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Summer is coming back!
A Texas grand jury decided not to recommend charges against a man who shot and killed his girlfriend’s ex-husband in a viral incident caught on video in November.
After three days of deliberation, the Lubbock special grand jury voted not to indict Kyle Carruth, the man who shot and killed Chad Read during a dispute about the whereabouts of Read’s children.
Shortly after the incident, Lubbock Police Department transferred the case to the Texas Attorney General for its review. Lawyers for the AG’s office presented the case to the grand jury.
Following the ruling, the law firm representing Read’s widow vowed to pursue their client’s claims in civil court.
”The criminal justice utterly failed Jennifer Read, the widow of Chad Read,” they said. “Chad Read was involved in a heated discussion with his ex-wife concerning custody of his son. The video shows that Kyle Carruth injected himself into that discussion. We believe there was no legitimate reason for Kyle Carruth to bring a deadly weapon to an argument that he wasn’t even a part of. Chad Read died unarmed, shot, and killed while simply trying to determine the whereabouts of his son.”
Carruth’s lawyer also responded to the ruling.
“We are appreciative of the wise decision of this extremely hard-working, independent, Grand Jury,” David Guinn said. “Rarely does a Grand Jury work for three days on one case alone. Those Lubbock citizens must have learned everything imaginable about every aspect of the case and the people involved.”
As GunsAmerica reported at the time, the incident sparked a furious debate about the proper use of deadly force.
Video from the incident from multiple angles shows Carruth telling Read to “get off of my property,” and then go inside. Read says he is at the house to pick up his son, and Carruth returns moments later with what looks like a pistol-caliber carbine.
“Leave!” Carruth orders Read. “Right now, motherf-ker.”
“Do it,” Read replies, continuing to walk toward Carruth. “You’ll better f-king use it motherf-ker, because Godd-nit, I’ll take it from you and f-king [unintelligible],” Read continues, screaming directly into Carruth’s face and leaning into his body.
Carruth shoots into the porch at Read’s feet, but the larger man does not back down. Read swings Carruth out into the yard, and when Carruth regains his footing, he shoots Read twice.
Read falls to the ground while Carruth stands next to him on the porch. “I told all of y’all to leave,” Carruth says. “None of y’all should be here. I asked you to leave. I did everything. I did not want to do any of this.”
Read died later that day.
Carruth is the former husband of Anne-Marie Carruth, a Texas district court judge.
Carruth’s lawyers argued that the homicide was justified under Texas’ “castle doctrine” while attorneys for Read’s wife argued that Carruth failed to de-escalate the situation and used a gun even though no physical threat to life or property existed, according to KCBD.
No criminal charges or arrests have been made in this case.
A real hard ass, who seen and done a lot of very hard things. I think that this is 1941 and the liberation of Ethiopia from the Italians. But I could be wrong! Grumpy
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) caved to pressure from the anti-gun group Everytown for Gun Safety this week when it revoked the federal firearms license of a gun maker in Nevada.
Everytown joined forces with Kansas City officials in filing a lawsuit against the ATF last year. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim the federal agency had improperly issued a federal firearm license to JA Industries, which the plaintiffs claim was knowingly selling firearms to gun runners.
In response to the lawsuit, the ATF announced this week that they had issued JA Industries a notice of revocation of its firearms license. The agency did not take this action in response to a court order — they did so “voluntarily,” according to their letter. Everytown claims this is a “first-of-its-kind victory for gun safety.”
“We can only hope this decision marks the beginning of a new era at ATF, one that is consistent with President Biden’s commitment to holding rogue and reckless members of the gun industry accountable for breaking the law and putting lives in danger,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “After decades of serving as the gun industry’s lapdog, it’s time for ATF to do its job and be the American people’s watchdog.”
As GunsAmerica reported last year, Everytown claimed JA Industries and its owner, Paul Jimenez, had been selling firearms to illegal gun dealers in Kansas City. But according to an affidavit written by an ATF agent, it’s unclear how much Jimenez and his employees know about that illegal activity.
The Kansas City gun runner who purchased firearms, James Samuels, usually ordered the firearms from Jimenez and had them sent to a local FFL. At one point, however, Samuels had 11 firearms shipped directly to his house. When Jimenez Arms employees contacted Samuels and asked him about straw purchasing, he claimed that his FFL had moved and assured them that he made buyers pass a background check before purchasing.
In its list of “allegations” against Jimenez, Everytown accuses the gun maker of selling cheap guns “that are particularly attractive to traffickers.”
They also claim that Jimenez was cited in 2012 and 2017 for “serious recordkeeping violations,” but the ATF decided to hold a warning conference in lieu of revocation. If those violations were so “serious,” it’s unclear why the ATF didn’t revoke Jimenez’s license.
Of course, whether Jimenez deserved to have his license revoked is beside the point. Now, Everytown knows to go after gun dealers and manufacturers by suing the ATF, and Biden’s ATF will respond according to their wishes.
JA Industries was an easy target, given its connection to a convicted gun runner. But you can be sure that we’ll see more of these lawsuits while an anti-gun president runs the Department of Justice.