Seguin, Texas

From the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise of September 4, 2006

Homeowner shoots, kills burglar

As most families were sleeping soundly early Labor Day morning, a local homeowner shot and killed a man who smashed through the back door of his home.

“The homeowners, who were asleep, awoke to a living nightmare,” said Seguin Police Department public information officer Aaron Seidenberger. “A person had broken into their home, and now they were violently struggling to get the suspect to leave.”

After breaking into the home at 798 Renee St. at 5:20 a.m., the man made his way down the hallway to the homeowners’ bedroom, where the husband and wife awoke. The male homeowner physically struggled with the burglar, who had armed himself with a wooden club-like object he found inside the home, police said.

The homeowner retrieved a gun from his bedroom and yelled for the man to leave. When the burglar charged, the homeowner shot the man at least once in the upper torso with a .40 caliber handgun, said Police Chief Luis Collazo.

“He shot from 10 feet or less,” Collazo said. “It’s point and shoot.”

The man staggered out the back door and fell to the ground. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Darrell Hunter.
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Though the homeowner is undoubtedly dealing with the psychological impact of his decision, Seidenberger likened the incident to an officer having to shoot a suspect in self-defense.

“He has to look at it [from the viewpoint of] ‘If I had not done what I did to protect myself and my wife, then I might not be here.’“
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The homeowners were not visibly injured in the incident, said Lt. Mike Watts. No charges will be filed against the homeowner, Collazo said.

From the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise of October 6, 2006

Man killed in break in had drugs in system

The toxicology report for a man killed while breaking into a home Labor Day morning revealed alcohol, cocaine and marijuana in his system at the time of death.

Esequiel “Zeke” Urias, 28, died from a gunshot wound to his upper torso in early September, after he allegedly forced his way into a home in 700 Block of Renee Street. The homeowner, acting in self-defense, shot Urias with a .40 caliber handgun from less than 10 feet away.

Urias had no prior record of criminal activity, police said.

Urias’ actions baffled friends and family members, who said they couldn’t imagine anything more out of character. The toxicology report offered an answer to why Urias would enter a stranger’s home, said Urias’ older sister Kathy Urias Rodriguez, but immediately raised another question — why was Urias using drugs?

“It was totally out of his character to use drugs,” Rodriguez said. “My cousins all say he never showed any interest in them at all. Even two weeks before, he was so against people who did it — that’s why we were really shocked that he would even try it. It wasn’t like he needed drugs, he just started hanging out and joining in, I guess.”

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