A machete-wielding intruder had second thoughts when he found himself staring down the business end of a Texas homeowner’s 9mm handgun. The confrontation happened around 5 p.m. on August 21. Liberty Hill homeowner, Darryl Stevens, caught the intruder on camera attempting to break into his home, Fox 7 Austin is reporting.
Stevens and a contractor were looking out to the backyard when they noticed a machete-wielding man walking alongside a dog as he approached the rear of the home near Bear Creek. The intruder appears to pass out momentarily, falling to the ground before standing back up and making his way up a few stairs, pulling on a door to make entry.
Stevens told reporters, “At that moment, I obviously freaked out. I have two young children here in the house and just went into complete fight or flight mode.” Continuing to recount the ordeal, Stevens says, “I started running through the house. I locked every door as fast as possible, ran upstairs. Luckily, I had a firearm here, so I grabbed my 9mm, unlocked it, ran down as fast as I could.”
The intruder, 43-year-old Jerry Escamilla, failed to gain access through the locked door. Undeterred, however, he climbed a nearby fence onto an upper deck. That’s when he came face to face with Stevens and his 9mm.
“I told him he’s got to leave, or he’s going to lose his life, you know?” Stevens told Fox 7. In what proved to be among Escamilla’s wiser moments of the day, he dropped the machete and can be seen on video climbing back down the fence in retreat while Stevens keeps his handgun trained on the intruder.
In the meantime, Stevens’ wife was on the phone with authorities who acted swiftly, leading deputies to apprehend Escamilla shortly after. Escamilla is being charged with criminal trespassing and failure to identify, with a bond set at $10,000.
Stevens, obviously still shaken by the incident, indicated relief that he did not have to shoot the intruder, telling reporters he did not expect to confront a situation like this, having relocated his family further from the city.
“I just had to protect my family, and that’s what I did. Luckily, I didn’t have to discharge my firearm,” he said. “It’s just not something you expect to happen in Liberty Hill in the country or way out in the country in the very back of this new, nice neighborhood…we moved out here, we moved further out of the city to feel safe.”
In Texas, a homeowner has the right to use deadly force in self-defense under a Stand Your Ground law. In this particular incident, Texas’ Castle doctrine may also apply, once again allowing the use of deadly force in the event of an intruder or home invasion.
“If someone is trying to unlawfully enter and is being forceful, you have a right to use deadly force to protect your home, your car, and your place of employment in those situations,” said Lt. Russell Travis with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, adding, “You don’t have to retreat. You have a right to defend yourself.”
Understandably, the ordeal has taken its toll on Stevens and his family, as they prepare to increase security measures around their home.
“We feel violated, as a family, we feel like our sense of safety in our safe place, which is our house, has been taken from us. I almost get a little emotional even saying that. It’s not fair,” Stevens said. “We’re definitely upping security. We’re getting a few more firearms to have one upstairs, one downstairs. We are going to be installing more fences and more security features. Floodlights. I’m going to turn this place into Fort Knox at this point in time.”
The story itself is unsettling, and the surveillance video released on August 22 by FOX 7 is even more disturbing. Unfortunate realities of the ongoing crime and mental health crisis have spilled out of the major cities and into areas it is least expected.
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