911 Recording from Joe Horn
Click on the picture below to hear the recording of the 911 call from a Pasadena, Texas man when he called the cops about two burglars breaking into his neighbors house. For those of you who haven’t heard about this, you can read the news story. In part:
He grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun and called 911, Lambright said.
"Uh, I’ve got a shotgun," he told the dispatcher. "Uh, do you want me to stop them?"
"Nope, don’t do that," the dispatcher responded. "Ain’t no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?"
Horn and the dispatcher spoke for several minutes, during which Horn pleaded with the dispatcher to someone to catch the men and vowed not to let them escape. Over and over, the dispatcher told him to stay inside. Horn repeatedly said he couldn’t.
When the men crawled back out the window carrying a bag, Horn began to sound increasingly frantic.
"Well, here it goes, buddy," Horn said as a shell clicked into the chamber. "You hear the shotgun clicking, and I’m going."
A few seconds passed.
"Move," Horn can be heard saying on the tape. "You’re dead."
Boom.
Click.
Boom.
Click.
Boom.
Horn redialed 911 and told the dispatcher what he’d done.
"I had no choice," he said, his voice shaking. "They came in the front yard with me, man. I had no choice. Get somebody over here quick."
There is all kinds of debating going on about whether this guy was right to do what he did, so I might as well add my voice.
A 61-year-old retiree willing to confront two young thugs is no coward. You can hear in his voice that he doesn’t want to go out, but that he feels compelled to. He’s had enough of thievery and people hiding scared in their houses. He takes action.
God bless him.
As to the validity of the shoot. He warned them, "Move [and] you’re dead." They advanced on him. He shot. That sounds like a good shoot, although exact logistics need to be determined (there was an awfully long pause between the second and third shot). Horn’s attorney is, of course, claiming self defense.
As to the circumstances. The castle doctrine in Texas was recently expanded precisely because the citizens of Texas were tired of rampant crime. This is the zeitgeist in which this incident takes place. That is important in determining state of mind.
As to Joe’s actions. The most foolish thing he did is tell the 911 dispatcher that he was going to go outside to kill those two guys. This denotes premeditated intent. If I were sitting on the jury, however, I would take it a different way: I think Joe was trying to tell himself that he would be capable of such a thing if it became necessary, to hype himself up. You can hear the trepidation, if not real fear, in his voice as he prepares to go outside to do what is right.
Bottom line: a citizen tries to stop a crime. That is not only the purview of the police, but the duty of every citizen. When this citizen attempted to stop two men from committing wrong, they charged him and he felt his life was in danger. He shot.
God bless him.
Joe will have to live with this the rest of his days. I’m glad it wasn’t me. But at this point, I’m equally glad there are citizens like Joe Horn willing to stand up for right.
Yep!
Wish I had neighbors like Joe, I know I’d feel more secure.
Amen! I used to have a neighbor like that (when my mom accidently set off the house alarm, he showed up with gun in hand) and I was very appreciative. I miss that fella.
Neither Joe nor his neighbor was in imminent danger, so the use of deadly force was not legal. Protecting property is not a valid reason for shooting someone.
This was not a castle doctrine situation, it was a vigilante, and allowing him to wrap himself up a legitimate political issue is just going to hurt law abiding gun owners.
Similar to the villains in the old “Death Wish” movies with Charles Bronson as our vigilante hero, these 2 crooks deserved some good old “shoot-em-up” justice. Neighborhood sheriff Joe Horn caught these robbers in the act and they refused to “freeze” when confronted. Considering the fact that our hero is an older guy in his 60′s and the crooks would have overpowered him if he hadn’t shot them, what choice did he have? I wish this guy was my neighbor and his friends should be proud of him for standing up to these hooligans and giving them a one way ticket to Hell!!
How dare anyone try to legitimize killing someone over a few pieces of junk. They were LEAVING when he ran out to confront them. He clearly did not “defend himself” if he was chasing them in the yard to confront them. He even said in his phone call to the 911 dispatcher
“…and vowed not to let them escape.”
