Lubbock: Woman allegedly shot self, claimed burglars did it

[seamusTX]

In Lubbock Tuesday a 55-year-old woman returned to her home in the middle of the day to find two burglars in the the house. She confronted them (or vice versa, depending up your point of view). She was shot and is in serious condition in a local hospital.

The burglars fled and were not apprehended. They are described as two Hispanic men. The same suspects possibly were the subjects of earlier reports of prowlers in the area.

Emergency personnel arrived on the scene nine minutes after the beginning of the initial 911 call.

http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-cour ... t-burglars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe someone can explain why the police give the victim's name and exact street address on the TV broadcast.

- Jim
[Subject line updated to reflect latest reports]

[VMI77]

In Lubbock Tuesday a 55-year-old woman returned to her home in the middle of the day to find two burglars in the the house. She confronted them (or vice versa, depending up your point of view). She was shot and is in serious condition in a local hospital.

The burglars fled and were not apprehended. They are described as two Hispanic men. The same suspects possibly were the subjects of earlier reports of prowlers in the area.

Emergency personnel arrived on the scene nine minutes after the beginning of the initial 911 call.

http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-cour ... t-burglars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe someone can explain why the police give the victim's name and exact street address on the TV broadcast.

- Jim

One thing the article shows is how most people are oblivious to reality and unprepared to defend themselves. One neighbor is quoted as being surprised that someone would burglarize a home in a "good neighborhood." Another neighbor is quoted expressing the same surprise and calling her husband to ask where their gun is kept.

[seamusTX]

I posted this because I wanted to show how walking in on burglars is one of the most dangerous things a person can do, even if armed. Doing it unarmed may show incredible guts, but this is a possible result.

Also, IMHO, a burglar alarm has among the best cost-benefit ratios of any home defense mechanism.

- Jim

[G.A. Heath]

A Friend of mine used to live three houses down from where this happened, but there were no burglars... http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2 ... g-incident" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Crossfire]

One thing the article shows is how most people are oblivious to reality and unprepared to defend themselves. One neighbor is quoted as being surprised that someone would burglarize a home in a "good neighborhood."

Duh.... Because the folks in bad neighborhoods don't have stuff worth stealing!

[Scott in Houston]

I posted this because I wanted to show how walking in on burglars is one of the most dangerous things a person can do, even if armed. Doing it unarmed may show incredible guts, but this is a possible result.

Also, IMHO, a burglar alarm has among the best cost-benefit ratios of any home defense mechanism.

- Jim

I'm AMAZED by people who don't have or use their alarm. Ours is set every night, and every time we leave. It even has a cool little iPhone app so I can arm/disarm while out and get texts when it goes off or is armed/disarmed.

At night, I rely on it as my first warning. If it doesn't scare the intruder(s) away, I will at least have a second or 5 to grab my nightstand gun.
When I'm away, I rely on it and my gunsafe to protect my most valuable items. I figure TV's and/or a computer may get taken in a quick 'smash and grab' but there won't be time to break into the safe or take it away.

We live in a 'great neighborhood', but as a result, these houses can be targets. There's been a rash of day time, kick in the back door burglaries lately. A house 5 down from us and another on the street behind us in the last week. I work at home, so that alarm is not usually set when I'm awake, but it makes that "chime" (beep beep beep) sound every time a door or window is opened. I carry at home... always have, but now I don't have to explain to my wife "why".

[ELB]

... but there were no burglars... http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2 ... g-incident" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting...wonder what the real story will turn out to be.

[seamusTX]

The family of the victim said last night that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted. Police recovered a weapon but are not saying whether it belong to a victim or delivered the gunshot. No motive is known.

http://www.kcbd.com/story/14396524/poli ... k-shooting" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So we can only speculate. Possibly it was a bid for attention that didn't go quite as planned. Possibly it was an attempt to cover up a suicide.

Neighbors are relieved that there were no burglars, because now of course they couldn't possibly become victims of a burglary. It never occurred to any low-life in Lubbock County to commit burglary.

- Jim

[Keith B]

One thing the article shows is how most people are oblivious to reality and unprepared to defend themselves. One neighbor is quoted as being surprised that someone would burglarize a home in a "good neighborhood."

Duh.... Because the folks in bad neighborhoods don't have stuff worth stealing!

I live in a supposed good neighborhood, but have never been broken into. However, we had a rash of home burglaries about 3 months ago with two of them just a few houses down and across the street. Maybe I haven't been hit 'cause I don't have anything worth stealing.

[seamusTX]

Maybe I haven't been hit 'cause I don't have anything worth stealing.

They wouldn't know that until they broke in, would they?

Also, don't underestimate what thieves will steal. In the mid-1990s there was a lot more petty theft around here. Someone stole our Rubbermaid trash cans, which cost maybe $10 each at the hardware store. We could not leave anything out overnight. It would be gone in the morning.

My wife had an old bicycle that she never really liked to begin with. It had two flat tires. I put it out in the alley. It was gone inside 15 minutes.

(This is also true of robbers. You might not have much, but you have more than they do. They'll steal a credit card for whatever they can charge on it, or a cell phone that they will sell to someone who uses it to call another country until it is cut off.)

- Jim

[Excaliber]

I posted this because I wanted to show how walking in on burglars is one of the most dangerous things a person can do, even if armed. Doing it unarmed may show incredible guts, but this is a possible result.

Also, IMHO, a burglar alarm has among the best cost-benefit ratios of any home defense mechanism.

- Jim

As a former burglary squad commander who saw thousands of incidents, I strongly agree on both points. I use a very thoroughly designed alarm system religiously, and if I saw any indication of an intrusion, I would immediately back away, find a safe observation point at some distance and behind cover, and call for LEO's to handle it. Being armed, trained, and experienced doesn't make it much less suicidal to enter a building during a burglary alone. In my agency, we didn't allow a single on duty officer to do this either unless it was immediately necessary to preserve innocent life.

