The slogan “Don’t Mess with Texas” often refers to the state’s anti-littering program, but it should be more often applied to patriotic residents who spare no expense to defend their homes and families.
Earlier this week in Liberty Hill, a city 35 miles north of Austin, home camera footage captured the moment a thug armed with a machete tried to break into the home of Darryl Stevens but received a rude awakening once he reached the door thanks to the homeowner exercising his 2nd Amendment rights.
The suspect, later identified as 43-year-old Jerry Escamilla of Bertram, climbed a fence and started approaching the home alongside a dog before seemingly passing out. At this moment, Stevens notices the suspect and immediately springs into action.
As he explained in an interview with FOX 7 Austin, he locked up his home, grabbed his 9mm firearm, and raced to the perp.
Once Escamilla rose back up and made his way to the upper deck of Stevens’ home, he found himself staring down the barrel of the man’s gun. He quickly decided to drop the machete, climb down, and walk away before getting his head blown off.
“Told him he’s got to leave, or he’s going to lose his life, you know?” Stevens told FOX 7 Austin. “Luckily, after I did that, he dropped the machete.”
WATCH:
Stevens, a married father of two children, told FOX 7 Austin he prepared to do whatever it took to protect his family. In a sad irony, he recently moved his family from Austin to feel safe.
“I just had to protect my family, and that’s what I did. Luckily, I didn’t have to discharge my firearm,” Stevens 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.”
Stevens went on to tell the outlet that he is planning on turning his home into “Fort Knox” following the harrowing experience.
“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,” he 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.”
Stevens’ wife called 911 and Liberty Hill police arrested Escamilla. He has been charged with criminal trespassing and failure to identify.
Escamilla is being held on a $10,000 bond.
As Fox News notes, Texas’s Stand Your Ground law gives gun owners the right to apply lethal force to defend themselves against threats, regardless of whether it was possible to retreat first. The shooter, however, cannot instigate the incident.
