Property owner detained by HPD after pulling unloaded gun on people camping on her property
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Montrose property owner said she was detained by Houston police after pulling a gun on three people who are homeless and were camping out on her doorstep. A lawyer who spoke to ABC13 said you legally have the right to defend your property this way.
74-year-old Anastasia Malavansos said the property on Westheimer and Woodhead in Montrose has been in her family for generations, but in the last few years, she said she has had to make several calls to police about homeless people camping out on the doorsteps.
"I have been urinated on, I have been spit on, I have been cussed out," Malavansos said.
On Aug. 12, a tenant in her neighboring property called Malavansos to report three homeless men sleeping on her property again. Malavansos said enough was enough. She said she called 311, told them she was going to confront the men, and asked them to send police.
"I brought an unloaded gun; it did not have a magazine in it, because frankly I am afraid for my safety," Malavansos said.
Malavansos said police arrived, but when they did, police detained her instead.
Malavansos was eventually released, and Houston police said she is not facing charges, but Malavansos feels police should have taken action on the problem plaguing her property before it went this far.
"All they do is shoo them away, and I've told them ad nauseam, until they have consequences they are going to keep coming back," Malavansos said.
According to Steve Shellist, a lawyer not affiliated with the case, Malavansos was legally in the clear to protect her property in the manner she did.
"If you threaten the use of deadly force, you don't use deadly force; you threaten deadly force by brandishing a firearm or brandishing a knife. If you are justified in using regular force, then you are probably justified in threatening deadly force," Shellist said.
Shellist's warning: just because you may be legally ok to brandish a weapon does not mean you can use it.
Malavansos said she feels having people camped out on her property has deterred people from renting her building, but after nearly two years of the building being vacant, it is currently under renovation and will be welcoming a new tenant in the next few months.
