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Suspected Vigilante Arrested By Phoenix Police

stevewonderful

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Terrell Andy Moore, 28 faces two counts of aggravated assault and a single count of unlawfully discharging a firearm.

Police say Moore heard his car alarm go off, investigated and saw damage from a break in attempt as the suspect who is now a, “victim”, Jason Rhymes-Taylor, 29, walking away from the home near Union Hills and 31st Drive.

Police said the victim fled to a getaway pickup truck containing two passengers and a vehicle chase began as Moore jumped into his own car. After approximately a one mile chase, Moore allegedly opened fire on Rhymes-Taylor.

Both Moore and Rhymes-Taylor went to their homes. Family members took Rhymes-Taylor to the hospital and a police investigation was undertaken.

Rhymes-Taylor suffered two minor gunshot wounds, was treated and released from the hospital.

Police quickly ruled out self-defense because they are convinced that Rhymes-Taylor was unarmed and merely fleeing from Moore.

I’m waiting to hear the other side of this story since Rhymes-Taylor went home he certainly had time to discard any weapons he may have used or possessed.

Chasing auto thieves is perfectly legal although generally a terrible idea as is shooting car-to-car on city streets.

Arizona has really draconian penalties for these kinds of cases and so far Moore faces more than 30 years in prison.

As for the suspected auto thief, he got a free ride and won’t face any charges.

A jury will decide whether excessive force was used by Moore unless he accepts a plea agreement. Maricopa County prosecutors will never accept any plea deals with less than five years behind bars in such a case.

Even if Moore is later cleared his life will be forever changed.

Read my long time friend Arizona Republic reporter Brent Whiting’s story here.
 

Liko81

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Pointman wrote:
Americans used to hang horse thieves. It's a shame we got away from that.
Yep, and vigilante justice was punishable by death then, too. The Sheriff alone had the power to kill lawfully, and could delegate that right as he saw fit. But if he didn't, it was murder plain and simple.
 

imperialism2024

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Liko81 wrote:
Pointman wrote:
Americans used to hang horse thieves. It's a shame we got away from that.
Yep, and vigilante justice was punishable by death then, too. The Sheriff alone had the power to kill lawfully, and could delegate that right as he saw fit. But if he didn't, it was murder plain and simple.
+1

To avoid going into a long discussion, if bodies of people in the criminal justice system put away and execute innocent people, how can we expect the outcome to be any better when a single person is making the decision?
 

LEO 229

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stevewonderful wrote:
Terrell Andy Moore, 28 faces two counts of aggravated assault and a single count of unlawfully discharging a firearm.

Police say Moore heard his car alarm go off, investigated and saw damage from a break in attempt as the suspect who is now a, “victim”, Jason Rhymes-Taylor, 29, walking away from the home near Union Hills and 31st Drive.

Police said the victim fled to a getaway pickup truck containing two passengers and a vehicle chase began as Moore jumped into his own car. After approximately a one mile chase, Moore allegedly opened fire on Rhymes-Taylor.

Both Moore and Rhymes-Taylor went to their homes. Family members took Rhymes-Taylor to the hospital and a police investigation was undertaken.

Rhymes-Taylor suffered two minor gunshot wounds, was treated and released from the hospital.

Police quickly ruled out self-defense because they are convinced that Rhymes-Taylor was unarmed and merely fleeing from Moore.

I’m waiting to hear the other side of this story since Rhymes-Taylor went home he certainly had time to discard any weapons he may have used or possessed.

Chasing auto thieves is perfectly legal although generally a terrible idea as is shooting car-to-car on city streets.

Arizona has really draconian penalties for these kinds of cases and so far Moore faces more than 30 years in prison.

As for the suspected auto thief, he got a free ride and won’t face any charges.

A jury will decide whether excessive force was used by Moore unless he accepts a plea agreement. Maricopa County prosecutors will never accept any plea deals with less than five years behind bars in such a case.

Even if Moore is later cleared his life will be forever changed.

Read my long time friend Arizona Republic reporter Brent Whiting’s story here.
I recall a thread on this board where the member said he would shoot someone breaking into his car.
 

Pointman

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I've asked many officers why they don't take prints when a vehicle is broken into, then later when they find the person for committing some other crime, charge them with every crimethey've committed, and put them away for 20 years. They don't want to do the work requiredto getevery case tried--they don't have time for it. So bad kids grow up to be bad people committing more crimes along the way, and citizens pay the price. It's no wonder society is the way it is.

You can't count on "the system" to get things done, yet the police will tell you not to get involved and call 9-1-1. Great. Just hope the operator isn't sleeping on the job.
 

.40 Cal

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I may get flamed for this, but...

I could never justify someone chasing down a "failed" auto thief, then shooting him after the fact. I am a (relatively) young guy, so I still have the piss and vinegar of a 20 something year old and think that if someone messes with my property he's "going down". But I am also a father and husband, so my thirty y/o side kicks in and says: Assess the situation, file a police report, pray he doesn't come to your front door in search of flying objects (around my house they seem to contain a high amount of lead). Getting in the car is foolish, and irresponsible. Armed response is exactly that, response. At the moment you begin the chase, you become the aggressor. This individual used emotion over logic, to which I can relate but not endorse. People like this feed the anti self defense crowd, as this was in no wayself defense. I hope he does little if any time, but I also hope the court bestows the appropriate punishment. What's the old saying? Something about two wrongs...?

