Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Three bounty hunters in the Lone Star State are now facing charges of burglary and felony after entry for their botched attempt to take a wanted man into custody, and frankly, they’re lucky that they’re alive to stand trial.
It was last Saturday morning about 8 a.m. when Ricky Brannon pulled into the driveway of the home that he rents in Cypress, Texas. As he got out of his car, Brannon was confronted by three men with their guns drawn.
“I thought we was getting robbed,” said Brannon.
Brannon rushed inside of the home and attempted to close the front door, but the men still managed to rush inside.
He said he grabbed his gun from his closet, and that’s when the gun battle started. He said at one point, all three were shooting at him.
“I thought they was gonna kill me,” he said.
Brannon’s wife, Tekia Thompson, and several of their young grandchildren were upstairs when the shootout began, and tried to make their way out of the home. Thompson says as she made her way downstairs, she was confronted by one of the bounty hunters.
“He told us to get on the floor or he was gonna shoot us,” she said. “I was trying to tell him, ‘What’s going on? Who are you? I have kids in the house. I have babies in here.’”
They eventually made it out of the home, but inside, the gun battle continued between Brannon and the men.
Brannon said the gunfire only stopped because one of the bounty hunters claimed to be a law enforcement officer.
“So I put my gun down. I said, ‘Look, I’m coming out,’ and I came out. They threw the cuffs on me, and they started whaling on me,” he said.
Brannon said he was hit in the back of the head with a gun and beaten before being dragged outside to where sheriff’s deputies were.
I’m shocked that the only charges these three bounty hunters are facing at the moment are burglary and “felony after entry.” It would seem to me that attempted kidnapping, home invasion, reckless endangerment, and a host of other crimes would apply after the trio targeted the wrong man, invaded his home, shot at him, and hit him over the head with a gun while detaining him.
While the three men are facing at least a few criminal charges, I’m guessing that Ricky Brannon might also be weighing a civil suit against the men and the bail bonds company that hired them. According to police, the guy that the bounty hunters were looking for was no longer a resident of the home, but even if he had been a resident, Texas law forbids bounty hunters from entering a residence without the consent of the owner.
I’m glad this story ended without any injury or loss of life, and I truly hope that prosecutors don’t cut a sweetheart deal with these guys. They could easily have killed innocent people because of their rash decisions, and they don’t need to be anywhere near the bail bonds industry going forward. As for Ricky Brannon, I’m glad that he was able to protect himself and his family from the strangers that invaded his home, and I wish him all the best in his upcoming legal efforts to sue the pants off of everyone involved in the decision to try to take him into custody based on a mistaken identity.
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Cam Edwards has covered the 2nd Amendment for more than 15 years as a broadcast and online journalist, as well as the co-author of "Heavy Lifting: Grow Up, Get a Job, Start a Family, and Other Manly Advice" with Jim Geraghty. He lives outside of Farmville, Virginia with his family.
https://bearingarms.com/cam-e/2021/01/19/armed-citizen-bounty-hunters/