http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20090901/NEWS08/909010313Campbell Family Holds Suspect At Gunpoint With His Pants Around AnklesBy KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
Two alleged burglars took off when they heard gunfire Monday, leaving behind a third man -- a suspect who was held at gunpoint with his pants around his ankles by brothers and relatives of Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell.
"This is the fourth or fifth time this house has been burglarized and I'm getting tired of this," Willie Campbell said standing in the yard of his daughter's residence on County Road 496. "If I would have gotten here a few minutes earlier, I would have dropped him and he would have a bad leg like I have."
Campbell said he was on his way to town when his brother Ronnie Campbell called him saying there had been a burglary.
"I turned around and came right back. When I got here, they had him down on the ground waiting for the deputies," he said.
Ronnie Campbell said he and his nephew Dwight Evans were sitting on the porch of his mother's home on Ann Campbell Road when they noticed a strange vehicle in the driveway of his brother's home.
"My nephew said, 'I think they just walked out with a TV,'" he said.
Ronnie Campbell said he grabbed a rifle and fired one shot down the road at the suspects, and a white SUV-type vehicle tore from the driveway. The one suspect who was caught dropped to the ground and stayed there until Ronnie Campbell and Evans arrived on the scene with guns.
"I told him not to move because I wasn't playing," Ronnie Campbell said.
Evans told Smith County sheriff's deputies he ran and got a handgun and helped his uncle hold the man.
"We made him drop his pants around his ankles so he couldn't run off," he said.
Deputies arriving on the scene quickly secured the suspect and placed him into a patrol car and then checked the home to make sure no one was still inside.
They found that the suspects had kicked in the front door and taken several items including a large flat-screen television.
The suspect who was captured was identified as 19-year-old Javier Huerta Jr., who already was wanted on a burglary of a habitation warrant.
Deputies said burglars have hit the northern end of Smith County hard recently, with suspects kicking in doors and grabbing items.
Willie Campbell shook his head when his daughter arrived at the home and learned items were missing for the fourth time in the past several years.
"You know, I've worked hard, and I go to church and try to be a good person, but then you have someone just break in and take what you have worked hard for. I guarantee you that if I would have gotten here just a few minutes earlier I would have shot all of them," he said.
Willie Campbell reiterated he did not want to kill the burglars, just wound them.
"I would have definitely put some lead in them and gave them something to think about," he said.
Deputies are continuing to investigate and are trying to identify the other suspects in the burglary.
R.W. Strickland, a Smith County deputy, takes Jaiver Huerta, Jr. into custody after he burglarized a home Monday August 31, 2009 in Tyler, TX. Neighbors of the victim witnessed the crime and held Huerta, Jr. at gunpoint until authorities arrived.
(Staff Photo By Mark Roberts)
