Home surveillance video captured a terrifying scene that neighbors in northwest Fort Worth say ended because one man stepped in to save a woman’s life.
The video shows a man armed with a machete forcing a woman from the back of an abandoned home across the street from where Angel Ortiz lives. WFAA blurred the woman’s face to protect her identity.
“He had the machete on the lady’s neck, and, you know, coming down in this corner, you could kind of see on the camera where he was pulling her and dragging her,” Angel Ortiz said, “It was just crazy just to see a lady in danger like that.”
The confrontation happened Sunday night on Ross Avenue near Northwest 29th Street. Another neighbor’s security camera captured the large police response that followed. When officers arrived, they found the man with the machete had been shot. Police said a 30-year-old husband and father admitted firing the gun.
According to police, witness statements indicate the man first rescued the woman from the suspect. Investigators said the suspect then threatened the armed neighbor, who police say used his handgun in self-defense.
The shooting comes after neighbors say for months now, they have seen the same man and other people they suspect are homeless use the house for a hangout spot. Nicole Flores told WFAA she has made several calls to Fort Worth police about people at the vacant home on their street.
“They don’t even go inside. They’re just on the porch,” Nicole Flores said.
Flores and other neighbors said the man with the machete had been living on the back porch area of the abandoned home and was well known in the neighborhood. Some of the neighbors have gone as far as giving him food and money, with the hopes that he would eventually leave the neighborhood, according to Flores. When she and her children arrived home Sunday evening, police had the intersection blocked off.
“We knew it had something to do with him, because they told us that someone had a machete, and we have always seen them with a machete; he is a squatter there,” Flores said.
“It’s abandoned, and then they just started living there ever since,” Ortiz said.
After their preliminary investigation Sunday night, Fort Worth police did not make an arrest in the case.
WFAA asked law enforcement expert Dr. Alex Del Carmen to review the circumstances described by police.
“Is it reasonable to believe that the suspect is going to attack and kill this woman. The answer to that was obviously yes. So, this person was justified under the color of law to do what he did,” Del Carmen said.
Dr. Alex Del Carmen is a former police officer and nationally recognized criminologist who has served as an associate dean and professor of criminology at Tarleton State University. He provides expert analysis on policing, criminal justice, use of force, and public safety issues across the nation.https://www.delcarmenconsulting.com/
While neighbors on Ross Avenue said they are saddened that the encounter ended in a deadly shooting, many believe the outcome could have been far worse if the armed neighbor had not intervened.
“All I can say is he’s a hero for that,” Ortiz said.