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TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 9:03 am
by philip964
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/stat ... 72885.html

Doesn’t look like night time, so Victim’s defense will rely on fear of life self defense.

I have Air Tags in my cars, my dogs and luggage.

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 11:12 am
by Soccerdad1995
If the criminal had a gun, then the victim should be OK. If the criminal had something that "looked like" a gun, that's another story.

But even if legally OK, the victim would have been better off just having a stolen truck, IMHO.

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:02 pm
by 03Lightningrocks
In my humble opinion, the owner of the truck should have called police, let them know he had air tag, and then allowed them to go get the truck. Huge mistake on the truck owners part.As for the shooting, we shall see how it shakes out but I will be surprised if the truck owner does not rack up some unnecessary legal expenses at the least.

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:39 pm
by The Annoyed Man
03Lightningrocks wrote: Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:02 pm In my humble opinion, the owner of the truck should have called police, let them know he had air tag, and then allowed them to go get the truck. Huge mistake on the truck owners part.As for the shooting, we shall see how it shakes out but I will be surprised if the truck owner does not rack up some unnecessary legal expenses at the least.
Yep.

I totally get the frustration that made this guy take matters into his own hands like that, but for better or for worse, I agree that the cops should have been put on the hunt with the AirTag information. It totally sucks, but better to risk losing a $50,000 truck than to have to pay $150,000 in legal fees…and that’s hoping that you get no-billed. If you are indicted, and worse, convicted, is prison worth the price of recovering the truck yourself? Plus, it’s my understanding that with AirTags, police have a pretty decent chance of recovering the vehicle.

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:55 pm
by philip964
With a truck on the street, I think the police will come. I have heard that with personal property, that is now inside a home, they have to get a warrant etc. and I'm not sure what happens, whether an Air Tag ping is enough to get a warrant.

A lot in the news recently about people stealing houses by occupying the house when it is vacant. Appears that is really messy.

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 9:15 pm
by Paladin
Interesting case. Certainly the police have used Air Tags to recover stolen vehicles, so that would be the best plan to contact the police.

Air Tags on luggage, cars, and dogs sounds like a great idea. They are very affordable and work with a recent iphone. I'm trying to figure out the down side of it?

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2023 9:39 pm
by Paladin
The San Antonio Police Department says that they received a report of a stolen vehicle around 1 p.m. March 29 from a home on Braesview on the northside of the city.
The owners did contact police to report the missing vehicle, says SAPD, but decided instead to confront the suspect before police arrived.

What is not clear is how long it was from when the vehicle was reported stolen to the shooting... but apparently the owner tried to do the right thing.

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 1:10 am
by 03Lightningrocks
Paladin wrote: Sun Apr 02, 2023 9:39 pm
The San Antonio Police Department says that they received a report of a stolen vehicle around 1 p.m. March 29 from a home on Braesview on the northside of the city.
The owners did contact police to report the missing vehicle, says SAPD, but decided instead to confront the suspect before police arrived.

What is not clear is how long it was from when the vehicle was reported stolen to the shooting... but apparently the owner tried to do the right thing.
One of the owners attempted to confront the suspect, at which point police believe the suspect may have pulled out a firearm. The owner then shot and killed the suspect inside the stolen truck, says SAPD.
It looks to me like the suspect pulled a gun and was then dispatched. IMHO...This is self defense if there ever was a self defense.

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 8:10 am
by RoyGBiv
03Lightningrocks wrote: Mon Apr 03, 2023 1:10 am It looks to me like the suspect pulled a gun and was then dispatched. IMHO...This is self defense if there ever was a self defense.
Is it possible (I have no idea what happened in real life) that the actual owner approached the truck with gun drawn and the thief pulled his gun in response? If that happened, the thief would be on the hook for stealing the truck, but the death of the thief would not be clear self defense.

Re: TX: Truck with Air Tag stolen. Victim kills thief when he draws his gun.

Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 8:29 am
by Paladin
It's really interesting how the media and SAPD public affairs appear to be spinning this story.

SAPD and the Legacy media probably wouldn't care for the headline that, even when a stolen vehicle was located, SAPD failed to respond so the owner felt the only way to recover his vehicle was to handle it himself.