Homeowner arrested after killing burglar

[DavidI]

Two face charges in fatal shooting of boy, 15
Suspect tells officers he fired a pellet gun at two brothers during alleged burglary in Bellflower.
By Rich Connell and Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writers
January 22, 2007


Two men are facing possible murder charges in connection with the fatal shooting Sunday of a 15-year-old boy during an alleged burglary in Bellflower.

The confrontation occurred shortly before sunrise when the boy and an alleged adult accomplice were spotted by a 57-year-old man near the rear of his property on Park Street, just north of the 91 Freeway, authorities said.

Jerry Cress told investigators the suspects were trying to break into a shed. He said one was armed with a hammer and that he fired a pellet gun at them.

The suspects fled and the boy showed up a short time later in a hospital emergency room with what appeared to be a gunshot wound, authorities said.

By Sunday evening, both Cress and Duane Berry, 24, the teen's brother and alleged accomplice, had been arrested and were being held without bail.

Berry was arrested on suspicion of murder with special circumstances because the death occurred during the commission of a felony, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Anthony Moore. Cress was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Details of the incident, and why Cress was taken into custody, were not released.

Yolanda Rice, the mother of the dead boy and the alleged accomplice, said she saw entry wounds in her son's right shoulder and his lower back. She said she did not think a burglary was involved and that Berry told her they weren't on the property when they were fired on.

"I just don't understand how somebody could shoot somebody, even if he thought somebody was on his property," she said.

Rice confirmed information in court and jail databases that Berry had recently been released from jail and had a pending criminal case involving the alleged sale or furnishing of marijuana.

Among other things, homicide detectives were investigating the motive for the alleged burglary, including whether marijuana plants found at Cress' residence were a factor, Moore said. Cress told investigators that he had liver cancer.

Cress had called the Lakewood sheriff's station early Sunday to report the burglary and that he had fired three pellet rounds at the suspects, officials said. Lakewood Regional Medical Center called the station later to report that an apparent gunshot victim had arrived.

About an hour after the shooting, the boy, Jacob T. Walker of Paramount, was pronounced dead, according to the county coroner's office. Rice said her son was a student at Paramount High School.

Investigators were waiting for a coroner's autopsy to confirm the cause of death and type of weapon involved, Moore said. The district attorney's office will decide what charges might be filed, he said.

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rich.connell@latimes.com

jean.guccione@latimes.com

[berettafan]

just don't go nosing around other peoples homes at night and you will be okay-dokay.

[widebody911]

Hmm. There's a couple of smelly things about this.

* "armed with a hammer" - WTF?
* if decide you're going to break into someone's pot stash, there's probably a pretty good chance the owner will be defending it. I've never had any dealings with drugs, either buying, using, selling, growing or any combination thereof, and even I know that.
* how did we get from "pellet gun" to "gunshot wound"?
* not much detail on the chain of events between getting shot with the pellet gun, getting to the hospital, and dying, although apparently somewhere in there he tells his mom he wasn't on the guy's property.

"I just don't understand how somebody could shoot somebody, even if he thought somebody was on his property," - um, what part of trespassing don't you understand?

Details are too slim to make any sort of judgment at this point.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by widebody911
Hmm. There's a couple of smelly things about this.

* "armed with a hammer" - WTF?
* if decide you're going to break into someone's pot stash, there's probably a pretty good chance the owner will be defending it. I've never had any dealings with drugs, either buying, using, selling, growing or any combination thereof, and even I know that.
* how did we get from "pellet gun" to "gunshot wound"?
* not much detail on the chain of events between getting shot with the pellet gun, getting to the hospital, and dying, although apparently somewhere in there he tells his mom he wasn't on the guy's property.

"I just don't understand how somebody could shoot somebody, even if he thought somebody was on his property," - um, what part of trespassing don't you understand?

Details are too slim to make any sort of judgment at this point.

Agreed but also agree with Hugh. Stay off of someone's property and this will not happen.

Wonder what kind of pellet gun it was?

[coloradoporsche]

Wonder what kind of pellet gun it was?

I have a pellet gun that shoots a whole bunch of pellets at once

[KFC911]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
...Wonder what kind of pellet gun it was?

