A man in Port Arthur, Texas, shot one of three home invaders holding his family at gunpoint.
Sgt. Shannon Mo of Port Arthur Police Department said officers were called to the family home at 8:31 pm.
When they find one of the robbers dead at the scene.
Detective Mike Hebert said in a press release that after they arrived to investigate the report of a house storming and shooting, officers found Terence Ellis, 27, dead inside the house. The statement also stated that Magistrate Tom Gilliam III ordered an autopsy.
Port Arthur police investigators said three armed men broke into the house and detained the family at gunpoint immediately after a woman who had been living in the house returned home. Sgt. Mo said the gunmen demanded the properties.
Port Arthur Police said the 29-year-old homeowner heard the thieves’ noise from another room and quickly confronted them with a rifle to protect his young children. The men opened fire, and Ellis died in the ensuing shooting.
“The owner of the house fired several shots at the suspect, who was declared dead at the scene,” Mo said. The sergeant indicated that the other suspects fled before the officers arrived at the house. No one was injured during the accident.
The other two attackers remained at large. Descriptions of these suspects have not been released. The accident is still under investigation by Port Arthur’s criminal investigation
Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County in southeast Texas, located about 90 miles east of Houston. Oil refining makes up the bulk of Port Arthur’s economy, and the city is home to the largest oil refinery in the United States, the Motiva Refinery. Port Arthur was also the site of a major oil spill in 2010 after an oil tanker and barge collided, spilling 450,000 gallons of oil into the Sabine / Nyx Waterway along the city. Aside from its involvement in oil, Port Arthur has often made headlines in the past due to its exposure to hurricanes that have hit the city hard in past years.
Crime is significantly high in the region. According to City54.com, the crime rate in Port Arthur is 1.3 times higher than the US average, and higher than 89.3 percent of US cities.
