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Sep 3, 2008 7:50 pm US/Central
Tarrant Residents Turn Tables On Would-Be Burglars
Compiled From Staff Reports
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 News) ―
One man is dead, another is in the hospital, and two families are on edge after two home invasions in North Texas.
The first happened around midnight in Fort Worth, the second attack occurred about an hour later in Blue Mound.
According to reports, about 11 p.m. Tuesday two armed burglars used an open garage to gain access to a house in the 2600 block of Calico Rock Drive. Police say the pair confronted a 38-year-old man and his wife in their bedroom and terrorized the couple with a shotgun.
Before leaving the thieves took a laptop, a wallet and a jewelry box. The pair also took the couple's red Honda Odyssey. One of the homeowners was a member of Code Blue, the Fort Worth Police Department's Citizen on Patrol unit and a police radio was part of that bounty.
Neither the homeowners nor the children sleeping inside the house were harmed.
About an hour later, police believe the two armed thieves drove the stolen car to the 600 block of Globe in Blue Mound and forced their way into a house. But the couple at that house was willing to fight.
The couple said they took action because they had two children sleeping inside. The children weren't hurt; in fact they didn't even wake up.
Kellie and Keith Hoehn described what happened when their front door shattered and two men ran in with guns. "It [the gun] was at my head, point blank, and he said if you scream I'm gonna blow your head off," Kellie explained.
Keith says he barely had time to move. "[I] jump up real quick, open the door and the guy's standing right there with a shotgun pointed right at my face."
Kellie said she had to do something. "So I grabbed the gun and I pulled it away so there was no way he could shoot my husband."
Kellie threw a heavy candle at the gunman's head giving Keith an opportunity to wrestle the gun away from the larger of the two suspects – a 300-pound man.
Police said the fray made its way outside the house, where the homeowner fired the shotgun and hit both of the men.
One of the men was shot twice and the other was "in the line of fire," police said.
The robber identified as 21-year-old Dakota Benoit died at the scene. The other man, 25-year-old John Pierson, ran away on foot but was later caught by railroad police as he attempted to clean himself in fountain on Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad property, at 2600 Lou Menk. Wednesday night Pierson was in critical condition.
Police stressed they do not recommend residents take on armed suspects.
It is unlikely the homeowner will face any charges, authorities said, but the District Attorney's Office will decide if the homeowner who shot and killed the invader will go before a Grand Jury.
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