“When the men crawled back out the window carrying a bag, Horn began to sound increasingly frantic.
“Well, here it goes, buddy,” Horn said as a shell clicked into the chamber”
If he really didn’t want to kill them, he wouldn’t have shot to kill
Unlike Joe Horn, I didn’t shoot! One afternoon on a weekend, at my place of business (Auto-Repair Shop), I was inside my office, which has 2 way mirrored glass, doing badly needed catch-up paperwork. My shop was closed but accesible to any thief who wanted to drive or walk up and steal almost anything on my property, which happened a lot. Two WHITE men in a car drove up, never getting out the passenger, clear to my view, was unscrewing a license plate from one on my cutomers cars. I Called the police and hung-up! I then confronted both with a 22 Rueger hand-gun (pea-shooter), and told both “If you move an inch I’ll shoot”. And they both moved concealing their hands putting me in danger. All I could think is I’ll be the victim if I shoot, so I backed off! Stating that i was going to call the police, I backed hurridly into the safety of my office a few feet away! They spun-out leaving a cloud of dust in the gravel driveway! The Police (Houston) showed up 30 minutes later, not 10 seconds later as in Joe Horns case or so I heard. I’d had enough and failed to shoot! Where did I go wrong? Leaving these 2 thugs to thrive on a another innocent person like myself, or possibly Kill an innocent person, has left me with this life-long memory of guilt. I am from Pasadena and support Joe Horn’s actions! If these 2 men had advanced me or pulled a gun I KNOW I would have shot them! But being a small caliber probably only made them mad resulting in my death! I Now also have a Shot-Gun! Want to give that a second try guys? This time you would probably be dead having not adhered to my commands! The property wasn’t mine, but I was responsible for it’s safety!
Their lifes were’nt worth a license plate, but I’d had enough with everything already stolen costing me thousands!
How is what I was willing to do different from Joe Horn other then I didn’t shoot! I got lucky they didnt shoot me! God-Bless you Joe, you’re in my prayers! Mark Woody….53 Years old….White male….Lifetime Pasadenian…..
If he really didn’t want to kill them, he wouldn’t have shot to kill
You always shoot to kill. What do you think, that people shoot guns out of the bad man’s hand? That you “shoot to wound”? Where do you get your life experiences, at the movies?
Woody, your story shows how these thugs victimize innocents far beyond that which people usually think. You feel guilty for not pulling the trigger? It is not your fault that these men entered your place of business and you certainly shouldn’t regret not killing someone.
Property is not worth killing over certainly is it does not belong to you and there is no immediate danger
I wish Joe Horn had been in Magnolia on the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving when two adjacent neighborhoods had over 50 reports of slashed tires. Theses hoodlums didn’t slash just one tire per vehicle, they slashed two, three, four…on every street in the neighborhood. Where was Joe Horn then? We can’t wait for the police to do something…If it’s not a felony…nothing gets done anyway, no matter how many people you have that will testify, stand up or whatever. Half the time the police reports never even make it to the investigation department! (Direct Experience of someone who has been the victim of vandalism over and over again!)
The shooting of these two illegal alien criminals had nothing to do with stuff, junk, personal belongings etc. It was the act of the men that warranted their death, and Joe Horn needed to protect his neighborhood from further invasion by taking these guys out. What is wrong with Americans acting as though life is fair when talking about criminals? Are people arguing for these individuals, because they have committed these crimes? Why sympathize for people that are committing evil acts against their fellow man?
Morally, Joe Horn did the right thing from preventing further perpetrations of the nature in which this crime was committed. Not to mention what, was going through the men’s minds when, at the age of 30 and 38, to break and enter into someone else’s property. That tells you something about their mentality. Do you think they would have afforded Joe Horn the same mercy that people speak of when they say this act of heroism was not worth it? NO.
