KHOU video

Don't mess with my ramen noodles! Paintball gun-toting mom splatters a burglar

Don't mess with Carrie King, the Galveston woman who attacked a burglar with herpaintball gun.
Elvis Alexander snagged two packages of ramen noodles and a handful of sparechange before King began her attack.

Here's a story for the books: As KHOU first reported, Galveston resident Carrie King had a sneaking suspicion that her yardman, Elvis Alexander, was rummaging around her home while the family was away.

So King did what any self-sufficient citizen might do: She set a trap, then waited.

Sure enough, Alexander finagled his way inside of the house and made his way upstairs. But the man didn't go for the jewelry, the hefty jars of sorted coins, the stacks of books or the assortment of cleaning supplies.

He went straight for a handful of loose change and some Maruchan Ramen Noodle Soup — one chicken-flavored packet and a beef one.

"I've got steaks," said hero-of-the-moment King. "I've got groceries and you go after ramen noodles. Really?"

But no way did King offer to help Alexander microwave the healthful treat. Instead, she attacked the unwelcome intruder with a Spyder MRI and a round of yellow paint balls.

Now the man is behind bars and charged with burglary — and, perhaps more embarrassingly, likely splattered in paint and pretty bruised up.

Watch the video from KHOU below to see how well King wields her weapon. Would you mess with this mom for a couple of ramen noodle packages?

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Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates swipe nearly $2B in packages from Texas homes this year

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

Getty Images

The Grinch isn't the only one stealing Christmas these days.

’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

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