Article

2023-01-12 -Great Cultural Revolution

Armed diner who fatally shot robber in Houston restaurant heist will face grand jury

[NYPOST] A Texas grand jury will decide whether to criminally charge a Houston taqueria patron who shot a robber dead last week, police said.

The Houston Police Department announced Monday the 46-year-old customer has turned himself in and is cooperating with the investigation into the deadly shooting. He has not been named because he was not arrested or charged with any crime.

The heist took place inside the Ranchito #4 Taqueria around 11:30 p.m. last Thursday, when a suspect, identified as 30-year-old Eric Washington, entered the business, produced what appeared to be a gun and demanded that all patrons hand over their cash and wallets.

Chilling surveillance video from the eatery shows customers cowering under tables as the masked and gloved perp, dressed in all black, walks around grabbing their possessions.

As the suspect heads for the exit with his loot, the 46-year-old diner sitting in a booth stands up, pulls out a handgun and opens fire on the robber, causing him to collapse.

Then, while standing directly over the maimed intruder, the customer shoots him again at point-blank range, as seen in the video.

The armed good Samaritan then collected the stolen money and belongings from Washington and returned them to their owners before fleeing the taqueria.

Washington was pronounced dead at the scene. Police later determined that the gun in his possession was not real.

After police issued a public plea asking the armed customer to come forward so they could interview him about the shooting, his attorney released a statement to the station ABC 13 defending his actions.

"In fear of his life and his friend’s life my client acted to protect everyone in the restaurant," the attorney wrote, stressing that in Texas, "a shooting is justified in self-defense, defense of others and in defense of property."

The unidentified diner has since met with prosecutors from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and with police homicide detectives.

Once the investigation is complete, the case will be presented to a grand jury, and the man’s attorney said they are "confident the Grand Jury will conclude that the shooting was justified under Texas Law."

The lawyer described the incident as "traumatic" to his client, and noted that "taking a human life is something he does not take lightly and will burden him for the rest of his life."

Records indicate that the robbery suspect, Eric Washington, had an extensive criminal history and was out on bond at the time of the fatal shooting.

In 2015, Washington was convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 15 years in prison in connection with the fatal shooting of 62-year-old Hamid Waraich two years prior.

Washington was released on parole in 2021 after serving less than half of his sentence, but he was back behind bars in mid-December after being arrested for allegedly shoving and scratching his girlfriend.

Washington was charged in that incident with misdemeanor family violence and was subsequently released on a personal recognizance bond.

"Eric was an evil criminal that took joy in harassing and robbing innocent families," Waraich’s son Sean Waraich told the station. "The individual at the taqueria is a true hero."

Zero Hedge adds:

The hero customer who shot and killed an armed robber at a Houston taco joint last week has been ordered to face a grand jury by District Attorney Kim Ogg, the Soros-funded prosecutor who appears to have let the career criminal he put down out on bond.

The thug he shot was a career criminal who should have been locked up in prison, KTRK reports:

On Monday, the medical examiner identified 30-year-old Eric Eugene Washington as the robbery suspect who was killed.

Records show Washington had an extensive criminal history and was out on bond during the would-be robbery.

Our hero never would have even been put in this position if Kim Ogg actually locked criminals up rather than kneel before them.

This is a clear-cut case of self-defense but you never know how a jury will rule in the Black Lives Matter era.

Posted by trailing wife 2023-01-12 00:00|| || Front Page|| [19 views ] Top

#1 Suggested OBIT☻

Eric Eugene Washington, a member of US ✊🏿 BLoM Thugs International, was dispatched while pursuing his chosen career path.

Over the course of his mixed career, he accumulated a list of accomplishments. His Career Narrative was said to cause significant environment impacts, climate changes, internet and power grid issues every time it was looked up or printed.

Posted by NN2N1 2023-01-12 07:08|| 2023-01-12 07:08|| Front Page Top

#2 They're gonna get him for the last final kill shot

Posted by Frank G 2023-01-12 07:28|| 2023-01-12 07:28|| Front Page Top

#3 I guess the old adage of "If it's worth shooting, it's worth shooting a lot" is out the window.....

Posted by Mercutio 2023-01-12 07:59|| 2023-01-12 07:59|| Front Page Top

#4 Never really dealing with career criminals is a strategy and one that has nothing to do with empathy. It degrades the fabric of social cohesion in what until quite recently was a high trust society.

The other side of that rancid coin is heavily prosecuting self defense, preferably in high profile show trials. That in turn discourages self reliance.

It's not an accident, it's not those 'crazy, egghead liberals', at this point on the curve it is more evidence of destruction from within since we have not been destroyed by external forces.

Posted by Cesare 2023-01-12 08:14|| 2023-01-12 08:14|| Front Page Top

#5 I expect a pardon on the governor's desk the day after.

