How did a gun get into a group home? It’s legal in Texas

Inside a Dallas Police interview room, Murray Msewe finds himself making an attempt to determine how he ended up there. 

“Oh my goodness, what did I do?” he cries out, based on a police video obtained by WFAA. “What did I do, man?” 

It was July 10, 2021, and he’d simply shot Joshua Moore, the 27-year-old autistic man the state paid him to take care of in a Dallas group house.  

“He was trying to stab me with a fricking knife, man,” Msewe says to himself on the video. 

Joshua’s father, Don Moore, remembers getting the decision about his son. 

“I was in shock when I heard the words,” he remembers. “Murray had shot Josh. We didn’t know Josh had passed until we had talked with the chaplain down at the hospital.” 

Moore had positioned his son in a southeast Dallas group house, anticipating him to be protected.

Now, he wished to know: How did Joshua get a knife in there? And why did Msewe, the caretaker, preserve a gun in a group house with susceptible folks?

Moore would quickly be taught one thing else: Texas regulation doesn’t forbid weapons in group properties.

“What if Josh had accessed the weapon, just as he did the knife, and shot the caregiver or another resident?” Moore mentioned. “It’s very possible that that kind of scenario could have played out.”

Moore reached out to his native lawmaker for assist altering the regulation.

WFAA was there as State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington, and his employees met with Moore this previous summer time.

“The state failed your son,” Turner advised him.

“The laws are not there to protect the rights of the individual,” Moore replied.

Turner advised Moore he deliberate to draft laws what could be referred to as Joshua’s Act to forbid weapons in group properties.

“You can’t bring a firearm into a hospital, or nursing home, or a number of other types of facilities, and there should not be an exception for these types of long-term care facilities,” Turner mentioned.

Joshua Moore grew up in Rowlett.

He had mental disabilities and didn’t start speaking till seven. But he was social, and in highschool, he joined an all-male cheerleading squad. He liked performing in entrance of crowds, his father mentioned.

As an grownup, Joshua’s thoughts stayed on the degree of about a third-grader. However, he was over six ft tall and weighed between 350 and 400 kilos at any given time.

The older he obtained, the extra he wished what different males had: a driver’s license, a job and a girlfriend.

“He wanted to learn skills and work and earn an income,” his father mentioned. “But there have been issues he did not perceive. And it might frustrate him.”

His father mentioned Joshua turned extra risky because the years handed. Eventually, Joshua turned an excessive amount of for his household to deal with. He moved Joshua into a group house, the place the employees was skilled and outfitted to deal with Joshua’s incapacity.

It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Joshua turned aggressive along with his caretakers.

In 2017, a Plano caretaker referred to as 911. He advised police that Joshua attacked him and minimize his hand with a knife.

“We don’t know when he got the knife or how he obtained it,” Moore mentioned of his son.

Police arrested Joshua on an aggravated assault cost, which was later dropped.

After that incident, Moore had habits analyst Jeff Parker consider Joshua and develop a plan for caretakers. Parker mentioned he met with Joshua a number of instances a week.

“A lot of people would look at Josh and they’d see the behavior,” Parker mentioned. “When I looked at Josh, I saw a human being who had the same wants and needs as the rest of us in this world. He just wanted to meet the right girl, get married, settle down one day and have kids.” 

Parker labored on instructing Joshua learn how to interview for jobs and helped attempt to cut back incidents of verbal or bodily outbursts. But Parker mentioned it was vital that caretakers comply with the plan.

“I made sure to put in the behavior plan that he should not have access to knives,” Parker mentioned. “Anything sharp at all should be locked up.”

Joshua lived in numerous group properties whereas Parker labored with him.

In November 2020, Moore put Joshua in a group house run by Azina Place in Plano.

Azina Place employees members documented the behavioral points involving Joshua in a number of incident reviews. In one case, a employees member discovered him consuming all of the leftovers. She mentioned that she retried to redirect him, however he checked out her and advised her he would kill her.

Several months later, in March 2021, Azina Place officers notified Moore that Joshua was being moved to a Dallas group house due to his points. They additionally advised Moore in an e-mail that that they had not been notified that “he had previously punched holes in walls, or attacked staff, or any of the other behavioral concerns we’ve since discovered since he moved in.”

Moore advised WFAA that Joshua’s historical past was disclosed to Azina Place for his or her security in addition to Joshua’s security.

“They didn’t take the time to investigate all the needs and demands that would be placed on them,” he mentioned.

Azina Place director Rose Msewe later advised state investigators that employees members stored quitting as a result of they have been afraid to take care of Joshua. So, she requested her son, Murray Msewe, if he might assist out and deal with Joshua.

In April 2021, Joshua moved into Azina Place’s southeast Dallas group house. Murray was his caretaker.

“I didn’t have any reservations about Murray,” Moore mentioned. “I thought he was a very polite individual, a younger individual and he would interact with Josh well.” 

