Mark Winger (inset) pictured in mug shot via Houston Police Department; surveillance video of Mark Winger shooting Terry Evans Jr. (KTRK YouTube/screengrab)
Gun store surveillance video has come back to haunt an employee who claimed self-defense after shooting a fleeing shoplifter in the back over the summer of 2022.
Mark Winger, the 58-year-old employee of Carter's Country store who opened fire on the afternoon of June 21, 2022, outside of the 11878 South Wilcrest Drive business in Houston, killing 36-year-old Terry Evans, Jr., is now accused of murder.
According to the brief Oct. 5 grand jury murder indictment, Mark Winger "on or about June 21, 2022, did then and there unlawfully, intentionally, and knowingly cause the death of Terry Evans […] by shooting Terry Evans with a deadly weapon namely a firearm."
"It is further presented that in Harris County, Texas, Mark Winger […] did then and there unlawfully intend to cause serious bodily injury to Terry Evans […] and did cause the death of the Complainant by intentionally and knowingly committing an act" — the shooting — "clearly dangerous to human life," the indictment continued.
The Houston Police Department announced the indictment against Winger on Monday, noting that when authorities were first called to the shooting scene they were told that Evans had a "sharp object" (initial reporting about the shooting based on police information described the incident as a "would-be robbery," but the differences between robbery and theft are legally significant).
"HPD patrol officers responded to a business at the above address and found a man, later identified as Evans, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Officers were advised he entered the business, armed with a sharp object, opened the cash register, and stole money," cops said this week. "Winger, an employee at the business, advised officers he shot the male in self-defense as the male was leaving the business."
The surveillance video clearly establishes that Evans walked into Carter's Country store during the daytime (in the afternoon), went behind the counter, opened the cash register drawer, took cash out of it, and then tried to escape on foot when at least two employees inside the store, one of them Winger, noticed what he was doing.
While the available gun store video footage in the player above did not show a "sharp object" or Evans brandishing any weapon, the video did show Winger pulling out his gun, following Evans out of the store, and raising the firearm to shoot Evans in the back.
Moments later, Evans was shot twice — and fatally — in the parking lot.
Based on the video footage, as one legal analyst commented to local ABC affiliate KTRK about the indictment, Winger's purported "self-defense" claim was actually a protection of property claim. But given Texas law and the circumstances surrounding Evans' broad daylight shoplifting of cash and Winger's decision to pull the trigger to stop him from getting away, it's not difficult to see how the grand jury reached the charging conclusion that it did.
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The relevant law says that a person is justified to use deadly force to "protect land or tangible, movable property" if "he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary" to stop the "imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime" or to stop someone "fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property."
A key problem for Winger appears to be that Evans' actions did not rise to the level of burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or a theft at night — and Jason Gibson, an attorney for Evans' family has said that the deceased only had a Styrofoam cup in his possession, not a sharp object or any other weapon. The family said that Evans had a criminal history and mental health issues but didn't deserve to be shot this way for shoplifting.
"There were four workers there that day. Three of them that have access to guns did not shoot Mr. Evans. One did," the lawyer reportedly said. "Three people acted reasonably. One person did not."
Records show that Mark Winger was booked into the Harris County Jail last Friday and that he made his $30,000 bond. While he is out of jail pre-trial, Winger will have to abide by several conditions, including no contact with Evans' family and not appearing within 200 feet of their residences, schools, or workplaces. Winger is also barred from going within 200 feet of the gun store that employed him.
The defendant cannot consume or possess alcohol, cannot possess any weapon or ammunition, and he must remain within Harris County and its "contiguous counties (Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller)" — unless he gets court permission to travel elsewhere.
Read the order setting the defendant's bond conditions and his indictment here and here.
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