Australian man, Brenton Estorffe, shot dead in Texas home while confronting intruders
The father of a fatally shot Queensland-born man has revealed some of his son’s final moments alive in his home in Texas, where he tried to stop intruders heading to his kids’ bedrooms and how his wife called for help.
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The father of an Australian man who was gunned down in his home in Texas has revealed some of his son’s final moments alive before he was shot.
Michael Estorffe has told The Australian his son Brenton Estorffe, formerly of the Sunshine Coast, tried to stop his killers from going into the bedrooms of his children and his American wife, Angeleanna.
Mr Estorffe found out what had happened through Angeleanna, who made a frantic phone call to him and Brenton’s mother Denise shortly after the shooting took place.
The call did not last long and they got cut off.
Estorffe got out of bed to investigate after he heard broken glass and was confronted by the intruders, who had broken into the home.
“They (the intruders) were heading towards the bedrooms where Ange (his wife) and the two kids were and he started pushing them away towards the kitchen, he wrestled those two blokes away from his wife and kids,” Mr Estorffe told The Australian on Friday.
The 29-year-old man was asleep in his home near Houston with his wife and their two children, aged one and three, when he was woken up by the sound of breaking glass inside the house.
“That’s when they shot him. Unfortunately he paid the highest price,” Mr Estorffe said.
Mr Estorffe says his wife and Brenton’s siblings, Blaine and Paige — are on a flight to Houston.
But he has stayed behind to sort out an issue with getting his visa approved by the US Consulate, after his business visa had recently lapsed.
He has had trouble with DFAT helping him get a visa in time for his funeral.
““My son is going to be buried in the next few days … am I going to miss his funeral?,” he told The Australian.
Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said the shooting appeared to have happened incredibly quickly.
“You hear the glass breakage,” he said.
“You’re startled, you get out of bed. And then, within just a few seconds or so, there’s gunfire.”
The suspects fled and are yet to be apprehended, according to local reports.
“We have a homeowner here in Fort Bend County who’s no longer with us. A father of two small children, breaks your heart,” Sheriff Nehls said.
“Pray for this young wife and her two small children because they are without their father. He was there to protect his family.”
Erstoffe’s wife, Angeleanna, called 911 at 12.03am local time to report the home invasion. She and her children were not hurt in the incident.
Police are investigating and asking neighbours to co-operate with surveillance footage.
They said the suspects did not get away with any valuables because the crime happened so fast.
According to local TV station KHOU 11, neighbours are wondering if there was a specific reason the Estorffe household was targeted by the intruders.
The motive for the brutal attack is still unclear.
The Estorffe’s family home is located in the small town of Katy, in a subdivision where many of the large brick homes have been decorated for Halloween.
The killing has left neighbours shocked, saying that the area has experienced a few break and enters but nothing as severe as homicide.
Police said Mr Estorffe was a “homeowner” and the “father of two small children … breaks your heart.”
A neighbour, Kimberly Patel, said that Mr Estorffe was “as nice as he could be. I can’t imagine what the wife is going through right now.”
Ms Patel said that she has in the past left her doors unlocked at night because it is such a quiet neighbourhood.
“It’s pretty shocking, to be honest.”
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Mr Estorffe was originally from Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast, and he had studied to be a personal trainer before moving to the US to play football, where he was joined by his brother Corbin, also an aspiring gridiron player.
He played a season of college football for Southern Virginia University, a school located three hours southwest of Washington, DC, in 2012.
He had been working for the Enterprise car rental company in Texas.
Cobin Estorffe paid tribute to his “hero” sibling. “Still not real brother,” he wrote on social media.
“Life will never ever be the same without you. Hands down you are my hero the way you stood up for your family. Can only dream to be a little bit like you. Thanks for the amazing times we had together. Miss you and love you so much Brenton.
“Best mate, oldest brother, a son, a father, a uncle, a husband and a f***ing hero.”
Mr Estorffe is the third Australian to be gunned down in the US in recent years.
In 2017, Sydney-born Justine Damond, 40, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer outside her home when she called for help after hearing noises in an alleyway outside of her residence.
In July this year, Australian Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend, Chynna Deese, were shot dead by two teenagers, who later took their own lives, on a highway in Canada.
In 2013, 22-year-old Melburnian Christopher Lane was shot in the back while jogging near his girlfriend’s home in Duncan, Oklahoma. At the time of his death, Lane was attending East Central University on a baseball scholarship.
Originally published as Australian man, Brenton Estorffe, shot dead in Texas home while confronting intruders