wncdeerhunter
Old Mossy Horns
There have been several posts/threads in the past about confronting folks who are trying to break in/steal, etc.
A couple nights ago, we had our own middle of the night incident.
Fast asleep at about 12:30am when my dog starting going nuts. Almost at the same time, our security camera alert went off. Flipped on the front porch light to find a 30 something year old male on my porch demanding entry to use the phone - my observations told me he was tweaking on something and I informed him this was the wrong house. Kept telling me to open the door and let him use the phone.
Against what I wanted to do, I kept the door locked and kept eyes on him, armed of course, while I contacted the sheriff's office non-emergency line. He became increasingly hostile and at one point appeared to be talking to someone out of sight in the dark (turns out he was just hallucinating - no one else there). Became increasingly agitated while waiting and disappeared off the porch into the dark.
I related this to the dispatcher and a moment later, my wife, who had been watching our driveway security camera live, told me that he was on my mom's front porch beating on her door (she lives next door). This changed things drastically.
I told my wife to call mom and tell her to stay out of sight and keep the door locked, then went out and challenged him at gunpoint, giving him repeated loud and verbal commands to get on the ground while closing distance. The louder the better, as I was intentionally trying to gain the attention of any neighbors that may hear me in order to convert them to witnesses should it go south.
He refused to get on the ground, instead raising his hands telling me he wasn't armed and slowly walking toward the road - I believe he got the message that this was as serious as it gets and once he hit the state road, I watched until he disappeared into the dark. No need to follow - I wanted him gone and accomplished that. I then checked the outside of both our homes for any others knuckleheads that may have been with him, just in case.
A couple things that had prepared me for this type incident that really helped and I thought I'd pass along - having a bright weapon mounted light that I've trained with literally hundreds of hours over the years. Frees up both hands. Speaking of which, I kept the dispatcher on the phone with me and once I made it to my mom's driveway when I confronted him, I hit the speakerphone option and set it down, so she could hear everything happening and I could have my hands free while still having a line of communication.
I also gave her a very clear description of the subject and clothing, as well as my description and made sure she knew I was armed. It turns out I know the dispatcher and she recognized who I was, and related that to the responding deputies, whom I also knew.
Having the security cameras/lights that we have were a great early warning - going from a dead sleep to 100mph can be eye opening. Also, the entire confrontation is preserved on video and we got great pictures of the subject, just in case.
I never got any type of adrenaline dump or excited, and never actually contemplated not going out after him once I knew he was at mom's house - training took over, almost like a muscle memory on auto pilot. I credit this to having hundreds and hundreds of hours of various training due to my LE background and having sought outside training on top of that.
If you haven't had any training or experience in dealing with high stress deadly force situations, I highly recommend getting some - it is invaluable and helps knowing how you will react in a given high stress situation.
I only regret not having a holster - Should I have needed for some reason to go hands on with him, I couldn't. Had he chosen to fight, with no holster, I would have had very limited choices.
Luckily, all turned out well and deputies located him. Since he had not yet committed any crimes at that point, there wasn't much to charge him with and they carried him out of the area.
Something I've been meaning to do is reinforce my door locks with 3" screws versus the cheap crap they put in them - Makes it a little harder to boot the door in one shot, which may buy the extra few seconds you need. I'm putting those in this afternoon.
Be ready, harden your homes, and get some training. You just never know when something bad will happen. If you're prepared for it, it can make a world of difference.
A couple nights ago, we had our own middle of the night incident.
Fast asleep at about 12:30am when my dog starting going nuts. Almost at the same time, our security camera alert went off. Flipped on the front porch light to find a 30 something year old male on my porch demanding entry to use the phone - my observations told me he was tweaking on something and I informed him this was the wrong house. Kept telling me to open the door and let him use the phone.
Against what I wanted to do, I kept the door locked and kept eyes on him, armed of course, while I contacted the sheriff's office non-emergency line. He became increasingly hostile and at one point appeared to be talking to someone out of sight in the dark (turns out he was just hallucinating - no one else there). Became increasingly agitated while waiting and disappeared off the porch into the dark.
I related this to the dispatcher and a moment later, my wife, who had been watching our driveway security camera live, told me that he was on my mom's front porch beating on her door (she lives next door). This changed things drastically.
I told my wife to call mom and tell her to stay out of sight and keep the door locked, then went out and challenged him at gunpoint, giving him repeated loud and verbal commands to get on the ground while closing distance. The louder the better, as I was intentionally trying to gain the attention of any neighbors that may hear me in order to convert them to witnesses should it go south.
He refused to get on the ground, instead raising his hands telling me he wasn't armed and slowly walking toward the road - I believe he got the message that this was as serious as it gets and once he hit the state road, I watched until he disappeared into the dark. No need to follow - I wanted him gone and accomplished that. I then checked the outside of both our homes for any others knuckleheads that may have been with him, just in case.
A couple things that had prepared me for this type incident that really helped and I thought I'd pass along - having a bright weapon mounted light that I've trained with literally hundreds of hours over the years. Frees up both hands. Speaking of which, I kept the dispatcher on the phone with me and once I made it to my mom's driveway when I confronted him, I hit the speakerphone option and set it down, so she could hear everything happening and I could have my hands free while still having a line of communication.
I also gave her a very clear description of the subject and clothing, as well as my description and made sure she knew I was armed. It turns out I know the dispatcher and she recognized who I was, and related that to the responding deputies, whom I also knew.
Having the security cameras/lights that we have were a great early warning - going from a dead sleep to 100mph can be eye opening. Also, the entire confrontation is preserved on video and we got great pictures of the subject, just in case.
I never got any type of adrenaline dump or excited, and never actually contemplated not going out after him once I knew he was at mom's house - training took over, almost like a muscle memory on auto pilot. I credit this to having hundreds and hundreds of hours of various training due to my LE background and having sought outside training on top of that.
If you haven't had any training or experience in dealing with high stress deadly force situations, I highly recommend getting some - it is invaluable and helps knowing how you will react in a given high stress situation.
I only regret not having a holster - Should I have needed for some reason to go hands on with him, I couldn't. Had he chosen to fight, with no holster, I would have had very limited choices.
Luckily, all turned out well and deputies located him. Since he had not yet committed any crimes at that point, there wasn't much to charge him with and they carried him out of the area.
Something I've been meaning to do is reinforce my door locks with 3" screws versus the cheap crap they put in them - Makes it a little harder to boot the door in one shot, which may buy the extra few seconds you need. I'm putting those in this afternoon.
Be ready, harden your homes, and get some training. You just never know when something bad will happen. If you're prepared for it, it can make a world of difference.