Texas Homeowner Fatally Shoots Armed Burglar After Taking His Gun: Police

A Texas homeowner managed to shoot an armed burglar after taking control of his gun, according to police.

Harrison County officers raced to a home in Hallsville following reports of a shooting at about 12:30 a.m. on Friday, May 12.

Sheriff Brandon J. Fletcher said the shooting was a result of "borrowing some money" that escalated to "aggravated robbery gone wrong," according to ABC-affiliate KLTV.

When officers arrived they found the homeowner standing outside the house and they cooperated with the investigation.

Police later found William Joseph Feazell, 40, dead in the kitchen and the investigation found that he had started the incident that ultimately led to his death.

Fletcher told the network only one gun was involved in the fatal shooting and that it belonged to Feazell. The homeowner managed to get control of the gun during the robbery attempt and fatally shot Feazell.

Several shots were fired during the robbery attempt but no one else sustained injuries, KLTV reported.

Harrison County police are continuing to carry out an investigation into the moments that led up to the shooting.

Newsweek has contacted Fletcher for comment via email.

There have been 406 recorded instances this year where guns were used defensively, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a database that collects information about shootings from across the country.

The database found that 23 suspects had been killed in defensive use shootings in Texas since January 1 this year.

Across the U.S. there have been 15,783 total gun violence deaths, although the overwhelming majority of those are classed as suicide and homicide, with 8,976 and 6,807 instances respectively.

In Texas, self-defense is defined by the state's penal code which says "a person is justified in using force against another when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect the actor against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful force."

According to the Shouse California Law Group, people can only claim self-defense in Texas if they:

• Only use the minimum amount of force necessary for self-defense,
• Reasonably believe that force was necessary to stop someone else's use of unlawful force,
• Did not provoke the attack, and
• Were not engaged in a crime.

There have been numerous instances where people have shot burglars in cases of self-defense across the U.S.

In 2022, a California homeowner, who was not named by police, shot a burglar dead inside his house.

Fontana police said the man came outside and surrendered to them and told them that the man who was shot was still inside.