A concerned homeowner in Texas took up arms and fought off a machete-wielding man who tried to break into his home.
The surveillance camera at Darryl Stevens’ home recorded the moment an intruder armed with a machete approached the family’s home in Liberty Hill, north of Austin.
“At that moment, of course, I freaked out. I have two small children here in the house and I just went into complete fight-or-flight mode,” Stevens told FOX 7.
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Darryl Stevens defended his family when a man with a machete tried to break into his home. (FOX 7)
Stevens’ immediate reaction was to lock his house and grab his 9mm pistol.
“I ran through the house. I locked all the doors as fast as I could and ran up the stairs. Luckily I had a firearm with me, so I grabbed my 9mm, unlocked it and ran downstairs as fast as I could,” Stevens said.
The suspect, later identified as 43-year-old Jerry Escamilla, managed to climb over a fence and access the upper terrace of the family’s home.
When he arrived, he was greeted by Stevens’ gun.
“I told him he had to go or he would lose his life, you know?” he said. “Luckily, he dropped the machete after I did that.”
A homeowner in Liberty Hill, Texas, filmed a man attempting to break into his home with a machete. (FOX 7 via Darryl Stevens)
The video shows Escamilla walking back the same way and climbing down again while pointing a gun at the intruder.
Stevens’ wife called 911 and local police arrested Escamilla. The 43-year-old was charged with trespassing and identity theft and is being held on $10,000 bail.
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Stevens told the local outlet that they recently moved further away from Austin to “feel safe.”
“I just had to protect my family, and that’s what I did. Luckily, I didn’t have to fire my gun,” Stevens said. “It’s just not something you expect to see in Liberty Hill out in the country or way out in the country, way back in this new, nice neighborhood… we moved here, we moved further out of the city to feel safe.”
Jerry Escamilla was charged with trespassing and failure to identify himself and was held on $10,000 bail. (FOX 7)
Stevens said he plans to increase security at their home and said they would turn their home into “Fort Knox.”
“We feel violated as a family, we feel like our sense of security in our safe place, our home, has been taken away. I almost get a little emotional when I say that. It’s not fair,” he said. “We’re definitely increasing security. We’re getting a couple more guns, one upstairs and one downstairs. We’re going to install more fencing and more security. Floodlights. I’m going to turn this place into Fort Knox at this point.”“
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Texas’ “Stand Your Ground” law gave gun owners the right to use deadly force to defend themselves against threats, regardless of whether they were able to retreat beforehand. The law states that the shooter must not provoke the confrontation.