Posted by Procopius2k 2023-01-12 08:41|| 2023-01-12 08:41|| Front Page Top

#6 They're gonna get him for the last final kill shot

Yep. All was fine until he fired those last coup de grâce shots after the goblin collapsed. Any state you are in made it illegal.

Posted by DarthVader 2023-01-12 10:29|| 2023-01-12 10:29|| Front Page Top

#7 You know The Band is banging the drum, "Black Male turning his life around gunned down from behind, executed by White Man angry about his dinner being interrupted."

Don't know Texas/Houston procedures, but Grand Jury would be pretty standard procedure?

Posted by swksvolFF 2023-01-12 11:19|| 2023-01-12 11:19|| Front Page Top

#8 His only defense may be that the last shot was post-mortem and he is only guilty of desecration of a corpse.

Posted by Glenmore 2023-01-12 11:21|| 2023-01-12 11:21|| Front Page Top

#9 Knowing when to fire is just as important as knowing how to fire. That last couple of shots might do him in since there was no threat to life or property.

Posted by CrazyFool 2023-01-12 11:56|| 2023-01-12 11:56|| Front Page Top

#10 I took a concealed carry course several years ago. One of the things the instructor emphasized is that you stop shooting when there is no longer a threat. If the perp was down, and (probably) not moving, there is no threat.
I am not a lawyer, but to me (based only on news reports here at the 'burg), it seems to me that the guy did go beyond what was necessary.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2023-01-12 12:20|| 2023-01-12 12:20|| Front Page Top

#11 "Fire for effect!"

Posted by M. Murcek 2023-01-12 12:22|| 2023-01-12 12:22|| Front Page Top

#12 M. Murcek, that's a great idea in war, when you want to make the rubble bounce. Not necessarily in this case.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2023-01-12 12:32|| 2023-01-12 12:32|| Front Page Top

#13 ...since there was no threat to life or property.

Given the perp's history of recidivism, he remained a threat to life and property in society while he was among us. Doing the job the state no longer wants to do.

Posted by Procopius2k 2023-01-12 13:29|| 2023-01-12 13:29|| Front Page Top

#14 Not necessarily in this case

So, bring dogs to ravage the corpse?

Posted by M. Murcek 2023-01-12 13:52|| 2023-01-12 13:52|| Front Page Top

#15 Come on now.
Patrons could have tripped on the thug in their hurried exiting. He was still a danger.

Posted by Skidmark 2023-01-12 14:41|| 2023-01-12 14:41|| Front Page Top

#16 Cops are trained to do a magazine dump once they start firing. And rightfully so. Plenty of video out there where the cop was killed after the suspect was shot. Private citizens being held to a different standard of self defense is bullshit. If there is to be a double standard at all it should be reversed. But I agree they will prosecute on the last shots fired. Remember kids, keep firing until the enemy changes shapes or catches on fire.

Posted by Lowspark 2023-01-12 15:01|| 2023-01-12 15:01|| Front Page Top

#17 Count the shots.
Was his magazine too big?
Did he have too many rounds of bullet?

Posted by Skidmark 2023-01-12 15:21|| 2023-01-12 15:21|| Front Page Top

#18 Three predictions:
(1) The shooter walks. Jurors on the grand jury will think "what would I have done?"
(2) There will much wailing about 'vigilante justice' from the usual loud mouths.
(3) There will be either an attempt to gin up a federal case or a lawsuit by the deceased's family.

Posted by ed in texas 2023-01-12 15:29|| 2023-01-12 15:29|| Front Page Top

#19 Make the rubble bounce

Posted by Regular joe 2023-01-12 16:23|| 2023-01-12 16:23|| Front Page Top

#20 'vigilante justice'

...happens when the populace no longer believes the 'state' will do its job and give them justice. As in when DAs treat predators like victims and judges are more concern with 'virtue' rather than 'justice'.

Posted by Procopius2k 2023-01-12 17:43|| 2023-01-12 17:43|| Front Page Top

#21 That area has a lot of crime. The last shots were frustration shots from a law abiding citizen.

Posted by Mad Eye Omeretch7959 2023-01-12 19:48|| 2023-01-12 19:48|| Front Page Top

#22 Absolutely. Understood. Just speculating on what the SOROS DA will try and prosecute on. IMNSHO - a societal favor done

Posted by Frank G 2023-01-12 20:25|| 2023-01-12 20:25|| Front Page Top

16:42 M. Murcek
16:25 Glenmore
16:23 Glenmore
16:17 Glenmore
16:14 Glenmore
16:12 Glenmore
16:12 Richard+Aubrey
16:10 Besoeker
16:06 Besoeker
16:05 Glenmore
16:05 Besoeker
16:04 Regular+joe
16:00 Deacon+Blues
15:51 Vinegar+Greque3942
15:51 Bobby
15:46 Procopius2k
15:43 Procopius2k
15:42 Super Hose
15:42 Procopius2k
15:38 M. Murcek
15:32 Super Hose
15:30 Super Hose
15:22 Super Hose
15:20 Besoeker