Just my .40
 

Sa45auto

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.40 Cal wrote:
I may get flamed for this, but...

I could never justify someone chasing down a "failed" auto thief, then shooting him after the fact.  I am a (relatively) young guy, so I still have the piss and vinegar of a 20 something year old and think that if someone messes with my property he's "going down".  But I am also a father and husband, so my thirty y/o side kicks in and says:  Assess the situation, file a police report, pray he doesn't come to your front door in search of flying objects (around my house they seem to contain a high amount of lead).  Getting in the car is foolish, and irresponsible.  Armed response is exactly that, response.  At the moment you begin the chase, you become the aggressor.  This individual used emotion over logic, to which I can relate but not endorse.  People like this feed the anti self defense crowd, as this was in no way self defense.  I hope he does little if any time, but I also hope the court bestows the appropriate punishment.  What's the old saying?  Something about two wrongs...?

Just my .40

Sage Words
 

Doug Huffman

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Brent Whiting
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 26, 2008 12:00 AM
A northwest Phoenix homeowner was arrested Friday and accused of shooting an auto-burglary suspect during a car chase.

Investigators concluded that the force used by Terrell Andy Moore, 28, was not reasonable under the circumstances of the case to justify a claim of self-defense, police said.

Further, he fired multiple rounds in an area containing businesses and apartments and it was fortunate that nobody else was struck, said Detective Stacie Derge, a Phoenix police spokeswoman. advertisement
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Moore was booked into a Maricopa County jail on two counts of aggravated assault and one count of unlawfully discharging a firearm.

The shooting victim, Jason Rhymes-Taylor, 29, was released from a hospital after being treated for gunshot wounds but was not taken into custody.

Investigators did not find sufficient evidence to charge him with a crime, Derge said. In addition, there was no evidence that he had been armed during the confrontation with Moore, she said.

Police said Rhymes-Taylor was shot and wounded on 43rd Avenue just south of Bell Road. A portion of 43rd was closed during the morning rush hour as police gathered evidence.

Two burglary suspects recently have been shot by homeowners, one of them fatally, during unrelated break-ins in Peoria and Mesa.

On March 20, Jason Jesus Rodriguez, 18, of Glendale was wounded during a confrontation with a homeowner inside a Peoria residence. Rodriguez was booked into a Maricopa County jail on charges of burglary and aggravated assault, investigators said.

On April 16, Eric Jameson, 38, was fatally shot by a central Mesa homeowner during a break-in.

The male homeowner confronted Jameson, and they struggled. During the fight, the homeowner got his hands on Jameson's handgun and shot him, investigators said.

Throughout Friday, police kept watch on the homes of Moore and Rhymes-Taylor as the investigation unfolded.

At the house of the wounded man, southwest of Loop 101 and 51st Avenue, a gold Toyota Tacoma truck could be seen in the driveway with bullet holes and shattered windows.

According to Derge, the incident began shortly before 5 a.m. outside Moore's home in the 18600 block of North 31st Drive, northwest of Union Hills Drive and Interstate 17.

Moore told police his car alarm sounded and he stepped outside to see what was happening. He said somebody had tried to break into his car, a silver Pontiac Grand Am, and he spotted a man walking away from the vehicle.

The man stepped into a pickup truck and drove away, while Moore got into his Pontiac and gave chase.

Eventually, they ended up on 43rd Avenue south of Bell. Moore fired several rounds into the pickup, police said, wounding the pickup driver at least twice.

Both Rhymes-Taylor and Moore drove home.

Two passengers, a 21-year-old woman in the pickup and a 23-year-old man in the Pontiac, escaped unharmed.

When Rhymes-Taylor arrived home, family members drove him to a hospital. Moore was contacted by police at his residence.
 

deepdiver

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Having had my car broken into previously, and having had the police not give a crap even though there was a perfect hand print on the side window and a perfect palm print on the inside of the windshield of my otherwise immaculately clean car, and even though non-firearm weapons were stolen from the vehicle, they tried to talk me out of even making a police report. They certainly were not going to use any police resources to lift the 2 near perfect obvious prints. As they left, one said, "We'll call you if something turns up." and the other one started cackling like he had heard the best joke of the week.

Saw similar treatment when my ex-fiancee's car was broken into in a different city. In her case over $1000 worth of items were stolen. Certainly a felony. Certainly the police did not care in the least.

Anyway, yes, I think that it should be legal to use lethal force to stop someone from breaking into your vehicle. Yes, I think it shoudl be legal to use lethal force to stop someone from leaving with your vehicle. No it is not legal in most places. In the few places it is legal, no I would not use lethal force in such a situation because the hassle of shooting someone is greater than the hassle of calling the insurance company. However, I do not fault someone for shooting a car thief dead in their tracks if it is within the law where they live. Morally I do not fault them even if it is against the law where they live.

In this case, according to the update, Moore didn't see him breaking in. He just suspected he did. Big difference from catching someone red handed. Then a car chase while firing a weapon through a city is stupid, irresponsible and rightly criminal. If Moore had seen him breaking in to his car and then shot him dead on the spot I would have no problem with it and a lot of sympathy for Moore. Chasing down a break-in suspect through the streets, endangering innocent bystanders, Moore deserves his punishment. No sympathy from me.

Regardless, calling 911 to report the break-in is about as useful as calling roto-rooter to mow my grass.
 
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