Former Hooters security guard found guilty of shooting customer
ODESSA, Tx July 21 2019 Following a four-day trial this week, the jury found a former Hooters security guard guilty of shooting a man outside of the Odessa restaurant back in 2017.
After three hours of deliberation Friday, the jury decided that security guard Rance Struck was not acting in self-defense when he shot Jared Moore.
Struck is guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for an incident back in September of 2017 that ended with Moore being shot outside of the Hooters on John Ben Sheppard Parkway.
Struck was working when he got in an altercation with Moore and a group he was with, after Struck says the group was being rowdy.
Struck followed the group into the parking lot when they left, and there he and Moore had a physical altercation.
After pepper spraying Moore and having his glasses knocked off, Struck shot and injured Moore. Because he was without his glasses, Struck testified that he couldn’t really see what he was shooting at.
Struck’s attorneys tried to argue that the shooting was in self-defense, and during his testimony Struck repeatedly said he feared for his life, once even breaking down in tears as he cried “I thought I was going to die.”
However, the prosecution evidently made a bigger impact on the jury.
Key points included that Struck was unclear whether he shot Moore in the front or the back, and that Moore may have been backing away or even running away before the shooting.
The prosecution also questioned why Struck did little to nothing to deescalate the situation, despite having been trained to do so.
Because the trial ran late on Friday, sentencing for Struck is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Monday.
KOSA
