License to Kill, and Kidnap, and Rape, and Drive Drunk...

An Update on Arrests of Texas Concealed Handgun License Holders

Arrest Incidents of Concealed Handgun License Holders

Kidnapping

Aggravated Kidnapping�Seguin, Texas

• On April 28, 1997 concealed handgun license holder Diane James was arrested by Seguin, Texas police in the aggravated kidnapping of a young woman. According to the San Antonio Express-News, Diane James and her husband David abducted a San Antonio woman in her 30s off the street as she walked home. According to police reports, the woman was assaulted with a stun gun, pulled into the James' van, and then taken to their home, where she was kept naked and in chains. The woman reportedly told police that David James told her she was going to be "trained" as a sex slave. The woman escaped the next morning and ran to a neighbor's home. David James�armed with a Colt AR-15 assault rifle�followed the woman to the neighbor's home. When the police arrived at the scene a shootout ensued in which David James was killed. Diane James was convicted of aggravated kidnapping on November 21, 1997 and was sentenced to 15 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Penitentiary.

Murder�Austin, Texas

• On July 8, 1998 concealed handgun license holder Paul Anders Saustrup allegedly shot and killed Eric Demart Smith after catching Smith breaking into his girlfriend's Chevrolet Suburban. According to the Austin American-Statesman, Saustrup followed Smith on foot for three blocks before shooting him twice in the back. Police found no weapons on Smith's body. According to the Travis County District Clerk's office, Saustrup is in Travis County jail awaiting his jury trial currently set for April 12, 1999.

  
  

• On August 23, 1998 concealed handgun license holder Gene Hanson shot and killed his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, Tim Twain Gooch, and then himself. According to the Houston Chronicle, a neighbor reported that Hanson staked out his ex-girlfriend's home around 11:30 a.m. Another neighbor reported that about five hours later Hanson pulled his car behind his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend as their car pulled into the driveway. Hanson reportedly got out of his car, said a few words, and then opened fire. He did not shoot his ex-girlfriend, but killed Gooch and then himself. Both Gooch and Hanson died in the woman's driveway. According to the Houston Police Department, Hanson had been harassing his girlfriend the month before the shooting.

• On June 5, 1998 concealed handgun license holder Jack Reynolds was charged with murder after he shot and killed his next-door neighbor, Julian Rioz. The Dallas Police reported that Rioz and several other people were at a party at Reynolds' home when a fight broke out over a woman present at the party. Police said Mr. Reynolds retrieved his handgun from his pocket and as Rioz was walking home shot his pistol in the air. Rioz taunted the man and told him if he was going to shoot him he should come closer and do it. Reynolds crossed the yard and at point blank range shot his neighbor once in the chest. According to the Dallas Police Department, Reynolds had spent his pension check on beer and drugs for the party, and was drunk at the time of the shooting. Witnesses related that Reynolds was known for shooting his weapon into the air for no reason. At the time of the trial, Reynolds told the jury that he was too drunk and drugged to remember what happened. Reynolds was convicted of murder in January 1999 and sentenced to 10 years probation.

• On July 9, 1997 the Midlothian Police Department arrested concealed handgun license holder Stephen Ray Harrelson for attempted murder. According to an article in Midlothian Today, Harrelson allegedly entered his estranged wife's home and forced her into a back room. There, he allegedly stuck a pistol to her head. The woman alerted her children in front of the home and they were able to summon the police by calling 911. A struggle broke out and the woman was able to get Harrelson to leave. A police pursuit of Harrelson�who still had his gun�ensued. According to police, when he was located Harrelson threatened to kill himself. He eventually laid down his handgun and surrendered. Harrelson was sentenced to 10 years probation.

• On May 19, 1997 concealed handgun license holder Daniel Meehan of Pinehurst, Texas was arrested for the shooting death of Selma Pieruccini, who had been living with him. According to reports in the Orange Leader, Pieruccini was found dead in her home from a 9mm gunshot wound. According to the Beaumont Enterprise, Meehan originally reported the shooting as a suicide, but autopsy reports showed Pieruccini had been shot in the back from a range of less than two feet. Meehan had reportedly consumed approximately 16 beers the night of the murder. Meehan was convicted of murder in February 1998 and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

• On May 15, 1996 concealed handgun license holder Francisco Santos-Rojo was arrested for attempted capital murder in connection with the robbery-slaying of diamond broker Janos Szuc in Szuc's southwest Houston office on January 24, 1996. Houston police report that Santos-Rojo allegedly paid off a cleaning woman for security access into Szuc's office building and waited outside in a getaway car during the incident. According to the Houston Chronicle, brothers Alberto and Reinaldo Dennes allegedly shot and wounded a security guard in Szuc's building with a 9mm pistol fitted with a silencer, shot and killed Szuc, and then stole $3.6 million in diamonds from Szuc's office safe before driving off with Santos-Rojo. The Dennes brothers were arrested and charged with capital murder in late February 1996, and Santos-Rojo was arrested in May. According to Texas DPS Santos-Rojo was indicted for capital murder, his charge was subsequently reduced, and he was convicted of robbery and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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