This has been a couple months now, and I’m OK with sharing it :
Apologies for the long post.
About midnight on a weeknight the doorbell starts ringing over and over.
We live in a two story plus basement house.
Because of some recent medical issues, my wife & 10 year old daughter were sleeping on the main floor & I was in a bedroom upstairs.
My wife, thinking it was someone we knew(Who else would be at the door?) called me downstairs, started to turn on the entryway light & unlock the door.
I stopped her from unlocking and turned off the entryway light, leaving on the outside porch light.
The door is solid with a narrow vertical window next to it.
My wife was looking out this window when the doorbell-ringing man suddenly leaned to his right and appeared in it, startling both of us.
He started shouting “Let me in, let me in, they’re after me, they’ve got guns”
My wife then dashed for the phone to call 911.
I shouted through the door “Go away!” and “I don’t care, Leave!”
He went off the porch to the West.
My wife went upstairs and put the 2 dogs into our 12 year old’s room, telling her to keep the dogs quiet. This gave her something to do in all this.
I ran upstairs and got the S&W model 67 out of the lockbox, then back to the main floor, checking the locks on the sliding glass doors to the back deck & turning on the exterior floodlights by both doors.
I ran to the basement, checking the walkout door & turning on that exterior light.
I saw him go around the East side of the rear, so now he had gone around the house.
I returned to the main floor wondering if I would see him go North past the window in the room where our 10 year old was still sleeping.
Instead, he came up onto the deck and started pounding on that door!!
So now I’m standing about 12 feet away from that door, I have the .38 in kind of a “low ready” position and there’s a ton of things going through my head :
Index finger on the frame ABOVE the trigger guard - not a good time for an accident.
This isn’t a castle doctrine state, there’s a duty to retreat.
I’m standing with my back to the door our 10 year old daughter is sleeping behind - I’m done retreating.
If he breaks the door , that’s not reason to shoot.
If he comes through the door, I guess it’s time to.
Please don’t come through the door.
Where the heck are them cops?
I could hear my wife talking to 911 upstairs.
When the guy showed up on the back deck, my wife, being upstairs and thinking about our 10 year old sleeping on the main floor, called out to me to see where I was.
I told her where I was, and that the guy looked about 5’7” but stocky and I didn’t want to fistfight him - if he came in I was going to have to shoot.
The guy on the deck now got tired of shouting at & hitting the door, turned away, put his back to the door, and slid down until he was sitting on the deck.
He still gave the door a whack with his elbow every few seconds, but not as hard.
At this point, my daughter behind the door I am at wakes up and starts asking what’s going on.
The 911 operator now grew concerned about MY gun.
“Can you get your husband to put the gun down?”
Well, where’s them cops?
Upon being assured the deputies were in the driveway and coming around the house, and with the intruder sitting down with his back to the door, I set the revolver on the kitchen counter.
“Can he put it in a drawer?”
What?!
Okay, fine, I move it into the top drawer, the catch-it-all one.
I can tell by the guy’s behavior that the deputies are at the deck steps, so I look into the bedroom to calm our 10 year old.
I hear a noise on the deck and look that way to see him standing, facing the deck steps, holding a small bench over his head.
Is he going to throw it through the window, or at the deputies or what ?
I edge toward the drawer where the revolver is.
3 lasers light up on his chest.
Even in his condition, this gets his attention.
He drops the bench and goes out of sight down the steps.
I step into the bedroom to comfort our daughter, telling her someone tried to get in, he didn’t actually get in, and the cops have him.
My wife comes downstairs and we send the 10 year old upstairs to her sister’s room.
A deputy comes to the deck door and tells us that there ISN’T anybody after this guy, he’s just paranoid.
They already had contact with him earlier that night, he was acting paranoid then also, but wasn’t being a danger.
Now they’re bringing him in.
We all go to our 12 year old’s room now:
Mom, Dad, 2 girls, & 2 dogs.
We’re talking, sharing, all the stuff you’d imagine.
We can see in the driveway an ambulance and 3 squad cars with a couple more in the road.
It’s about over now, kids...
We hear running footsteps and banging on our front door!
Help, help, the cops are gonna kill me !!
HE GOT AWAY !
The deputies, of course, were right on him, but it took a bit.
The door he was banging on is almost directly below the room we were in so we heard very well.
Mom, can I use those words ?
No, sweetie you can’t.
We watched the ambulance gurney leave with him strapped down about 6 ways, still squirming.
We then heard scraping noises from our porch.
When we looked, the deputies were using a snow shovel to clean up after a tipped planter.
That’s OK guys, we’ll sweep it.
Our kids now added some badly needed laughs.
12 year old :
Hey, it’s past midnight - Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad !
10 year old :
Oh, I forgot - I have homework that’s due tomorrow !
Well, there ain’t nobody sleeping now, kiddo, let’s go do your math.
Bottom line : I am VERY thankful I didn’t have to shoot.
Apologies for the long post.
About midnight on a weeknight the doorbell starts ringing over and over.
We live in a two story plus basement house.
