegal here and twice breaking and entering. It doesn't matter."

New Black Panther leader Quanell X has protested in front of Horn's home. He wants Horn to face murder charges.

Quanell X said, "We understand clearly that they were in the country illegally. But that's for the immigration and ICE officials to handle. Mr. Horn, what he did was murder. He shot both men in the back."

Horn's attorney did not wish to comment for this story.

My, my, my, look how the pendulum swings. A little science and crime scene investigations will be able to figure out exactly how far and the exact location that the suspects were shot. Size of the wounds, ballistics of his shotgun and ammo, blood splatter patterns, ammo shots into the building or on property. With computer software so prevalent in CSI, the evidence will not lie. Just have to match it with the shooters statements and so which is more credible.

Autopsy report
The wounded man crossed the street, collapsed and died, authorities said. At the same time, the other man had turned and ran away from Horn.

Horn swung his shotgun around after shooting the first man and fired at the second one after he entered the neighbor's yard, investigators said.

He was hit in the back but continued running until collapsing a few hundred yards down the street, Corbett said.

According to a final ruling, Ortiz died of shotgun wounds to his neck and torso, said Ellie Wallace, an investigator at the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.

The report said that Torres died of shotgun wounds to his torso and upper left extremity.

Wallace could not confirm whether the men were shot in the back, saying the autopsy report only indicated they were shot in the torso.

Neither suspect was armed, but one had a "center punch," a 6-inch pointed metal tool, in his pocket that might be used as a weapon, authorities said.

Also, they were carrying a sack filled with more than $2,000 in cash and assorted jewelry believed taken in the burglary, police said.

lawrnk wrote:After hearing the 3 audio clips, my mind has not changed. The man certainly said stupid stuff. I'd let him walk in a heartbeat. I've got no sympathy for burglars. Personally I'd apply the death penalty to rapists, burglars, robbers, and child molesters. Oh, and traitors like Fonda.