The action of breaking and entering is a complete disregard for other people’s lives. What if these guys ran into the occupants of this residence? Do you believe they would ask the residents to please turn around, don’t struggle, and don’t call the police, thanks. Nope. They would bash them over the head with the crowbar they were carrying and possibly kill the owners of this humble abode. Is that fair to say? Yes, I believe it is. I think people need to think past their personal fears of being shot, and worrying about what is FAIR.(Don’t commit crimes and you wont have to worry about being shot.) Alleviating the mind of these worries will allow a person to think more clearly and maturely about security and the right ADULT thing to do when concerning issues such as this.
I am a 24 year old college student. I spent 5 years in the US Army as a Military Policeman, and I served in Afghanistan during my tour. I have seen what the actions of criminals such as these illegal aliens can do when they break and enter. To say the least the outcome was different from this situation. The occupants were murdered and desecrated postmortem (after death). Is that fair? Do you think we should let criminals like that live, and if caught suck down more tax dollars; when we could use those tax dollars for building better parks for children, or public institutions?
Think before you speak, and look at all avenues of approach. Then you will have a clear and concise mind at your disposal.
Thank you for your time and patience. God Bless!
No one saw the shooting. The men may well have moved in a threatening way. This man was confronting a pair of criminals and had no idea what they were carrying. He defended himself after they resisted arrest, no different than any other such shooting involving police.
The police and powers that be may well believe that only they are fit to enforce the law, but that is not true. The unorganized militia once enforced the law, as a civic duty, with or without help from elected officials and their hired guns.
All of these police agencies that exist now are a new political structure built on top of that ancient structure. The legalman and the rest of the hirelings would like to convince us that they are the final enforcers and arbitrators of justice, but that is not true. We, in our capacity as citizens and members of the unorganized militia, call the shots.
Of course it’s now come out that the shooting was witnessed by a plain clothes police officer and that Horn shot both of the suspects in the back:
Police say Horn shot 2 men in the back
Which is making his self defense claim look even less credible then it was before.
I wonder if you folks who support Joe Horn would support John White of Long Island, N.Y. You see, he’s on trial for manslaughter in his state. A group of thugs came to his house and were threatening to do harm to his family – wife and children. They were calling his son to come out of the house so they could kill him. They were screaming racial epithets. One of them was armed with a baseball bat. Feeling that he and his family were in danger, White shot and killed one of them. A 17-year-old. There are stark differences in this case from that of Joe Horn that points out the issues of our society. Mr. Horn is white and the people he shot were black/Hispanic. Mr. White is black and the person he killed was white. We’re not hearing anything about Mr. White and all these so called patriots are not taking up for him as they are Mr. Horn. I’d like to believe that’s because they don’t know about the case of Mr. White because it’s not being played out in the media like Mr. Horn? Why is that?
More people should kill criminals in the act.
Fargo
Joe Horn was clearly angry and frustrated, and he was clearly looking for an excuse to exact his own brand of justice. He did not have to confront the criminals and could have acted as a witness, instead he chose to pursue them and apparently shot them in the back. If we are to forgive this kind of behavior, citing desperation or militant patriotism as an excuse, then we have to start excusing groups like Hamas for their defense of Palestine because their heinous violent acts are also acts of desperation against those they see as a threat.
Joe Horn had every intention of killing the suspects when he left his home and the recording makes that perfectly clear. If this starts to spread – becomes commonplace – then we will become no different than those we brand as terrorists. We cannot hold others accountable to the rule of law and exact our own justice whenever we please, unless we expect the same in return.
Joe Horn chose to put his own freedom and life in jeopardy to act out of conviction from his own desperation, fear and anger. Just like any other self-appointed martyr or hero he will need to face the consequences for his actions, admirable or not.
Cowards. All of you supporting this dude’s actions are right wing cowards. First I read about the right wing’s disgust over some middle eastern country cutting off the right arm of a burglar as “barbarian” and “showing their lack of civilization”, then I read that the right’s OK with shooting people in the back over burglary. You people are whacked.
The lesson here is simple…
DON”T BREAK INTO SOMEONE’S HOME OR YOU MAY GET SHOT DEAD!!!
To all the bleeding hearts out there, listen up. In the Great State of Texas, ANY homeowner or neighbor has the LEGAL RIGHT to defend his, or his neighbor’s, property with DEADLY FORCE… it IS the LAW!
