In Liberty Hill, Texas, a homeowner successfully defended his family when a man armed with a machete attempted to break into their home. The incident, which was captured on the family’s home surveillance camera, occurred just north of Austin and has raised concerns about safety in the area.
Darryl Stevens, the homeowner, described the harrowing moment when he saw the intruder approaching his home. “At that moment, I obviously freaked out. I have two young children here in the house and just went into complete fight or flight mode,” Stevens told FOX 7.
Reacting quickly, Stevens locked the doors of his home and retrieved his 9mm handgun. “I started running through the house. I locked every door as fast as possible, ran upstairs. Luckily, I had a firearm here, so I grabbed my 9mm, unlocked it, ran down as fast as possible,” he said.
The suspect, later identified as 43-year-old Jerry Escamilla, managed to climb a fence and reach the upper deck of the Stevens’ home. Upon reaching the deck, he was confronted by Stevens, who was armed with his handgun.
“I told him he’s got to leave, or he’s going to lose his life, you know?” Stevens recounted. “Luckily, after I did that, he dropped the machete.”
Home surveillance footage captured the moment Escamilla retraced his steps and climbed back down the fence, with a gun pointed at him. Stevens’ wife promptly called 911, and local authorities arrested Escamilla at the scene. He has been charged with criminal trespassing and failure to identify and is being held on a $10,000 bond.
Stevens, who moved his family farther from Austin to “feel safe,” expressed his frustration and concern following the incident. “I just had to protect my family, and that’s what I did. Luckily, I didn’t have to discharge my firearm,” he said. “It’s just not something you expect to happen in Liberty Hill… we moved out here, we moved further out of the city to feel safe.”
In response to the intrusion, Stevens said he plans to increase security measures at their home. “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,” 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.”
Texas’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows gun owners to use lethal force to defend themselves against threats without the obligation to retreat, has been highlighted in discussions surrounding the incident. The law requires that the shooter not instigate the altercation.
