Aleah Wallace, Fort Worth, Texas mom defends shooting dead 14 year old boy trying to break-in home on account of her four daughters and ongoing break in attempts. Now faces a grand jury who will decide whether she now faces any charges.
Will she be indicted? A Fort Worth, Texas woman has defended shooting dead a 14 year old boy who she said left her no choice ‘but to respond’ after the teen attempting to break into the residence she shares with their four daughters.
Aleah Wallace saw Devin Baker attempting to open her eight-year-old girl’s bedroom window on December 14 and fatally shot him.
‘I’m devastated that he was 14. I hate that. I literally do. And I’m so sorry. But at that point, I had to think about my babies,’ Wallace told Fox 4.
Just trying to protect her daughters? Or punish perpetrators for ongoing break ins?
A Grand Jury is to now decide whether the mom will face any charges. To date police have not charged her with any crime.
Wallace said she got the gun to protect her family after suffering multiple break-ins which began just a few weeks ago.
‘I was cleaning my living room sweeping my floor, and I heard my window start going back up,’ the mother said.
‘So I went, and I stood in the hallway. And I could see him standing at the window, lifting it up. I just shot.’
Baker died at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds. The teen was found with no weapon on him.
Added Wallace: ‘It’s bothering me that he was a kid.’
When is lethal force allowed to be used in Texas?
Wallace says she wants people to understand that she was ‘just protecting her family.’
‘I have four daughters. It’s just me and my four daughters that stay there. I just was protecting my daughters,’ the mom said.
‘I didn’t know he was 14 when he was on the other side of that window. All I knew was that somebody could come in and hurt me or my kids. That’s it.’
Wallace said this was one of two attempted break-ins that night and it happened shortly after police left her duplex after responding to her first 911 call.
‘I called them at 1.22 am. She talked for like 20 minutes. They did a report, took pictures of everything and then they left,’ Wallace said.
She claimed there had been four attempted burglaries before that day and they all happened when no one was home.
Under Texas law, there are instances when nonlethal force may be used in defense of oneself, another, or property. There are narrower instances when a person may use deadly force to defend themselves, another, or even property.
Texas Penal Code Section 9.41 explains that a person is allowed to use force, but not deadly force, to terminate a mere trespass or interference with property.
The incident has now led to Wallace’s landlord now evicting her on account of her being in possession of a gun.
‘The apartments called and told me that I was not supposed to have a gun at all, even though I kept calling them and telling them somebody was breaking in,’ she said.
‘They told me I could not have a gun, and I have 30 days to vacate. I feel like I’m back at square one. I was there for six years, and now I don’t know what to do.’
Wallace lives in subsidized housing and there does not seem to be any law which prohibits residents from owning a gun.
She is worried that the eviction will prevent her from finding other housing for her and her daughters.
Family members of Baker revealed that he was an eighth-grade student at Rosemont Middle School.
He lived with his family on the same apartment complex as Wallace.
