Earlier this week, a Houston family was victimized during a home invasion nightmare. Some time in the early morning hours, twin 19-year-old brothers woke to their parents screaming while being beaten and held hostage by four armed home invaders.
Reports don’t say exactly what firearms the four invaders brought to the attack. At least one had a pistol; the father and twins were reportedly “pistol whipped.” The mother and 10-year-old sister were held hostage. The robbers demanded jewelry and money.
Houston Police Department officers responded around 4 a.m. Tuesday to a call of a burglary in progress at a home in the 3700 block of Crandon Street.
“They had my little sister at gunpoint, so we couldn’t do anything,” said 19-year old Rene Garcia.
He and his twin brother tried to lock themselves inside their bedroom when they heard their mom and dad screaming and struggling. At least one gunman threatened to shoot a family member if Rene and his brother didn’t open their bedroom door, Garcia said.
The uncle, who lives next door, heard the screaming and came to the rescue.
Some accounts say the uncle came across an invader beating a family member in the back yard. Another says the Uncle broke into the house and shot the invaders. The presence of three .223 steel casings in the driveway indicates shots were fired from a scary black rifle before the uncle entered the house, if he did.
One of the reasons that instances of defensive uses of semi-auto rifles aren’t documented more often: reporters are invariably ignorant of firearm models and calibers. Numerous reporters were on the scene and took excellent photographs of the shell casings.
The caliber matters because those who want a disarmed population claim that .223 semi-auto rifles are weapons of war, that they’re never used for defensive purposes and aren’t suitable for that purpose. It’s likely that the firearm associated with the casings shown above would be banned by the Maryland law at issue in the 4th Circuit Kolbe v. Hogan decision. From reason.com:
In Kolbe, the 10-judge majority concludes that the guns and magazines covered by Maryland’s ban are “dangerous and unusual” because they are “exceptionally lethal weapons of war” that are not appropriate for civilian use: “We are convinced that the banned assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are among those arms that are ‘like’ ‘M-16 rifles’—’weapons that are most useful in military service’—which the Heller Court singled out as being beyond the Second Amendment’s reach.”
Heller did nothing of the sort. But that didn’t stop the 4th Circuit from concocting the lie. Or the uncle from saving his family.
So police aren’t allowed to use AR15s in Maryland? Police shouldn’t be using weapons of war. Police aren’t at war with the citizens and the military can’t be used against civilians on US soil.
That would be another constitutional right and you know how they feel about the Constitution apparently
The Constitution doesn’t apply once you cross the Potomac river into Maryland….
I always love such a happy ending.
way to use your “high powered assault rifle” unk!! goes to show why standard capacity mags and sporting rifles should not have been banned or restricted, well, anywhere. how many more intruders might he have had to face? there were enough that at least three rounds were fired, and no worry of a six-shooter running out.
This story can’t be true, since we all know that AR15’s are incapable of firing STEEL CASED ammo!
He must have used a 5.56 AK variant, or a Mini-14.
Sarc.
Good for the uncle. I’m glad he had a semi auto rifle.
Anyone who uses steel-case ammo for defensive uses in anything other than an AK74 is doing it completely wrong. At least use some XM193 FFS (also do not ever use 62gr for defensive use either unless you are trying to shoot Russians in the head). There’s a reason they called it the “meat chopper” in Vietnam, but steel case is really bad for reliability in basically anything but a slavsurp gun.
Good Brass case is the way to go for ultimate reliability in an AR, it’s usually also hotter than steel case. That said, I wouldn’t feel like I was sticking my neck out too far by using steel case ammo in my Rock River AR. That thing chews up Wolf & Herters and spits it out with no drama at all.
I realize that the 19-year-old twins were unarmed and probably untrained, but trying to lock yourself and your brother in your room while leaving your 10-year-old sister to fend for herself? Damn…
We all have a moment of truth to face. Some folks measure up and others don’t. These 2 boys will be second guessing and reliving their failure til the day they die. They will likely do foolish and unproductive things in their lives to try and prove to themselves that they aren’t real cowards and are real men.
If you won’t put it on the line for your parents and your baby sister there’s nothing you can do to get your manhood back.
Amen.
That’s some hard truth there. Assuming of course they aren’t Beta Males and are completely cool with how they reacted, and would do it again, the same way.
Bu yeah, hard truth.
I disagree… Military service would make em man enough. Prior to service many of us were pussies who lacked the balls to face death. After facing death a few dozen times you stop being afraid of it.
Fighting back is admirable when you have a reasonable chance to win or nothing to lose. Otherwise, it’s a costly and futile gesture that does no one any good.
The only sensible statement so far! Only an idiot goes up against four gunmen unarmed!
In NJ they would be required to run out of the house. The uncle would have committed several felonies by assisting them with a gun, let alone a AR. Criminals love them some gun laws.
This is but one of very large and seemingly growing number of recent home invasions here in the Houston area.
I heard that one of the sorts of home the burglars avoid is one with a Marine Corps flag out front. So, I replaced my Texas flag with one and also bought one of those 12 X 18 stickers which says Marine Infantry Officer – 0302 and put it on the front of the house (8 years of service).
Lastly, I now keep at AR nest to the bed on bump charge.
Several years ago we had a string of home invasions with violence in my area. I home carry always now.
@ David,. WTF is a bump charge?
Ldub: I suspect by ‘bump charge’ he means he stores his AR with the bolt locked back on an empty chamber and a loaded magazine in the well. In that situation ‘bumping’ the bolt release brings the bolt into battery and loads a round into the chamber, which, if everything works, results in a ready to run rifle.
