Texas Grand Jury Refuses to Indict Man Who Killed Fleeing Murderer

A grand jury Wednesday refused to indict a copier repairman who shot a man to death after seeing the man gun down a woman in a shopping mall. The repairman said he was grateful and didn’t consider himself a hero.

Todd Alan Broom, 25, could have faced a murder charge for the March 12 shooting of Eddie Edwards, 41. Broom said he fired two shots at Edwards’ car after watching him shoot Demetria Yvonne Taylor, a 28-year-old airline stewardess, in the back of the head.

“I’m not thinking of myself as a hero, and I don’t know what a hero is supposed to be,” said Broom, adding that he would “probably hesitate a lot more” if a similar circumstance arose.

His attorney, Frank Jackson, said: “We feel that equity prevailed in this case, and sometimes you have to temper the law with equity in order to arrive at the just result.”

Broom, who was at the Irving Mall to buy bullets, has said that he saw Edwards chase Taylor across the lot and shoot her, then shoot her again in the back of the head as she lay mortally wounded. She and Edwards had recently ended a relationship.

Edwards was driving away, Broom said, when he got out of his car, drew his .44-caliber magnum pistol and fired twice at Edwards’ car.

One bullet hit the back of the car; the other went through a side door, striking Edwards in the side. Edwards lost control of the car and hit a pole. He died an hour later.