Duh.... Because the folks in bad neighborhoods don't have stuff worth stealing!

You're on the right track, but not exactly correct. Folks in bad neighborhoods get burglarized a lot for the little they have.

Folks in good neighborhoods have a lot more goodies that make victimizing them much more profitable than committing the same crime in less well off sections of town. Many middle and upper class homeowners have the same attitudes as those quoted in the article, and take few if any precautions to discourage crime because they think it can't happen to them. This makes them pretty easy pickins.

[Keith B]

Maybe I haven't been hit 'cause I don't have anything worth stealing.

They wouldn't know that until they broke in, would they?Also, don't underestimate what thieves will steal. In the mid-1990s there was a lot more petty theft around here. Someone stole our Rubbermaid trash cans, which cost maybe $10 each at the hardware store. We could not leave anything out overnight. It would be gone in the morning.

My wife had an old bicycle that she never really liked to begin with. It had two flat tires. I put it out in the alley. It was gone inside 15 minutes.

- Jim

Nah, my house just looks poor Jim. I think they feel sorry for me and pass it by.

Actually, as you may remember, I have been the victim of a vehicle break-in in the drive and several post attempts of kids trying the car doors and not succeeding. Know of the events because of the security camera footage. I even chased one set down and got their license number. Also, in one of the videos, by daughter's boyfriend recognized one of the group of kids (not the one that tried the door) and told him to pass the word around that I had a camera and that I had direct contact to a Plano detective. Funny, don't even see kids walking the alley any more.

The burglaries of homes in our neighborhood were specifically targeting Asian (Indian and Chinese) homes. They caught the individuals. It was a gang of Colombians out of Houston that were up here in Plano. They seemed to be targeting the homes because of the Indian and Asian jewelry, brass and other pawnable/fencable items that they could easily pile up and carry out. They would wait for the homeowner to leave and break out the back door glass. Even if there was an alarm, unless they had it armed and equipped with motion or glass breakage sensors, they would not activate the alarm that way.

As for my house, I think there are several deterrents from the daytime robberies. Number one is I have two very yappy dogs. Also have newer well-kept alarm signs in the yard, and updated stickers on windows or doors. There are also a lot of my close neighbors that are actively coming and going during the day in our alley and it ends in a cul-de-sac, so easier to get cornered if the police show up.

Bottom line, while I am not immune, anything you can do to increase the risk factor of them getting discovered and caught means your house goes down on the potential hit list and they will move on to another easier target.

And Excaliber beat me on the last part.

[The Annoyed Man]

One thing the article shows is how most people are oblivious to reality and unprepared to defend themselves. One neighbor is quoted as being surprised that someone would burglarize a home in a "good neighborhood."

Duh.... Because the folks in bad neighborhoods don't have stuff worth stealing!

I live in a supposed good neighborhood, but have never been broken into. However, we had a rash of home burglaries about 3 months ago with two of them just a few houses down and across the street. Maybe I haven't been hit 'cause I don't have anything worth stealing.

Many years ago, an old girlfriend of mine lived in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Pasadena California. Their house got robbed twice....in two weeks. The first time, my girlfriend actually walked into the house while it was being robbed, and fortunately, the thieves heard her and fled out the back without a confrontation. She found the covers pulled off her bed with a pile of the family's possessions piled on it.

Soon afterwards, her dad's rare model of Porsche, which had an alarm on it, had the custom wheels stolen off of it during the night and was left on jacks. A couple of weeks later it was stolen during the night, while they were home, from inside of a locked garage with an alarm on the car. The thieves actually backed a truck or trailer across the lawn, broke open the garage, disabled the car alarm, and rolled it onto the bed of the transporter and left — all without ever being heard by anyone in my girlfriend's family.

Later, a police detective told them that their neighborhood had the highest burglary rate in the city......because local residents own stuff. That was the first time that it ever occurred to me that burglary is not really a "ghetto" type of crime. OTHER types of crime certainly are, but there is little percentage for a burglar in breaking into a home that doesn't have much to begin with, and which may be therefore more fiercely defended by its occupants to protect what little they have.

[VMI77]

That was the first time that it ever occurred to me that burglary is not really a "ghetto" type of crime. OTHER types of crime certainly are, but there is little percentage for a burglar in breaking into a home that doesn't have much to begin with, and which may be therefore more fiercely defended by its occupants to protect what little they have.

OTOH, my in-laws lived in a very poor neighborhood and had their house broken into several times --once within two weeks of a previous break-in, when they still hadn't had an opportunity to replace much of anything that had been stolen. I think just about every house in that particular neighborhood had been broken into at least once. The local newspaper published a map of burglaries and while they occurred in every neighborhood, they were much more prevalent in lower income neighborhoods. My assumption is that most of these criminals simply target the easiest and most familiar locations instead of the highest value locations.

[The Annoyed Man]

That was the first time that it ever occurred to me that burglary is not [strike]really[/strike] necessarily a "ghetto" type of crime. OTHER types of crime certainly are, but there is little percentage for a burglar in breaking into a home that doesn't have much to begin with, and which may be therefore more fiercely defended by its occupants to protect what little they have.

OTOH, my in-laws lived in a very poor neighborhood and had their house broken into several times --once within two weeks of a previous break-in, when they still hadn't had an opportunity to replace much of anything that had been stolen. I think just about every house in that particular neighborhood had been broken into at least once. The local newspaper published a map of burglaries and while they occurred in every neighborhood, they were much more prevalent in lower income neighborhoods. My assumption is that most of these criminals simply target the easiest and most familiar locations instead of the highest value locations.

There, I fixed my comment for you.