A World War II-era Army veteran who said he was forced to defend himself last year, slaying a man at his northeast Houston home, has been cleared by a Harris County grand jury.

Jack Hands, 91, fatally shot a younger man who threatened to kill him during an altercation.

This week, a panel declined to indict Hands on one count of murder and a possession of a prohibited weapon charge.

The younger man was among the unemployed, down-on-their-luck or drug-addicted folks who had been helped by Hands, then 90. The nonagenarian offered odd jobs and lent money - even to people who stole from him, neighbors said.

The shooting happened last September in the 6200 block of Antha near Eastex Freeway and Tidwell. Police released Hands without charges after questioning him.

Reached by phone Friday, Hands said the incident happened when the younger man came into the house and grabbed a 9 mm automatic weapon.

"He wouldn't give me the gun. I was trying to take it from him," said Hands, a retired security guard who lives with his black Labrador retriever, Night. "He was determined to go out of here with that gun. I grabbed him and slung him around and the gun flew out of his hand. That's when I started working on him with my fists."

Then, the older man got his sawed-off shotgun. When the younger man tried to grab that weapon, Hands fired.

Hands said he'd like authorities to return the three weapons confiscated during the investigation. He said he began carrying the 12-gauge Stevens shotgun at age 9 to protect himself from "alligators, bad snakes and bad dogs" he encountered in the swamps of his native Georgia.

cindy.george@chron.com

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