I feed my pellets steroids....turns them into magnums

[KFC911]

Originally posted by KC911
I feed my pellets steroids....turns them into magnums

ps: Why didn't the mother question why her 15 year old was out 'shortly before sunrise'

[HardDrive]

I dunno.

I don't think you should be able to shoot someone unless they are a direct threat to you and your family.

Someone breaking into a shed away from the house does not seem to met the test for a direct threat.

If he indeed shot this kid with a firearm, I think he broke the law.

[legion]

Anyone on your property in the middle of the night trying to steal your stuff is a potential threat.

[VincentVega]

What kind of pellet gun was this?

[fastpat]

That's too bad, really. The homeowner is clearly guilty of self defense (ehich includes property), and nothing else, unless the details are incorrect.

There is one issue I see, and that is he probably assumed that he was only going to "sting" them with the pellet gun, so didn't hesitate to use what he thought was non-lethal force. Still, that does not say that he was wrong to use force to stop a theft of property, which is completely legitimate.

It's actually better to be armed with a genuine firearm, then there will be no tendency to use it as a non-lethal weapon, and if you're attacked, it will be able to stop the attack, whereas a pellet gun is chancy at best.

[stevepaa]

Deadly force is never legitimate to stop theft of property.

I also think he thought it would just sting them and not be lethal.

We'll just have to wait for more details.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally posted by legion
Anyone on your property in the middle of the night trying to steal your stuff is a potential threat.

Although I'd love to agree with this guy, the rule is typically that you can only discharge your weapon if you believe you are in IMMINENT danger. In other words, you can't use deadly force to defend property. Period. Goes for guns, poisonous spiders, booby-traps, etc. At least this is what I was told in a concealed-carry course years ago. Not a lawyer, YMMV, etc. but I'm pretty sure that's the rule. Now, he probably should have taken a lesson from what LAPD always does - say "I think he's got a gun", empty the magazine into the perp. and then let the mess sort itself out as a mistake/misunderstanding after the fact, claiming "I thought he had a gun and was gonna' shoot me!"

They'd only charge him with manslaughter in that case and he'd plea out with six months probation or something. End result: one more POS juvenile hoodlum off the street (thankfully before procreation, benefiting the gene pool) and chalk one up for people being able to stand up for themselves.

Of course the cops will condemn this. If the citizenry actually starts demonstrating the ability to handle its problems for itself, they're out of their jobs, right? They want us dependent on the nanny state to take care of them in their hour of need (and given the response times for PDs in SoCal to 9-1-1 calls, "hour" of need is an appropriate choice of words. . .)

Sounds like at the end of the day it's good guys: 1, bad guys: 0 with the referees (gubmint lackeys) trying to reverse it.

[Jeff Higgins]

He should have put a Playstation in the kid's hand and claimed the banging of the shed door sounded like gunfire.

[Racerbvd]

Originally posted by HardDrive
I dunno.

I don't think you should be able to shoot someone unless they are a direct threat to you and your family.

Someone breaking into a shed away from the house does not seem to met the test for a direct threat.

If he indeed shot this kid with a firearm, I think he broke the law.

If they are breaking in, they are a direct threat and should be treated as such. This guy did them a favor, he should be rewarded, not punished!!

[widebody911]

Originally posted by HardDrive
I don't think you should be able to shoot someone unless they are a direct threat to you and your family.

Someone breaking into a shed away from the house does not seem to met the test for a direct threat.

While this is true, my pity glands are still dried up for this kid.

[legion]

Originally posted by stevepaa
Deadly force is never legitimate to stop theft of property.

I also think he thought it would just sting them and not be lethal.

We'll just have to wait for more details.

Would you instead propose to invite the kid in and try to reason with him? Perhaps try to discern his motivations and intentions over a glass of Chardonnay?

Maybe you could just stand there impotent with the police on the line, watching someone carry off your posessions while you wait for the police? There certainly won't be any repeat robberies after you are deamed an easy target. Besides, the kid probably deserved your hard-earned stuff more than you because he had an rough life or something.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by stevepaa
Deadly force is never legitimate to stop theft of property.

I also think he thought it would just sting them and not be lethal.

We'll just have to wait for more details.

That's true in California; but in America, you can defend your property with lethal force if necessary.

[stevepaa]

So you shoot the guy stealing an apple from the tree in your front yard?

[VincentVega]

sure