He may not be a fan of chambering his AR in the house. The free fireing pin tends to dent primers when the AR chambers a round and quite a few people aren’t real warm and fuzzy about that w/o a berm or something to face the muzzle towards when dropping the bolt. Others prefer to remove the mag and store the rifle during the day, and dont chamber up to avoid daily administrative loading and unloading of the rifle, especially without a known safe area to point it in.
I’m little bothered by the primer denting but I don’t like storing my rifle chambered as the majority of the time the first thing I will do when accessing it is to unloaded it for examination or travel, thus mine is currently in its drawer with a loaded mag in place and an empty chamber, but with the bolt down, since mine isn’t a primary HD weapon and isn’t likely to be needed in that much of a hurry, but I’d still like for a loaded mag to go with it if I grabbed it on the way by.
Then just store it with a loaded mag and the bolt forward on an empty chamber with the selector on safe. Stop with the nitwittery already.
I noticed the uncle declined to be interviewed. Good decision!!! Also, good on him for coming to the rescue!
Clearly he was using a California legal Mini-14!
No… it was a california legal .223 single shot pistol based on an AR lower…. he obviously reloaded twice, given the three shell casings. More than adequate to defend a california household. (sarc)
Rossi single-shot break open rifle. They love steel cased ammo 🙂
Good work from the uncle!! It makes me think I need to upgrade from a Mossberg 590 to a AR15. Three or four invaders with guns???
The 590 would have also worked just fine in this situation. Take your pick, AR/AK/Mini14/Pump shotgun. Any one of them will do the job 99% of the time.
It was a close range shootout. Pretty much what they all are in a dgu. Either rifle or shotgun works and works well there.
If you have and are experienced with a 590, use it. You live in KY. Before he passed my father lived in rural KY. He kept a shotgun. But in his area a rifle would have served just as well for defense.
If you’re just looking for a reason to buy a rifle, this is America. You don’t need a reason.
Meant as a reply to Chris.
Thanks for the input. I go back and forth about buying an AR15. I can’t justify buying one for myself. I’m glad we have the freedom to buy one. I’ve read lots of DGU’s using long guns and criminals using long guns. Most of both of them involve using a .22 caliber rifle or a shotgun. I have a Ruger 10/22 with the 25 round BX magazines.
A terrorist in Washington state killed 8 people and wounded many others with a Ruger 10/22. The 22 is deadly. Seems good for enough self defense.
“If you’re just looking for a reason to buy a rifle, this is America. You don’t need a reason.”
Bravo.
Seriously need a ‘like’ button.
If you can’t have an FA submachine gun (and maybe if you can) the shotgun is the queen of the battle space within its range. Properly loaded it dispenses what amounts to a fairly long burst of pistol caliber FA with each shot and excells at one shot stops and hitting semi covered and moving targets. It can quickly be swapped to cover and vehicle defeating slugs or specialty rounds for specific situations. It’s main draw backs being heavy recoil, limited range and capacity, but for a healthy adult the first and last of these can be overcome with training and practice, or by adjusting the loads/gun
In and around houses and buildings, and in and around cars, there is nothing quite like a proper shotgun, in the hands of someone who presses it’s strengths and understands the tactics that compensate for its weaknesses.
Unless your problem comes in great numbers, attacks from distance or wears armor, or you need to hump a large supply of ammo, I wouldn’t abandon my shotgun for an AR too hastily.
That said though, ARs are great, and unbelievably versatile. Everybody ought to have a few. If you could only take one gun, to go where ever to do whatever, the AR is an excellent choice.
Mossberg 930 SPX with buckshot and spare rounds on the buttstock. It’s got 7+1 (+1) capacity, rapid fire capability, and it’s reliable. I’ve got lots of ARs in multiple calibers, but the 12 gauge rules in short range stopping power. And the low pressure rounds won’t blow your ears out (as badly) as hot 5.56 / 300 BLK supersonic / 6.8 / 6.5 / .308, etc.
“Bob’s yer uncle !!”
(And I actually did have an Uncle Bob.)
I do not know if it was fate or just happened? It is a good thing the uncle terminated both parties (Threats) . People that are involved with this type of activity lie. I would bet this is not their first armed home invasion, sounds like they have done it before. I would appreciate it if the local police would be more through and in depth discussing the age, prior arrests etc. These limited information stories make it impossible to comment in any intelligent and comprehensive way. The criminals must have had records as the uncle was outside his house fired a gun and killed two with no charges discussed. A very good thing. I grew up in a wealthy part of Los Angeles. Encino in the San fernando valley. Nothing but rockstars live in Encino. If we had a problem our alarm system would silently a private security company. The telephone would ring. In the event you were unable to say to the emergency response operator the proper “Abort code” usually one word or a slew of armed private security people would arrive very quickly. It came in handy as my dad was in Japan working . There was a rapist in the house about 3:00 a.m. along with the security company and the police he was caught and had been looking for this guy for sometime. Do not think the property taxes in our community were not high enough to have adequate police. If you wanted safety you had to pay-big time $.
Another one bites the dust.
Good job uncle! 4 invaders,1 killed,1 injured- I guess the other 2 ran? I’m not a mean spirited guy,but I wish you would have got them all!!! But the main thing is you saved your family. You are a genuine hero.
the 2nd amendment, she ain’t about hunting deer…
The judges were right to a point; the rifles “mimic” battle rifles and are precisely what the second amendment protects. They have been shown time and again to be effective against armed invaders, even in the hands of teen victims. When armed invaders knock down your door or otherwise break into you home and threaten you and your family, it is war. What does the court think it is, a f–kin’ tea party?
I’m gals at least the uncle had some balls and a gun. People need to arm themselves. Period.