May 15, 2016

Odessa police are investigating an early Sunday incident in which an East Odessa homeowner reportedly shot and killed a man who had broken through his front door in the 4600 block of Valleybrook Lane.

At 4:38 a.m. Sunday, city officers responded to a report of a burglary in progress with shots being fired. When they arrived, they saw a man who had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, a news release indicated.

Their preliminary investigation indicated that the homeowner, Raul Munoz, 51, was awakened by his wife after she heard a banging noise coming from the front door, the release stated. Munoz told the officers that he had heard someone banging on the door and that the door frame began to crack, they said.

Munoz said an unknown male entered his home and began to rush him, the release reported. The man, identified Sunday as Jake Gould, 25, was taken to Medical Center Hospital and was later pronounced dead by medical personnel.

Next of kin had been notified and Gould’s body was sent to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office in Fort Worth for an autopsy, the release said.

The release indicated the investigation is continuing into the city’s fifth homicide of 2016.

OPD Spokesman Cpl. Steve LeSueur said late Sunday afternoon that other details of the incident, such as what type of gun was involved, were not being released and that no arrests have been made. When the investigation is complete, the findings will be forwarded to the Ector County District Attorney’s Office, he said.