July 1, 2008, 2:58PM
Autopsies: Horn's buckshot caused massive injuries


By DALE LEZON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle



RESOURCES
AUTOPSIES
PDF versions of reports released today by the Harris Co. Medical Examiner's Office.
Diego Ortis
Hernando Riascos Torres

Reaction to the Joe Horn decision, houston,shooting,texas,joe horn,grand jury,chron.com,houston chronicle, Houstonians talk about the grand jury's decision that Joe Horn should not be charged with a crime for killing two suspected burglars outside his neighbor's Pasadena home. Video by Meg Loucks and Karen Warren. June 30, 2008.Joe Horn cleared in Pasadena shooting, texas,chron.com,houston chronicle,houston, Joe Horn's lawyer talks after a Harris County grand jury decided that Horn should not be charged for killing two suspected burglars outside his neighbor's home in Pasadena last fall. Video by Dale Lezon, edited by Juan Elizondo. June 30, 2008.
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The shooting of two burglary suspects has sparked heated debate about property rights, gun control and other issues.
The two burglars who were fatally shot by Joe Horn outside his Pasadena home were struck in the back, shoulders and arms by buckshot, according to autopsy results released to the public this morning by the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office. The results affirm accounts of the shooting earlier disclosed by investigators.

A Harris County grand jury on Monday decided the 62-year-old retiree should not face criminal charges for the Nov. 14 shooting of Diego Ortiz, 30, and Hernando Riascos Torres, 38.

The buckshot hit Ortiz in the back of both shoulders and elsewhere on the left side of his back, according to his autopsy. The pellets penetrated his left lung, heart, spleen, aortic root, left jugular vein and other areas, the Medical Examiner's Office reported.

The pellets exited his body in his left upper chest, the left side of his neck and his left shoulder.

Torres had buckshot wounds in the left lateral chest and posterolateral torso, left posterior arm and other areas.

The pellets injured his spleen, transverse colon, left lung, heart and left wrist.

dale.lezon@chron.com

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