Former Soldier Wounded After Getting His Real Estate License

Eric Russell Hinks, a newly minted real estate agent who left the military last month after nine years of service because he feared injury in Iraq, was shot and critically wounded while soliciting potential listings in a Diamond Bar neighborhood Tuesday.

“He knocked on the wrong door,” said Det. Laura French of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

John Steven Heesch, 29, of Diamond Bar was charged with assault with a firearm Thursday, and his 27-year-old brother, James Howard Heesch, was charged with two drug counts in connection with the shooting.

Hinks, a 29-year-old father of four who recently passed the exam to obtain his real estate license, went to the well-kept neighborhood to drop off holiday wreaths that his wife had made for his aunt and uncle. Afterward, he walked along Hipass Drive scouting houses, French said.

John Heesch saw Hinks’ truck as he drove past and became concerned when he saw him walking up to the front door of his brother’s house, French said. Armed with a shotgun, John Heesch ran to his brother’s home, French said, where James Heesch was allegedly growing marijuana.

Hinks, clean-cut with short blond hair, wearing jeans and a white dress shirt, knocked on the door. When no one answered, he left a business card and turned to leave. It was 6:45 p.m.

At that point, John Heesch fired, French said. No words were exchanged.

Hinks fell to the ground; nine pieces of the shot punctured his body. His intestines were mangled. A lung collapsed.

James Heesch dashed to the porch. Hinks asked him to call his wife, Bobbie, 26.

Bobbie Hinks said when she answered her phone, James Heesch told her, “Your husband wants to talk to you.”

“Honey, I’ve been shot,” Eric Hinks told her before he fainted.

Bobbie Hinks called 911. Then she tried to call her husband back. James Heesch answered. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” she remembered him saying.

Bobbie Hinks said Heesch told her very little, but he did give her his address. After getting her father to watch the children -- Breanna, 5, Hunter, 3, and 5-month-old twins Harleigh Jean and Dustin Robert -- she raced to the scene.

On Thursday, the family grappled with the shooting.

“He went from National Guard to real estate because he didn’t want to be shot in Iraq,” said Ryan Bethel, 23, Bobbie’s brother. “But now he’s in an intensive care unit because he’s been shot over here.”

Eric Hinks joined the Army in 1995 and served eight years. Then he joined the National Guard, opting for a full-time job providing antiterrorism and force protection for Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. This allowed him to serve his country and come home to his family.

“He was very concerned about both his families -- his real family and protecting the soldiers here,” said Master Sgt. Rodger Steele. “He is a very caring, very dedicated, all-around good guy.”

Earlier this year, Hinks prepared for deployment in Iraq. But when his twins were born a month early, his deployment was deferred because one twin required a stay in intensive care. The birth of the twins forced Hinks to rethink his military commitment. He was the sole breadwinner in the family, and the reality of this became more weighty after seeing the baby in intensive care. After agonizing, Hinks told his boss he wanted to leave the military.

“It was not an easy decision,” Steele said. “If his babies had been born healthy, he would have deployed. But he wanted to spend time with his family, especially with the newborns. It made perfect sense.”

Hinks was discharged Oct. 19. He got a job driving fuel tankers. Concerned about finances, he decided not to purchase a long-term disability plan offered by his employer. He expected the job to pay his way only until he could support his family with his new career as a real estate agent.

Several months ago, real estate agent Richard Stanley met Hinks and agreed to be his sponsoring broker when he applied to get his license. Once the young man obtained his license, Stanley planned to hire him, he said. Hinks passed the test last month.

Tuesday afternoon, Hinks spent 90 minutes with Stanley making door-to-door cold calls. Stanley wanted to show his protege how he worked. Hinks talked excitedly about his prospects for getting a sale before Christmas.

“He’s a very religious, upstanding person,” said Stanley, a an agent for 30 years. “I liked his straightforwardness and his honesty.”

Hinks was shot at the very first house that he tried. He is in stable condition at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.

“My husband is trying hard; he’s fighting for his life,” said Bobbie Hinks. “But he’s going to be OK.”

John Steven Heesch faces seven to 10 years in prison if convicted, said a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. He is being held on $150,000 bail.

Sheriff’s deputies confiscated 4 pounds of marijuana from the home of James Heesch. He was charged with one count of possession of marijuana for sale and one count of cultivating marijuana, and released on $60,000 bail.

Friends and family have established the Eric Hinks Fund at Wells Fargo Bank. The fund’s routing number is 122000247.