I also don’t care that the men were black. I also would’t care if they were white, brown, yellow, red, green, etc.
As soon as they illegally entered that home, they crossed the line and THEY removed any value to their own lives… THEY did that, not Joe!
There is also one other added benefit here that no one is addressing… they will NEVER do it again! Instant rehabilitation and 100% effective!
Nice shooting, Joe… let me know if you need any more shells!
Dallas, Texas
(another city where burglars should re-assess their career choice!)
PS Merry Christmas!
As an owner of a concealed carry permit in the state of VA and a staunch proponent of the 2nd amendment, and an individuals right to keep and bear arms, these kind of actions by stupid, impulsive individuals put ALL of our rights in danger. Castle doctrine or not, Mr. Horn had no right to shoot and kill these men. Regardless of your opinion on whether or not one should be killed for stealing, Mr. Horn,or nor his neighbor, was in physical danger at the time of the shooting. Hell, both men were shot in the back. They were fleeing at the time they were shot. If Mr. Horn had not pulled the trigger, the men would have ran away, and he would still be a “hero” for stopping the burglery. The police, who arrived seconds later would have most likely apprehended the two after a short chase, and they would be cooling their heels in the county lockup and Mr. Horn would be spending his hard earned money on X-Mas gifts for his family rather than his defense attorneys. Simply put, if you, your family, or an innocent third party is in direct physical danger, and you have NO other choice, by all means shoot straight. However, we all must realize the world we live in, and understand that each time someone makes a poor decision and takes the “law” into his own hands with deadly force it will only be used by the gun control liberals who wish to take all our guns. Then where will you be…chasing off armed criminals with baseball bats, until those are banned too.
His anger and frustration got the best of him, and Joe Horn fired. Is that the type of marksmanship that the NRA endorses?
Last month, Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins lost his life when his Miami home was invaded by four male burglars who claim they did not intend to harm anyone. However, this was the second time these same burglars had invaded Sean’s home, but this subsequent home invasion showed no regard for the welfare or safety of Sean’s girlfriend or infant child, and sadly resulted in the death of Sean Taylor from a burglar’s fired handgun.
In a separate incident this past weekend, two foreign doctoral students – Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam – were killed in a home invasion at a LSU apartment in Baton Rouge. At this time, the unidentified killer(s) remain at large.
I just listed two current incidents of home invasions that resulted in innocent deaths. The first one ended in the arrest of four suspects. The second one has no arrests at this time.
These two home invasions make me aware that I often leave my wife, my 9 year-old daughter, and my 84 year-old mother-in-law at home to fend for themselves when I go to work or run errands. I cannot expect the police to protect occupants of my home from home invaders – that burden falls on my family, neighbors, and me.
When the elderly Mr. Horn approached the two exiting burglars at his neighbor’s home, he had no knowledge that the burglars had simply robbed the home or if they had also injured or killed someone inside. Luckily, no one had been home. But, if Mr. Horn had not stopped them, could the creeps have returned at a later time to burglarize again and possibility kill such as in the Sean Taylor home invasion.
When I first heard about this incident, the radio reporter briefly described an elderly man killing two burglars as they exited his neighbor’s home. Without any other knowledge (ethnicity, religion, or citizenship) of neither the elderly man nor the dead burglars, I felt the burglars picked the wrong neighborhood to invade, and I was pleased the elderly man was unharmed.
Now, a Black Panther leader has declared this a murder that was motivated by racism, and wants Mr. Horn to be tried for murder.
A MESSAGE TO THE HARRIS COUNTY GRAND JURY: How would you feel if these two home invaders had chosen your home with you or your loved ones inside? The next home invasion could be your home – let the bad guys and the Black Panthers know that home invaders cannot violate a person’s home, family, or neighbor regardless of the burglar(s)’ race, religion, or nationality.