Msewe advised state investigators that he learn Joshua’s habits plan and he knew Joshua shouldn’t have entry to knives. He signed Azina Place paperwork acknowledging he knew in regards to the restriction. He additionally mentioned he knew about Joshua’s prior knife incident. 

“We are trained to redirect his behaviors and not challenge him because he’s not going to back down,” Murray advised a state investigator.

Msewe advised police that days after Joshua moved to the group house, Joshua obtained upset, threw a cereal bowl and flipped over the kitchen desk. 

“I said, ‘Josh, no you can’t do that,’” Msewe advised police. “He said, ‘You can’t tell me that,’ and he shoved me. This actually (was) the day I learned you can’t use the word ‘no.’” 

Msewe referred to as the police however mentioned he didn’t need Joshua arrested, so he wasn’t. 

“For Josh, the word ‘no’ was a make-it-or-break-it word,” Parker mentioned. “He hated the word ‘no.’” 

Three months later, Msewe says Joshua turned violent once more.  

He advised investigators Joshua was in a foul temper after having misplaced his job at a restaurant the day earlier than. During breakfast, “he was just ranting – about his parents, and not having a job anymore,” Msewe mentioned, based on his Dallas police interview video.

Msewe mentioned he by chance brushed Joshua’s arm.

“He says, ‘Don’t you touch me like that,’” Msewe mentioned. “If you do it next time, I’m gonna hit you.’ … I stated to him, ‘No violent talk.’” 

When Msewe used the phrase “no,” he mentioned Joshua hit him in the face, busted his lip and knocked him to the ground.  

“I’m like ‘Josh, you messed up now, buddy, I’m going to call the police,’” Msewe mentioned. 

He mentioned Joshua flipped the kitchen desk – simply as he had accomplished in a earlier incident. Then Msewe mentioned he noticed the knife in Joshua’s hand. 

He mentioned he pleaded with Joshua to place it down.

“He’s standing there looking all deranged,” Msewe mentioned.

Msewe advised investigators he’d left a knife out in the sink together with different soiled dishes. Msewe mentioned when Joshua blocked his escape from the kitchen, he grabbed his gun from a kitchen drawer.

Msewe advised police that when Joshua lunged at him, he shot him.

Msewe advised state investigators that proper after he shot Joshua, he “kind of reverted back to a child and kept saying, ‘I did not know that you had a gun.’”

Crime scene photographs present the bloody aftermath. An post-mortem confirmed Msewe shot Joshua twice – as soon as in the chest and as soon as in the again.

During the interview at police headquarters, a detective notified Msewe that Joshua had died.  

“I’ve never wanted to hurt him,” Msewe advised the detective. “He came after me with the knife. What am I supposed to do?”

Records present Msewe initialed a twice every day log indicating he’d locked up sharp objects. On the day of the capturing, he initialed the log.

Msewe’s mom, Rose, advised an investigator she didn’t know her son owned a gun. Records present Azina Place put a firearms coverage in place inside days of Joshua’s demise.

In his interview with state officers, Parker, the habits analyst, advised investigators that he didn’t assume anybody was correctly skilled in learn how to perform Joshua’s habits help plan.  He advised officers he twice provided to come back prepare employees however did not obtain a reply, based on state data.

Azina Place officers advised the state that their nurse performed coaching sooner or later with Msewe, and that they thought it was sufficient.

However, state officers discovered that Azina Place failed to supply “initial and periodic training” on learn how to perform Joshua’s habits help plan, which resulted in Msewe not being correctly skilled to deal with Joshua.

“He didn’t have the knowledge … to de-escalate that behavior,” Moore mentioned.

A grand jury later cleared Murray, discovering he shot Joshua in self-defense.

But a state well being and human companies investigation discovered Murray uncared for Joshua by permitting him to get a knife after which capturing him with a gun.

Because of a loophole in state regulation, Msewe can nonetheless deal with the disabled whereas he appeals to the neglect discovering.

Rep. Turner’s submitting laws that might enable caretakers to be suspended whereas they’re below investigation for misconduct or interesting findings of abuse or neglect.

Prior efforts to shut or slim the loophole have failed, however Turner is hopeful this time could also be completely different.

Beth Mitchell, an legal professional with Disability Rights Texas, mentioned below present regulation, nothing flags a potential supplier that a caretaker has allegations of abuse or neglect towards them. It’s solely after an investigation is completed, and all appeals have been exhausted, that a caretaker is positioned on the state’s worker misconduct registry – a course of that might take years.

Neither Murray Msewe nor Azina Place responded to interview requests from WFAA for this story.

Moore mentioned he hopes by talking out about his son’s demise, he can get legal guidelines modified and forestall future tragedies.

“The answer is never to take a life,” Moore mentioned. “I can’t answer as to why that became the only option available. Only Murray knows that in his heart when he was there in the moment.”

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