Resident opens fire on man who fled after attempted vehicle break-in

A North Waco resident who police say confronted a man and a woman who were trying to break into his vehicle, went inside his home to get a weapon and then opened fire on the man as he ran from the scene was jailed Tuesday evening charged with attempted murder.

Courtney Russell, 34, remained in the McLennan County Jail Tuesday evening.

His bond had not been set.

The unnamed 28-year-old victim was shot repeatedly in the legs as he ran, but suffered what Officer Garen Bynum described as non-life threatening injuries.

He was taken to a local hospital.

Information about the severity of his injuries and his condition wasn’t available Tuesday evening.

Officers and paramedics responded at around 10:15 a.m. to the 2500 block of Colonial Avenue to what initially was reported as a disturbance.

Officers were advised while they were en route that shots had been fired.

They determined that the man who was shot and a woman were trying to break into Russell’s vehicle when Russell and another unnamed man confronted and “began to physically assault the two,” Bynum said.

“Russell then returned to his house…retrieved a weapon from inside, and came out to confront the two again,” Bynum said.

Russell was arrested a short time later, Bynum said.

Under state law, deadly force may be used to prevent the “imminent commission” of such crimes as burglary or to prevent a suspect who is fleeing immediately after such crimes from escaping with stolen property if the person using the force “reasonably believes the “property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means.”

But in this instance, the would-be burglars were confronted before they managed to break into the vehicle and the shots were fired as the man, who at that point evidently had taken nothing, was attempting to run away.