Joe Horn: Bravado, Fear Fueled My Actions

Joe Horn said his actions may deter criminals.

ByABC News via logo
July 2, 2008, 7:13 AM

July 2, 2008— -- A 61-year-old Texas retiree, who a jury decided would not go to trial after shooting and killing two men he believed to be intruders while he talked to a 911 dispatcher, said he regretted the incident but believes it could serve as a deterrent for criminals.

"Do I think it's a deterrent? Is that what you are asking? Yes it is, but that is not my intent," Joe Horn said in an exclusive interview on "Good Morning America" today.

Vote: How Far Would You Go to Protect Property?

While some critics have complained that Horn, who was cleared by a Harris County grand jury Monday, took the law into his own hands, he disagreed.

"For 61 years I was never a vigilante. Why would I be a vigilante over this incident?" the Houston man said. "To go through an event like this, you cannot imagine how badly you feel."

Horn insisted he feared for his own life when he called 911 on Nov. 14, 2007, to report two burglars were robbing his neighbor's home. He said the fear for his own life was the reason he shot and killed Diego Ortiz and Miguel de Jesus, who were illegal Colombian immigrants.

"I didn't go outside to engage anybody. I just went outside to get information for the police," Horn said.

Though the 911 operator clearly tells Horn to remain inside his home at least 13 times on the recording of the conversation, Horn sounds impatient and at times defiant as he tells the operator he is going outside with his shotgun.

Joe Horn: "I've got a shotgun. You want me to stop him?"

Dispatcher: "Nope. Don't do that. Ain't no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?"

Joe Horn: "Hurry up, man, catch these guys, will you? Because I ain't gonna let them go. I'm gonna kill him."

Dispatcher: "OK, stay in the house."

Joe Horn: "They're getting away!"

Dispatcher: "That's all right."

Joe Horn: (Shouts to suspects) "Move, you're dead."

"You're listening to a man that is scared and alone," Horn said. "That is a man that has never, never been in any kind of situation like this in his entire life" and that his talk was more bravado than anything else.