SAN ANGELO, TX – A 20-year-old San Angelo Man was arrested Saturday after shooting and killing a man with autism.
According to court documents, on Apr. 3, at around 9:05 p.m. officers with San Angelo Police Department were dispatched to the 800 block Childress St. for the report of an unknown problem.
When police arrived they found Ian Smith, 20, with a black in color rifle, ammunition and a large fixed blade knife beside the body of Sterling McCain.
Smith was detained and an investigation began. The first person interviewed was McCain's wife. She first explained to officers that her husband suffered from Autism.
She went on to tell officers that the incident began much earlier in the day when the married couple went to Fredericksburg in an attempt to "get away and rekindle their relationship." While in Fredericksburg the couple got into a verbal altercation with a waitress at a restaurant. She confirmed McCain was intoxicated during the incident.
After the argument with the waitress, McCain's wife claimed that McCain became very angry, non-verbal and only communicated through text messages. Then as the couple drove back to San Angelo, McCain turned that anger towards his wife. He began by calling himself a demon, while only talking in third person, followed by making threats to kill her. McCain then began making threats against Smith.
This prompted McCain's wife to call Smith in hopes that it would calm her husband down. Smith confirmed to police that he and McCain had never had a confrontation before Saturday. The wife then pulled over to the side of the road and attempted to get out of the vehicle. McCain then began pulling her by her hair and choking her.
The journey continued towards San Angelo. Once they returned, they went to the house on Childress St. Prior to going inside McCain once again began assaulting his wife. He then exited the vehicle where he was then locked out of the vehicle by his wife. She told officers that he then walked up to the house, began banging on the windows, and then made entry into the house. The wife says that she heard Smith tell McCain to stay back before hearing a number of gunshots.
Police then spoke with Smith.
Ian Smith who was booked for murder (Contributed: Tom Green County Detention Facility)
Smith claimed that he was contacted by McCain's wife while the two were on the way home from Fredericksburg. While on the phone McCain told Smith that he and McCain's wife were going to "Burn in Hell." Smith told officers that this came as a surprise to him because they had been friends for a few years and never had any issue with McCain.
After ending the cell phone call with McCain, Smith contact police regarding the possible assault that was going on inside of the car. Once the couple arrived to the home, Smith called police again and asked them to respond to the incident.
Once McCain began banging on the windows of the home the report states that Smith hung up the phone with police to go grab his gun. Smith told police that he initially had the door locked but once he saw McCain assaulting his wife he unlocked it to stick his head out of the residence.
This is when McCain pushed his way through the door. Smith claims that McCain was threatening him and that Smith told McCain to stay back. Prior to the first shot, McCain attempted to swat away the rifle in Smith's hands. After he was shot the first time McCain kept moving forward and Smith shot him two more times.
Once officers arrived, Smith placed all of his weapons on the ground and complied with officer's orders.
Smith told officers that he knew McCain was unarmed but feared his physical strength. He claimed it was self defense.
The San Angelo Police Department doesn't think that is the case. Smith was charged with Murder because of a number of reasons. The first was that dispatch had told Smith to leave the residence if he feared there would be a confrontation. The second was that while on the phone with dispatch, Smith told officers that he would shoot McCain if needed. The third reason is that he unlocked the front door after it was first locked to prevent McCain from entering the home.
Smith was then arrested and booked into the Tom Green County Detention Facility for Murder. His bond is set at $50,000 and he remains in the jail as of Monday morning.
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Comments
A sad incident for all involved. Calmer heads should have prevailed. However, the Castle Doctrine in Texas makes it legal to stand your ground and gives no “duty to retreat” as police dispatch requested.
“Texas Penal Code 9.32(d) further provides that in determining whether or not the actor’s belief was reasonable, the trier of fact may not consider whether the actor failed to retreat. In other words, a person generally does not have to retreat on their property and their decision not to retreat cannot be used as a fact against them in determining whether their belief that deadly force was needed was a reasonable belief or not.”
I’m sure this will play out in the courts.
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PermalinkThere’s a lot more to the situation between wife and the husband than people know. I know more than once that she went to the dr for injuries that happened from her “falling”.
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