Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
A routine Sunday turned into chaos in Garland, Texas and it ended with a father defending his entire family in a split-second decision.
According to reporting from Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, a suspect went on a violent spree near Highway 66 and Dairy Road, crashing into multiple vehicles before attempting to carjack a family of eight.
That’s when everything escalated.
Witnesses say the man was acting erratically, trying to force his way into several vehicles in a nearby parking lot. Surveillance video shows him moving with intent, targeting cars one after another.
Then he picked the wrong one. Inside the vehicle was a family, including multiple children and even a baby.
Video shows the suspect climbing into the driver’s seat and attempting to take off with the family still inside. The father, outside the vehicle at that point, fought back: physically struggling with the suspect for nearly a minute.
That’s when he made the call. The father drew his firearm and shot the suspect, stopping the attempted carjacking cold.
Police say the suspect was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. No one in the family was injured.
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Let that sink in.
Eight people in that vehicle… and they all walked away. Investigators say the suspect had already crashed into multiple cars and was aggressively trying to take vehicles by force before targeting the family.
Despite the suspect not being armed (at least based on what police recovered) the situation was clearly violent and escalating fast. Authorities say it appears to be self-defense, and at this point, no charges are expected against the father.
A Texas father shoots and kills a carjacker attempting to steal vehicle with family inside
— LASHY BILLS (@LASHYBILLS) May 5, 2026
Police say the man tried to steal several vehicles by force yesterday afternoon, before trying this one near Highway 66 and Dairy Road
A majority of the family members were inside the car… pic.twitter.com/J6At0sRFYj
Witnesses described the scene as unfolding in seconds.
“It all really happened really fast,” one said.
That’s usually how these go. There’s no warning. No reset button. No time to think through ten different options.
Just action or consequences. And in this case, the outcome could’ve been very different. A man trying to take control of a vehicle (with a full family inside) is about as bad as it gets.
Instead, the father was ready. And because of that, his family is still here.
Stopping the threat is step one. Surviving the courtroom is step two. The USCCA prepares you for both. Click here to protect yourself.
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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I’m pretty sure you’re not going to find any identification on him unless you check south of the border.
But I do love a story with a happy ending!
Preventing a literal kidnapping! Good dad!
How much is the City of Garland going to award the father for ridding the city of a menace, saving them a) court time, b) police overhead, c) food and medical care for the perp while in prison, and d) any associated costs of repeat offense while he is out on bail before trial? Seems like $100K – plus ammunition cost – is about the right reward for his service to the community.
They all pile in the only car they have. Better than a bus. It’s always the usual suspects. Glad he got smoked.
I don’t mean to be a armchair quarterback, but let this be a guide on how NOT to handle a situation like this. That father is EXTREMELY lucky that ‘demoncrat’ didn’t take his gun from him and use it on him, and his family, given he was struggling with him in arms contact. If you draw your weapon out of concealment, use it, immediately, don’t threaten the assailant with it. That’s a good way to have it taken from you and used against you. Nice job with the mag dump!
One less illegal alien to burden society. GO BRANDON! 🫡
He may not have been able to shoot immediately because some of his family was still in the car.
My thought. Know your target and what’s beyond.
If you watch the video you’ll see he immediately drew down on the POS as soon as he got within arms length, then jumped in his car. He hesitated and tried to pull him out of the car, all the while trying to hold the POS at gun point.
That could have cost him his life, or life of the his family. Obviously his CCW held 10 rounds, and those 10 rounds could have ended up in him or his family. Luckily he successfully mag dumped him.
I know I’m just armchair quarterbacking, but he should have planted one to the back of his head in that instance. It would have instantly neutralized the threat. But the end result was the same. Bad guy took a dirt-nap.
Hi, Larry. No offense intended, but I have to call BS. As a former officer, with thousands of hours of training, I have some understanding of the physiological aspects of deadly force encounters. During such encounters, nearly all of your physical actions are not being processed by your “higher” brain, but rather by rote, muscle memory acquired through repetitive training. When the stakes are that high, and your family’s life is on the line, you can’t mentally process “I should shoot this guy in the back of the head”. That’s why officers (and proficient citizens) train to shoot center-mass. Yes… we also trained to “double-tap, one to the chest, and one in the head” at the 7 yard line, but your average CCW individual has nowhere near the amount of training that a seasoned officer has.
Also, there’s nothing wrong with covering an individual with your weapon while giving verbal commands. Where you and I agree, is that the father should not have tried to physically engage with the suspect, once he had drawn his weapon. You’re correct that he could easily have lost his weapon, and an untold tragedy ensue.
I respect your opinion Frank, but the police are NOT necessarily the end-all when it comes to firearm tactical training. Just because you’re cop, or former cop, does not make you an authoritarian on encounters like this, but of course it give LE the advantage. And I’m not a cop, I don’t have the authority to give verbal commands. With all the police involved shooting videos I’ve watched on YT, 99.9% of the time the perp doesn’t listen anyway. Usually out of their heads on drugs, or just out of their heads. Besides, even if you spent 50 years of your life as a gun enthusiast and shootist, including hundreds of hours shooting tactical matches, it’s still a perishable skill – I know.
You’ll never know I’m carrying until, heaven forbid, I have to draw my weapon, and I’m NOT going to struggle with you with one hand and ATTEMPT to keep it pointed at you with the other. Or rebate the situation and negotiate with you over not harboring ill will towards me, all the while attempting to hold you at gun point. I can’t move like I once did 50 years ago. But my trigger finger still works just fine, and I still work on maintaining that muscle memory, like any responsible CCW gun owner should. The day I can no longer practice is the day I put the gun back in the safe – or sell it.
If you watch that video carefully you can clearly see that father had the tactical advantage, briefly, especially when the POS jumped into the car and the father was hovering over the top trying to drag him out. And it also “appears” that father had to rack his slide before engaging the perp. Another bad move. Maybe that’s the reason he didn’t cap him right away. I don’t carry my Glock with an empty chamber. What’s the point, it already has 3 safeties?
If you’re not confident enough to carry your CCW in full readiness, don’t carry it. But there again, since he obviously had a semiauto – what with that 10rd mag dump – if it had been a contact shot the gun may have misfired anyway. And with that tunnel vision he had, and unless he practiced A LOT, he probably would have never been able to clear it anyway.
The point I’m trying to make with all this rambling is this; if you’re going to carry a gun, do yourself and your family a favor and practice-practice-practice until you know your weapon inside and out and especially how if functions. I’m 70 years old and I still do, every week.
“That’s when he made the call. The father drew his firearm and shot the suspect, stopping the attempted carjacking cold.” Your narrative above is not supported by the video. The father drew his firearm right when the suspect approached. The “call” was made seemingly at time = 0, rather than later. The father seems to have known something suspicious was going down in that parking lot moments before the suspect made contact. The question we should ask is whether the father would have been protected by the law if there was no one left in the car when he killed the suspect.
Are you eff’n kidding me? 🙄
Glad that the scumbag is dead, but how can eight people fit into a car that’s barely able to hold five?
must have been a repurposed clown car heh-heh
Very common in southern Europe. On Cyprus, we crammed all of us 5 in my cousin’s Fiat to tour the island. Wasn’t happy about it but we survived.
Children. And very close friends.
i like stories with happy endings! one thing 8 people in that car???