Ridglea Hills Neighbors Shocked Over Shooting
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Ridglea Hills is a quiet neighborhood. Bob Bashein is usually out walking around and says he never see's anything suspicious, "You have a lot of older folks like myself who walk a lot and we are fortunate that we have younger families who are moving back with their children."
Neighbors say they always feel safe and that hasn't changed even after what happened early Thursday morning in the 6700 block of Fortune Road.
"It was just an accident," explained Emery Harbuck who lives a few blocks away.
Investigators say a female homeowner was home alone when someone started ringing the doorbell and wouldn't stop. She called her husband who was out of town and he told her to grab their gun.
Moments later, police say James Green, 29, from Fort Worth walked through the back door and into her bedroom. Police say she shot him three times.
Green died later at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth.
"I've heard from sources close to it - neighbor in the area - it's really an unfortunate accident it wasn't an intruder it was a friend of one of the neighbors and he went into the wrong house," says Harbuck.
Police are investigating that as a possibility.
The family was new to the neighborhood and had just moved there. The homeowner wasn't hurt and she wasn't arrested.
"The homeowners always has that right," says CBS 11 Legal expert Jerry Loftin.
Loftin also says that state law known as the "Castle Doctrine," allows homeowners to protect themselves from intruders. "If somebody comes in and tries to enter your house and you are alone you certainly have the right to pull the trigger," explains Loftin.
Some of the neighbors in Ridglea Hills says it's a choice they hope they never have to make.
"I'd done the same thing I'd shot him," says Bashein who is also part of the neighborhood association.
Neighbor Harbuck echoes that, "I can't blame the lady who shot him, because I would probably do the same thing if I felt my life was in danger."
Police say they're still trying to figure out why Green was at the house.
CBS 11 News tried to speak to the female homeowner, but her husband said she was too shaken up to talk about what happened.
