A Texas man was sleeping in his truck after a fight with his girlfriend when a car thief decided to strike. Unfortunately for the would-be robber, he had no idea the man was inside—or that he had armed himself with a weapon for his protection. Soon, however, the alleged criminal would learn the hard way that he’d picked the wrong vehicle to target.
After a fight with his girlfriend, a Texas man decided it was best if he slept in his truck for the night. Unfortunately, that decision set off a chain of events that he will likely never forget. While asleep in his vehicle, which was parked at an apartment complex in north Harris County, an alleged intruder tried to rob the truck, likely not knowing a man was inside, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. However, the thief was about to find out that he made a grave error when he set his sights on the truck.
According to KTRK, the unnamed Texas man was sleeping in the back seat of his four-door pickup truck when another man—the alleged thief who was believed to be armed—entered the truck and tried to rob the sleeping truck owner, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez explained. Unfortunately for the criminal, the truck owner had armed himself with an AR-15 rifle before deciding to sleep in his vehicle, and he was prepared to defend himself.
When the alleged intruder entered the sleeping Texas man’s vehicle, the guy awakened. Coming face-to-face with an intruder in his truck, the Texan didn’t hesitate. Instead, he fired his AR-15 and struck the burglary suspect several times, police said. He then went to his brother’s apartment, where he called the police to report the incident, but it was too late for the alleged thief.
“The decedent was apparently burglarizing a number of vehicles in the parking lot — climbed into the reportee’s pickup truck. The reportee was armed with an AR-15 rifle,” HCSO Sgt. Ben Beall said.
After the man called, saying he had shot an alleged intruder, Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the scene in the 300 block of Parramatta Lane near Imperial Valley Drive at about 3:12 a.m. There, they found the burglary suspect with multiple gunshot wounds. He died at the scene, with police saying they don’t believe he realized the truck was occupied when he decided to attempt to rob it.
“[The shooter] was sleeping in the back seat of the truck, and the windows are heavily tinted, so [the alleged intruder] did not realize that the truck was occupied until he was actually sitting in the truck,” HCSO Sgt. Ben Beall explained. “When [the truck owner] woke up, he has this strange individual in the truck with him. He grabbed his gun and shot him multiple times,” Beall added, according to The Blaze. “They shouldn’t be out doing it in the first place,” the sergeant continued. “I don’t believe that [the suspect] realized that the reportee was sleeping in this truck before it was too late.”
Although his identity was not immediately released, the sheriff’s office revealed that the deceased burglary suspect was in his early 20s. Investigators found a Glock pistol in his pocket as well as a large screwdriver that they believed he had used to break into three or four other cars before he unknowingly targeted the occupied truck, where he met his untimely demise.
Because the alleged car thief was armed with a pistol, we shudder to imagine what might have happened if the sleeping truck owner hadn’t been armed. Thankfully, he was prepared to defend his person and his property with the necessary force to ensure that he was the one who made it out alive. Now, we have a story that serves as a great reminder for all the other thieves out there contemplating similar crimes. When a career criminal gets “fired,” it’s not just their “job” that’s terminated—it’s often their life.