Because of some recent medical issues, my wife & 10 year old daughter were sleeping on the main floor & I was in a bedroom upstairs.
My wife, thinking it was someone we knew(Who else would be at the door?) called me downstairs, started to turn on the entryway light & unlock the door.
I stopped her from unlocking and turned off the entryway light, leaving on the outside porch light.
The door is solid with a narrow vertical window next to it.
My wife was looking out this window when the doorbell-ringing man suddenly leaned to his right and appeared in it, startling both of us.
He started shouting “Let me in, let me in, they’re after me, they’ve got guns”
My wife then dashed for the phone to call 911.
I shouted through the door “Go away!” and “I don’t care, Leave!”
He went off the porch to the West.
My wife went upstairs and put the 2 dogs into our 12 year old’s room, telling her to keep the dogs quiet. This gave her something to do in all this.
I ran upstairs and got the S&W model 67 out of the lockbox, then back to the main floor, checking the locks on the sliding glass doors to the back deck & turning on the exterior floodlights by both doors.
I ran to the basement, checking the walkout door & turning on that exterior light.
I saw him go around the East side of the rear, so now he had gone around the house.
I returned to the main floor wondering if I would see him go North past the window in the room where our 10 year old was still sleeping.
Instead, he came up onto the deck and started pounding on that door!!
So now I’m standing about 12 feet away from that door, I have the .38 in kind of a “low ready” position and there’s a ton of things going through my head :
Index finger on the frame ABOVE the trigger guard - not a good time for an accident.
This isn’t a castle doctrine state, there’s a duty to retreat.
I’m standing with my back to the door our 10 year old daughter is sleeping behind - I’m done retreating.
If he breaks the door , that’s not reason to shoot.
If he comes through the door, I guess it’s time to.
Please don’t come through the door.
Where the heck are them cops?
I could hear my wife talking to 911 upstairs.
When the guy showed up on the back deck, my wife, being upstairs and thinking about our 10 year old sleeping on the main floor, called out to me to see where I was.
I told her where I was, and that the guy looked about 5’7” but stocky and I didn’t want to fistfight him - if he came in I was going to have to shoot.
The guy on the deck now got tired of shouting at & hitting the door, turned away, put his back to the door, and slid down until he was sitting on the deck.
He still gave the door a whack with his elbow every few seconds, but not as hard.
At this point, my daughter behind the door I am at wakes up and starts asking what’s going on.
The 911 operator now grew concerned about MY gun.
“Can you get your husband to put the gun down?”
Well, where’s them cops?
Upon being assured the deputies were in the driveway and coming around the house, and with the intruder sitting down with his back to the door, I set the revolver on the kitchen counter.
“Can he put it in a drawer?”
What?!
Okay, fine, I move it into the top drawer, the catch-it-all one.
I can tell by the guy’s behavior that the deputies are at the deck steps, so I look into the bedroom to calm our 10 year old.
I hear a noise on the deck and look that way to see him standing, facing the deck steps, holding a small bench over his head.
Is he going to throw it through the window, or at the deputies or what ?
I edge toward the drawer where the revolver is.
3 lasers light up on his chest.
Even in his condition, this gets his attention.
He drops the bench and goes out of sight down the steps.
I step into the bedroom to comfort our daughter, telling her someone tried to get in, he didn’t actually get in, and the cops have him.
My wife comes downstairs and we send the 10 year old upstairs to her sister’s room.
A deputy comes to the deck door and tells us that there ISN’T anybody after this guy, he’s just paranoid.
They already had contact with him earlier that night, he was acting paranoid then also, but wasn’t being a danger.
Now they’re bringing him in.
We all go to our 12 year old’s room now:
Mom, Dad, 2 girls, & 2 dogs.
We’re talking, sharing, all the stuff you’d imagine.
We can see in the driveway an ambulance and 3 squad cars with a couple more in the road.
It’s about over now, kids...
We hear running footsteps and banging on our front door!
Help, help, the cops are gonna kill me !!
HE GOT AWAY !
The deputies, of course, were right on him, but it took a bit.
The door he was banging on is almost directly below the room we were in so we heard very well.
Mom, can I use those words ?
No, sweetie you can’t.
We watched the ambulance gurney leave with him strapped down about 6 ways, still squirming.
We then heard scraping noises from our porch.
When we looked, the deputies were using a snow shovel to clean up after a tipped planter.
That’s OK guys, we’ll sweep it.
Our kids now added some badly needed laughs.
12 year old :
Hey, it’s past midnight - Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad !
10 year old :
Oh, I forgot - I have homework that’s due tomorrow !
Well, there ain’t nobody sleeping now, kiddo, let’s go do your math.
Bottom line : I am VERY thankful I didn’t have to shoot.
That paints a picture and captures the moment.
...I agree with Smoke. If I had had to run somewhere to obtain my gun, the guy would have been well into the house by the time I could return to confront him. I either wear my gun at home, or I keep it "strategically located" if not on my actual person. Because I had it on my hip that day, I was able to intercept him at the door and he never gained entry.
