Victim says he moved his family out of Austin for safety reasons, now feels “violated” after home invasion
An armed homeowner was forced to defend his property and family from a suspect brandishing a machete in Texas last week, according to reports.
The harrowing incident unfolded at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday in Liberty Hill, a small city on the outskirts of the Greater Austin metro region.
Darryl Stevens was in his back yard with a contractor when a vagrant and his dog wandered onto the property.
Surveillance footage shows the suspect walking towards Stevens’ home when he suddenly collapses and appears to briefly lose consciousness.
The man then gets up and can be seen carrying a large bladed weapon as he ascends steps to an entrance.
🚨Texas homeowner’s camera records an attempt break-in by a machete wielding maniac.
Because the homeowner was armed, his family wasn’t raped and brutally murdered.
Note: the police will likely never respond in time when a home invasion is underway. Arm up. pic.twitter.com/KqbzX9QrXM
— Dapper Detective (@Dapper_Det) August 24, 2024
“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.
“I start running through the house. I lock every door as fast as possible, run upstairs. Luckily, I had a firearm here, so I grabbed my 9mm, unlocked it, ran down as fast as possible.”
After trying to force entry through a door, the suspect scaled a fence and climbed onto a deck.
Stevens’ says he confronted the suspect with his pistol drawn.
“Told him he’s got to leave or he’s going to lose his life, you know? Luckily, after I did that, he dropped the machete,” he explained.
The suspect walked away from Stevens’ home but was arrested a short time later.
Jerry Escamilla, 43, was charged with criminal trespassing and failure to identify and ordered held on $10,000 bond.
Stevens said he moved his family well outside of Austin for safety, but now they “feel violated.”
“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,” 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.“
InfoWars has been documenting the surge of crime across the United States, including carjackings, ‘street takeovers,’ smash-and-grab loot mobs, home invasions, and physical attacks on innocent victims.
