A Texas homeowner successfully defended his family and home after a machete-wielding intruder attempted to break in.
The incident took place in Liberty Hill, a community just north of Austin, where Darryl Stevens’ quick thinking and preparedness prevented a potentially deadly encounter.
The confrontation was captured on Stevens’ home surveillance camera, showing the moment the intruder, later identified as 43-year-old Jerry Escamilla, approached the residence armed with a machete. Stevens, who was inside the home with his two young children, reacted immediately.
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“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.
Stevens’ first move was to secure his home. He quickly locked all the doors before retrieving his 9mm handgun. “I started running through the house. I locked every door as fast as possible, ran upstairs. Luckily, I had a firearm here, so I grabbed my 9mm, unlocked it, ran down as fast as possible,” Stevens explained.
Despite Stevens’ efforts to secure the home, Escamilla managed to climb a fence and reach the upper deck of the house.
However, upon arriving at the deck, Escamilla was met with Stevens’ firearm. Stevens warned the intruder that he needed to leave or face the consequences.
“Told him he’s got to leave, or he’s going to lose his life, you know?” Stevens recalled. Fortunately, the warning was enough to de-escalate the situation.
Escamilla dropped the machete and began to retreat, as shown in the surveillance footage, where he is seen climbing back down with a gun pointed at him.
Stevens’ wife immediately called 911, and local police soon arrived at the scene.
Escamilla was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing and failure to identify. He is currently being held on a $10,000 bond.
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The incident has left the Stevens family shaken. They had recently moved further away from Austin to escape the city’s increasing crime and find a sense of security in a more rural setting.
“I just had to protect my family, and that’s what I did. Luckily, I didn’t have to discharge my firearm,” Stevens said. “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.”
In the aftermath of the intrusion, Stevens expressed the emotional toll the event has taken on his family. “We feel violated, as a family, we feel like our sense of safety in our safe place, which is our house, has been taken from us. I almost get a little emotional even saying that. It’s not fair,” he shared.
In response to the incident, Stevens plans to increase security measures at his home. “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,” he said.
Texas law, specifically the Stand Your Ground law, supports Stevens’ actions.
The law allows gun owners to use lethal force to defend themselves against threats, without the requirement to retreat first, as long as they did not initiate the confrontation.
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