Texas homeowner arrested after shooting and killing alleged home intruder, police say his story didn't add up



Texas police arrested a homeowner after he said that he shot and killed a home intruder, but their investigation found inconsistencies.

The Corpus Christi Police Department said 56-year-old Douglas Watters called 911 on Sunday at about 7:51 a.m. and said he had shot a home intruder who tried to break into his home with a woman as his accomplice.

Police said Watters was upset with them for taking so long to respond to his call.

When they arrived at his home, they found a 48-year-old man dead.

Watters told police that he had shot the man about seven minutes before calling police, but officers said the state of the body did not match up with his claims. A senior officer said that the body appeared stiff and pale, indicating that it had been dead for hours longer than Watters said.

Investigators said that medics who arrived at the scene confirmed the body had been dead for several hours.

At the home, they found a pump-action shotgun with an unspent shell and one spent shell, according to their report. A medical examiner's report found that the man had been shot twice in the left torso underneath his armpit.

Police arrested Watters the next day on a murder charge. He is being held on a $500,000 bond.

Officers said it was difficult to walk through the home because it was so cluttered. They also said it appeared to be abandoned and without electricity. A man interviewed by police told them that Watters owned the house but didn't live there. KIII-TV reported that Watters owned several homes in the county.

Police said Watters was upset with them for taking so long to respond to his call but they claimed to have arrived only 13 minutes after he notified them.

Video of the home and the man's booking photo were published on KIII's news video on YouTube.

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Indianapolis homeowner says he wrestled gun away from home intruder and shot him to death



A homeowner is shaken up after he wrestled with a man who broke into his Indiana home and then shot the suspect to death with his own gun.

Brent Smith spoke to WRTV-TV about the incident that police say was a thwarted home invasion attempt on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Smith says he had just returned to his home on Marseille Road from the grocery store when he saw a young man go up to his front door and put on a ski mask.

He said the incident happened so quickly he didn't realize what was happening until he was hit by the assailant.

"He hit me in the head with his gun," Smith said. "I yelled out, 'He is robbing me,' thinking my neighbors would hear me."

Smith says he wrestled with the thug for the gun, and then the intruder ran out of the house. When Smith shot at the man, he heard more gunshots being fired at him from outside.

"At this time, I started hearing what felt like thousands of shots," he continued.

He says he fired outside with the intruder's gun and then with his own gun. He saw a group of people speed away in a car.

The Marion County Coroner's Office later identified the dead intruder as 22-year-old Damon Swanigan Jr.

Smith was emotional when he recalled the moment he realized he had shot and killed the intruder.

"That didn't make no sense, man, I didn't want to do that!" he said while wiping away tears. "I didn't want to do that."

WRTV reported that there were more than a dozen gunshots around the man's home, including some that shattered his windows in the home and a window in a car parked in front of the home.

Smith was detained and questioned but released by police. The Marion County Prosecutor's Office is reviewing the case, but it is unlikely he will face charges, according to a gun rights attorney who spoke to WRTV.

"Y'all need to find something productive to do," Smith said. "You don't need to rob me. I keep to myself. The first thing I noticed was the kid had on brand-new Jordans. You're trying to rob me, but you got brand-new Jordans on, man? I just don't get it."

Here's the interview with Brent Smith:

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Texas homeowner shoots and kills home intruder who claimed family had moved into her home, police say



A family who had recently moved into an Arlington home was shocked to find a female home intruder claiming that they were inside her home, according to Texas police.

The family was asleep at the home on the 1300 block of South Pecan Street when a teenager of the family said he heard a strange voice at about 2:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. The father of the family retrieved his handgun and went to investigate.

He found a strange woman in their kitchen, and she allegedly accused them of being inside of her home.

Police told WFAA-TV that she got confrontational when he told her to leave the home, and he shot and killed her after she approached him.

When police responded, they said they found the woman dead with gunshot wounds.

Sources told WFAA that the suspect had also broken all the windows of the home.

The residents of the home told police they didn't know who the woman was and had never seen her before. Investigators said the woman had no identification, and they were unsure how she was able to get into the home.

Police said no criminal charges have been filed over the incident.

WFAA said they spoke to the father of the family, but he was too traumatized by the incident to speak on camera about it. They indicated that they had moved into the home just three weeks prior to the incident and the house had been vacant for a time before they moved in.

Investigators said the woman's identity would be released after it was determined by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner and her next of kin are notified.

Here's a local news report about the incident:

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Texas woman shoots and kills alleged home intruder who turned out to be only 14 years old, police say



Texas police said that a woman shot and killed a 14-year-old who was allegedly trying to break into her residence at an apartment complex in Fort Worth.

The woman had called police at about 3 a.m. to report an attempted burglary, according to Fort Worth police. They responded and took a report.

After they left, the woman called again to report that the alleged burglar had returned.

When police responded they found a teenager with a gunshot wound to the chest lying on the ground in front of the woman's residence. He was declared dead at the scene, and police said the woman had shot him.

KDFW-TV reported that the teenager had been an 8th-grade student at Rosemont Middle School just a few miles away from the scene. They also said that two bullet holes were visible on the front wall of the residence.

Police also said that the renter had previously reported other break-ins and attempted break-ins at the same residence.

"It's heartbreaking for the community, for the officers who responded, and for every party involved," said Officer Pollozani to WFAA-TV.

KDFW spoke to Durwyn Lamb, a coach who said he had scheduled to have a mentoring session with the teenager the day after he was killed. He said he got a text from the young man's teacher just before he was to leave for the middle school informing him that the student had died.

"Today was just like, dang. I just… I wasn’t expecting that," he said. "Even though I expect that, unfortunately, in the community and the culture, I wasn’t expecting that today. And that hurt me."

Police said that the renter was cooperating with their investigation.

KDFW also spoke to the teen's mother, who told them that she had been informed about his death by her daughter when she woke up that morning. They lived in the same apartment community and she said that he left the apartment sometime that night.

Here's a local news report about the incident:

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Alleged home intruder shot by resident calls 911 to report that he's dying; police arrest man and woman for 2nd-degree murder



A man and a woman were arrested by Minnesota police after an alleged home intruder was shot and killed at their home in St. Paul early Monday morning.

The St. Paul Police Department said that the woman who lived at the home in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood called 911 to report a home intruder. While she was on the phone with police, a man got on the call and told police he had shot the intruder numerous times on their front porch.

The man who was shot also called police and told them that he was dying. He did not respond to questions and the call went silent, according to police.

When police arrived at the residence on Englewood Avenue at about 1:45 a.m., they found the man with gunshot injuries on the porch.

The man was transported to Regions Hospital where he was later declared dead. On Tuesday, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office identified him as 35-year-old Drew Johnson.

Police spokesman Sgt. Mike Ernster said that the couple refused to be interviewed by police about the incident. After investigating the matter, police arrested the man and woman on suspicion of second-degree murder.

The couple were booked into the Ramsey County jail and later released. The man is 30 years old while the woman is 35 years old.

The woman initially told police on the 911 call that she knew the man who was allegedly trying to break into her home.

Investigators said in a statement that they are "working to determine the circumstances that led to this shooting."

Police said the shooting death was the 32nd homicide in the city so far this year. Last year, there were 40 homicides in St. Paul.

Here's a local news report about the incident:

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