I resent the argument that it was “just property”. That “property” was either earned with labor and sweat, hours of service which were only paid after the appropriate (or not) tax was cut to the local, city, county, state and/or federal authority; or it was inherited with its own, special, tax. Each piece had its own memory, price and value, far exceeding the actual ticket price. Yes, just “property”, but it certainly didn’t belong to the criminals who had done nothing to earn the right to own except to thieve
Joe Horn took the law into his own hands. What has happened to people protecting themselves and their property from wrongdoing? Where has this country gone to protect thieves and send them off to fill up the jails. Then we let them out too soon.
We need to be able to stop crime.
I ready to move to Texas.
Justice 22
Sounds like Horn committed murder to me. Horn is a poster boy for gun control. He’s exactly what gun control advocates point at in response to people saying they need guns to defend themselves. Well, we could sure use guns to protect themselves. But it appears that Horn went way beyond protecting himself; he didn’t have to leave his house; if he left his house, he only needed to slow their escape; when we’re suggesting that Horn could have wounded the burglars, we’re not talking about shooting a gun from their hand (what gun), but rather I’d suggest going for the lower leg. But _this_ is Texas we’re talking about. Shot first, ask questions later. Hang em’ high!
I’m england and a case like this happened here in 1999 a Mr Tony Martin…. he was sentenced to life here for murder.
Lucky for him life in the UK means a max of 15 years… the UK government had such an outcry from people who thought Mr Martin a hero rather than a murderer, that the courts reviewed it and let him out after 4 years. Of course he should have been Knighted and made a chief constable. Do look it up as it was two young gypsies he shot at killed one of them robbing his house the other got shot but not fatally.
I actually think Joe Horn deserves the congressional medal of honor for his actions.
We in the UK live in fear of gangs of half castes immigrants or muslims, (many of which are hard drug sellers) if you say anything or complain the Police arrest you, not them.
At least in America you can speak out against it.
Good old english towns are now flooded out with people which make it look like more central Bangledesh than england.
I’d like a million rounds of ammo and mini gun and let me rip at these evil heathens and send them back to hell.
I’m england and a case like this happened here in 1999 a Mr Tony Martin…. he was sentenced to life here for murder.
Lucky for him life in the UK means a max of 15 years… the UK government had such an outcry from people who thought Mr Martin a hero rather than a murderer, that the courts reviewed it and let him out after 4 years. Of course he should have been Knighted and made a chief constable. Do look it up as it was two young gypsies he shot at killed one of them robbing his house the other got shot but not fatally.
I actually think Joe Horn deserves the congressional medal of honor for his actions.
We in the UK live in fear of gangs of half castes immigrants or muslims, (many of which are hard drug sellers) if you say anything or complain the Police arrest you, not them.
At least in America you can speak out against it.
Good old english towns are now flooded out with people which make it look like more central Bangledesh than england.
I’d like a million rounds of ammo and mini gun and let me rip at these evil heathens and send them back to hell.
I’m england and a case like this happened here in 1999 a Mr Tony Martin…. he was sentenced to life here for murder.
Lucky for him life in the UK means a max of 15 years… the UK government had such an outcry from people who thought Mr Martin a hero rather than a murderer, that the courts reviewed it and let him out after 4 years. Of course he should have been Knighted and made a chief constable. Do look it up as it was two young gypsies he shot at killed one of them robbing his house the other got shot but not fatally.
I actually think Joe Horn deserves the congressional medal of honor for his actions.
We in the UK live in fear of gangs of half castes immigrants or muslims, (many of which are hard drug sellers) if you say anything or complain the Police arrest you, not them.
At least in America you can speak out against it.
Good old english towns are now flooded out with people which make it look like more central Bangledesh than england.
I’d like a million rounds of ammo and mini gun and let me rip at these evil heathens and send them back to hell.
I’m england and a case like this happened here in 1999 a Mr Tony Martin…. he was sentenced to life here for murder.
Lucky for him life in the UK means a max of 15 years… the UK government had such an outcry from people who thought Mr Martin a hero rather than a murderer, that the courts reviewed it and let him out after 4 years. Of course he should have been Knighted and made a chief constable. Do look it up as it was two young gypsies he shot at killed one of them robbing his house the other got shot but not fatally.
