A Texas grand jury decided not to recommend charges against a man who shot and killed his girlfriend’s ex-husband in a viral incident caught on video in November.
After three days of deliberation, the Lubbock special grand jury voted not to indict Kyle Carruth, the man who shot and killed Chad Read during a dispute about the whereabouts of Read’s children.
Shortly after the incident, Lubbock Police Department transferred the case to the Texas Attorney General for its review. Lawyers for the AG’s office presented the case to the grand jury.
Following the ruling, the law firm representing Read’s widow vowed to pursue their client’s claims in civil court.
”The criminal justice utterly failed Jennifer Read, the widow of Chad Read,” they said. “Chad Read was involved in a heated discussion with his ex-wife concerning custody of his son. The video shows that Kyle Carruth injected himself into that discussion. We believe there was no legitimate reason for Kyle Carruth to bring a deadly weapon to an argument that he wasn’t even a part of. Chad Read died unarmed, shot, and killed while simply trying to determine the whereabouts of his son.”
Carruth’s lawyer also responded to the ruling.
“We are appreciative of the wise decision of this extremely hard-working, independent, Grand Jury,” David Guinn said. “Rarely does a Grand Jury work for three days on one case alone. Those Lubbock citizens must have learned everything imaginable about every aspect of the case and the people involved.”
As GunsAmerica reported at the time, the incident sparked a furious debate about the proper use of deadly force.
Video from the incident from multiple angles shows Carruth telling Read to “get off of my property,” and then go inside. Read says he is at the house to pick up his son, and Carruth returns moments later with what looks like a pistol-caliber carbine.
“Leave!” Carruth orders Read. “Right now, motherf-ker.”
“Do it,” Read replies, continuing to walk toward Carruth. “You’ll better f-king use it motherf-ker, because Godd-nit, I’ll take it from you and f-king [unintelligible],” Read continues, screaming directly into Carruth’s face and leaning into his body.
Carruth shoots into the porch at Read’s feet, but the larger man does not back down. Read swings Carruth out into the yard, and when Carruth regains his footing, he shoots Read twice.
Read falls to the ground while Carruth stands next to him on the porch. “I told all of y’all to leave,” Carruth says. “None of y’all should be here. I asked you to leave. I did everything. I did not want to do any of this.”
Read died later that day.
Carruth is the former husband of Anne-Marie Carruth, a Texas district court judge.
Carruth’s lawyers argued that the homicide was justified under Texas’ “castle doctrine” while attorneys for Read’s wife argued that Carruth failed to de-escalate the situation and used a gun even though no physical threat to life or property existed, according to KCBD.
No criminal charges or arrests have been made in this case.