Texas
VIDEO: Texas machete-wielding man's intrusion into home thwarted by gun owner
A concerned homeowner in Texas took up arms and fended off a machete-wielding man who attempted to enter his home.
Darryl Stevens’ home surveillance camera captured the moment a machete-wielding intruder approached the family’s Liberty Hill home just north of Austin.
“At that moment, I obviously freaked out. I have two young children here in the house and just went into complete fight or flight mode,” Stevens told FOX 7.
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Darryl Stevens defended his family when a man with a machete attempted to enter his home. (FOX 7)
Stevens’ gut reaction was to lock up his home and grab his 9mm handgun.
“I started running through the house. I locked every door as fast as possible, ran upstairs. Luckily, I had a firearm here, so I grabbed my 9mm, unlocked it, ran down as fast as possible,” Stevens said.
The suspect, later identified as 43-year-old Jerry Escamilla, managed to climb a fence and get to the upper deck of the family’s home.
He was greeted by Stevens’ handgun when he arrived.
“Told him he’s got to leave, or he’s going to lose his life, you know?” he said. “Luckily, after I did that, he dropped the machete.”
A Liberty Hill, Texas, homeowner captured on video a man’s attempt to break into his home with a machete. (FOX 7 via Darryl Stevens)
The video showed Escamilla retracing his steps and climbing back down as a gun is seen pointing at the intruder.
Stevens’ wife called 911 and local police arrested Escamilla. The 43-year-old was charged with criminal trespassing and failure to identify and is being held on a $10,000 bond.
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Stevens explained to the local outlet that they had recently moved farther away from Austin to “feel safe.”
“I just had to protect my family, and that’s what I did. Luckily, I didn’t have to discharge my firearm,” Stevens said. “It’s just not something you expect to happen in Liberty Hill in the country or way out in the country in the very back of this new, nice neighborhood… we moved out here, we moved further out of the city to feel safe.”
Jerry Escamilla was charged with criminal trespassing and failure to identify and is being held on a $10,000 bond. (FOX 7)
Stevens said that he plans on upping the security at their home, saying that they will turn their home into “Fort Knox.”
“We feel violated, as a family, we feel like our sense of safety in our safe place, which is our house, has been taken from us. I almost get a little emotional even saying that. It’s not fair,” he said. “We’re definitely upping security. We’re getting a few more firearms to have one upstairs, one downstairs. We are going to be installing more fences and more security features. Floodlights. I’m going to turn this place into Fort Knox at this point in time.“
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Texas’s Stand Your Ground law established the right for gun owners to apply lethal force to defend themselves against threats, regardless of whether it was possible to retreat first. The law notes that the shooter cannot instigate the altercation.
Texas
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Texas
Opal Lee’s granddaughter advocates for “Grandmother of Juneteenth” to be included in Texas curriculum
The granddaughter of Dr. Opal Lee, famously known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” was in Austin Tuesday to advocate for the inclusion her grandmother in Texas’ Juneteenth curriculum.
Dr. Lee is nearly 100 years old and lives in Fort Worth. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024 and was by President Biden’s side when he made Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021.
“I want to petition for her to be a required person to study Juneteenth,” said granddaughter Dione Sims. “People that have to do with freedom, liberty, and unity; she’s the embodiment of that. Helping to get Juneteenth as a national holiday, I think deserves to be mentioned.”
Sims testified in front of the State Board of Education Tuesday night. A final decision is expected in June.
Lee, born in 1926, played a crucial role in making Juneteenth a federal holiday. The North Texas icon walked two and a half miles every Juneteenth to symbolize the two and a half years it took for enslaved people in Texas to learn they were free, after the Emancipation Proclamation. In 2016, she walked from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness.
She didn’t participate in the 2025 walk after being hospitalized.
Lee has also been honored with a Barbie doll that celebrates her advocacy as part of its Inspiring Women collection.
Sims previously discussed expanding Lee’s walk across all 50 states, preserving her grandmother’s legacy with a walk in one city in each state.
Texas
North Texas Iranian Americans fear for families amid Trump’s threats against Iran
Tensions are rising between the United States and Iran, as a deadline from President Donald Trump fuels concerns about potential military action.
Just hours before President Trump’s deadline for Iran to accept a deal or face military consequences, Iranian Americans in North Texas feared for their relatives on the ground, saying the focus should stay on the people of Iran.
“We’re in a wartime, so everyone’s worried and following the news,” said Homeira Hesami, the chairwoman for the Iranian American Community of North Texas. “The internet’s still being down, you know, we don’t have a very secure way to communicate with our family and friends back home, so sometimes, you know, they may be able to call out, but it’s very patchy.”
Tuesday, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz, following similar threats he made on Easter Sunday. TCU Political Science Professor Ralph Carter offered this perspective on the potential loss of life.
“In the worst-case scenario, President Trump carries out massive attacks against civilian targets, killing thousands or even millions of people, then I think Congress has to act,” said Carter.
Carter added that targeting an entire civilization could amount to a war crime and raises serious questions about Mr. Trump’s legal authority. He said this also shakes up the U.S.’s relationships with its allies.
“I do think that Iran will survive, whatever happens,” Carter said. “I think the Iranian people will be united in a rally around the flag phenomenon to defend their homeland against an aggressor, and I think, again, this is one of those things where a weaker power outlasts a stronger power, because the stronger power gets tired of the price they have to pay to try to get a victory.”
Hesami believes change in Iran must come from the Iranian people, not through foreign intervention.
“War has proven that sometimes it is not the solution, and the solution is relying on the Iranian people and their organized resistance,” she said.
Less than two hours before his deadline for Iran to either cut a deal with the U.S. or face massive strikes on its power plants, Mr. Trump said he agreed to a “double sided CEASEFIRE” with Iran.
“I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
He said the ceasefire, which he agreed to at Pakistan’s request, was “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.”
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