I actually think Joe Horn deserves the congressional medal of honor for his actions.
We in the UK live in fear of gangs of half castes immigrants or muslims, (many of which are hard drug sellers) if you say anything or complain the Police arrest you, not them.
At least in America you can speak out against it.
Good old english towns are now flooded out with people which make it look like more central Bangledesh than england.
I’d like a million rounds of ammo and mini gun and let me rip at these evil heathens and send them back to hell.
I’m england and a case like this happened here in 1999 a Mr Tony Martin…. he was sentenced to life here for murder.
Lucky for him life in the UK means a max of 15 years… the UK government had such an outcry from people who thought Mr Martin a hero rather than a murderer, that the courts reviewed it and let him out after 4 years. Of course he should have been Knighted and made a chief constable. Do look it up as it was two young gypsies he shot at killed one of them robbing his house the other got shot but not fatally.
I actually think Joe Horn deserves the congressional medal of honor for his actions.
We in the UK live in fear of gangs of half castes immigrants or muslims, (many of which are hard drug sellers) if you say anything or complain the Police arrest you, not them.
At least in America you can speak out against it.
Good old english towns are now flooded out with people which make it look like more central Bangledesh than england.
I’d like a million rounds of ammo and mini gun and let me rip at these evil heathens and send them back to hell.
I’m england and a case like this happened here in 1999 a Mr Tony Martin…. he was sentenced to life here for murder.
Lucky for him life in the UK means a max of 15 years… the UK government had such an outcry from people who thought Mr Martin a hero rather than a murderer, that the courts reviewed it and let him out after 4 years. Of course he should have been Knighted and made a chief constable. Do look it up as it was two young gypsies he shot at killed one of them robbing his house the other got shot but not fatally.
I actually think Joe Horn deserves the congressional medal of honor for his actions.
We in the UK live in fear of gangs of half castes immigrants or muslims, (many of which are hard drug sellers) if you say anything or complain the Police arrest you, not them.
At least in America you can speak out against it.
Good old english towns are now flooded out with people which make it look like more central Bangledesh than england.
I’d like a million rounds of ammo and mini gun and let me rip at these evil heathens and send them back to hell.
I’m england and a case like this happened here in 1999 a Mr Tony Martin…. he was sentenced to life here for murder.
Lucky for him life in the UK means a max of 15 years… the UK government had such an outcry from people who thought Mr Martin a hero rather than a murderer. Do look it up as it was two young gypsies he shot at killed one of them robbing his house the other got shot but not fatally.
I actually think Joe Horn deserves the congressional medal of honor for his actions.
We in the UK live in fear of gangs of half castes immigrants or muslims, (many of which are hard drug sellers) if you say anything or complain the Police arrest you, not them.
At least in America you can speak out against it.
Good old english towns are now flooded out with people which make it look like more central Bangledesh than england.
I’d like a million rounds of ammo and mini gun and let me rip at these evil heathens and send them back to hell.
The only people sicker than Mr Horn are the grand jury members who decided not to bring him to trial.
To all you supporters of his, he shot them in the BACK. That’s not defending your neighbor’s property, it’s cold blooded murder no matter how despicable the victims may be. It’s no surprise that small manhooded Texans act this way, look at the mess Dumbya made of this country.
Joe Horn is a pathetic sociopath.
The Grand jury was made up of pathetic sociopaths.
All of you who think he did a wonderful thing are even lower than pathetic sociopaths,…you should all be neutered.
The only people sicker than Mr Horn are the grand jury members who decided not to bring him to trial.
To all you supporters of his, he shot them in the BACK. That’s not defending your neighbor’s property, it’s cold blooded murder no matter how despicable the victims may be. It’s no surprise that small manhooded Texans act this way, look at the mess Dumbya made of this country.
Joe Horn is a pathetic sociopath.
The Grand jury was made up of pathetic sociopaths.
All of you who think he did a wonderful thing are even lower than pathetic sociopaths,…you should all be neutered.