"Intruder" in my house!

[kevykev56]

Saturday night. Was my wife and I alone in the house. My 18 year old daughter was off with her school for the weekend at an event. My 17 year old son,  spending the night with the "band" for a practice session.

1 AM, sitting reading this BBS after finishing up AH. I hear something in the back of the house. Wife is in bed, I can see down the hallway, she hasnt left the room. Its quiet in the house. I hear the noise again. I get up to investigate, I walk down the hall, "is it my daughters room or sons room?" as I pass my sons room I hear a thud....adrenaline starts pumping like never before. I swiftly move back to the computer room and open the gun case.

At this moment I made a life or death decision. I decided against grabbing the gun.

Again I swiftly move back to sons room. Very charged up and the lights out I kick open the door. I see two silouets in the room, closest one smaller than the second. I immediatley grab the first one and sling him through the doors and into the closet, I charged past him and went for the second intruder who is still half in and out of the window. I grab him into a headlock and start to wring his neck. Thats when my senses came somewhat back and I heard my son in the closet screaming DAD!!!

He had been kicked out of the band members house where he was staying. The parents didnt approve of the late night session when they arrived home. He had left his key and didnt want to wake up mom and dad. Well, that was his story, but after more investigation he was up to no good and didnt want Dad to find out.


Needless to say I was so angry and fired up that I am still thinking of taking up smoking to calm myself down. Just typing this makes my hands shake 2 days later. I could just as easily grabbed the gun and fired away. Thats the part that scares me the most. The other side of the coin is...it just as easily could have been a real intruder that would have been armed.

I have been trying to decide If I made the right decision in not grabbing the gun, maybe the sound of a 12Gauge cycling as they came throught the window would have been more intimidating than a 285lb man charging headlong at them. But would I have pulled the trigger?...all these things just eat away at me now.

The real problem at hand is my son, getting him straightened out is my biggest concern. I am absolutely POSITIVE that he will NEVER make that same mistake again, nor will his friend. I doubt he will be with the "Band" until after he is 18 and moved out of my house.

Was not picking up the shotgun I have kept for defense of my home for the last 15 years the right decision? I doubt I will ever be sure. But I know this...if anyone ever comes through a window in my house again I can be positive It will not be my son, so the shotgun will come out of the cabinet.

[Yeager]

Make sure you know the identity of what you are shooting at.  

I know its a freaky concept, might even get you killed, but living with yourself after having accidently killed a loved one really must not be worth the regret.

Identify your target before opening fire.

I recall the story of the father who, having come home from work unusually - during lunch, heard an intruder bumbling around in his closet.  In a moment of absolute poor judgement, the man fired his pistol into the closet.  He spent the next several minutes cradling his dying daughter in his arms, who exclaiming her profound regret at skipping school and coming home for lunch, had opted to hide in the closet to evade her fathers rath.  The last thing she told her father was that she loved him and was sorry.....

Just make sure you know what you are shooting at and you should be ok.

Sounds like you did ok.  Close call though.......

[Nash]

One of my old bosses blew away his daughter in a scene just like that.

Curious, though... If you didn't grab the gun for what you thought was an intruder, for what occasion are you saving it for?

[Hangtime]

Training.

Always, always illuminate and identify.

Glad it worked out ok......

[Russian]

Originally posted by Hangtime
Training.

Always, always illuminate and identify.

Glad it worked out ok......

Exactly, that’s why next to my gun I have big MAG-LITE.

 Always ID target.

[kevykev56]

Originally posted by Nash
One of my old bosses blew away his daughter in a scene just like that.

Curious, though... If you didn't grab the gun for what you thought was an intruder, for what occasion are you saving it for?

My only answer to that is I must have ratonalized that it "could" be my son.

Again I have never felt anything like the adrenaline surge I had at that moment. I completly understand knowing your target before firing but in that moment when your emotinally charged I cannot say for positive I would have identifyied the target first.

After hunting deer for years I no longer get the rush when that buck pops out into gun or bow range. This feeling was much like the buck fever I felt with my first few deer, only MUCH more intense.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by kevykev56
Just typing this makes my hands shake 2 days later. I could just as easily grabbed the gun and fired away. Thats the part that scares me the most.

That's one of the worrying things about G4A - in the haste with which one needs to react to a perceived threat, it would be so easy for the wrong person to get shot. This story had a relatively happy ending; I'm sure there must be hundreds where it's gone the other way.

Kev, you said there were two other people in the room, one of whom was your son. Who was the other? If the key had been left behind, how did they get in?

I'm not so naive to believe I'll never have a visitation from a burglar, which is why I very rarely leave downstairs windows open. My downstairs bathroom window is permanently locked shut, and all outside doors and windows are locked at night. There are three movement sensitive floodlights at points around the house. I have a burglar alarm, but I don't use it. I'd like to have a camera positioned at the front door so I could see who's there before opening the door.

So it surprises me that you apparently take none of these precautions, instead trusting everything to a gun. I'm glad you've been able to see what a disastrous outcome could have resulted from this stance.

Oh, and please do not take up smoking. It makes your clothes smell.

[Nash]

Originally posted by kevykev56
Again I have never felt anything like the adrenaline surge I had at that moment.

Was once I was downstairs at the computer and heard this ruccus upstairs. Scared the bejeezus out of me so bad that, without thinking, I grabbed the monitor and pulled it clean out of the wall/computer and ran upstairs with it... expecting to, I don't know, throw it at someone.

I'd left the sliding door open, and the wind blew over a bunch of stuff. Meanwhile I had destroyed my computer. It was ridiculous, what I did. Like you said - pure adrenaline at work.

I felt like a dork.... but there's something tangible about the realization (real or not) that someone has entered your house that's impossible to explain, and impossible to actually know unless you've felt it.

I thought about getting a gun after that. Not because I expected any big threat.... but because of the useless feeling I had running up those stairs.

I've met a couple of people who regret buying a gun. I've never met a single person who regrets not having bought one. Not like I put a huge amount of thought into it... but I never ended up buying one.

[StarOfAfrica2]

I dont know any more of the situation than what you described, but its a proven fact that our brains process most of the information running through them without it being a concious thing.  Is your son's room the most logical place for an intruder to enter the house?  A dangerous one anyway?  If not, and given your "it could have been my son" doubt, its very possible your mind was telling you something doesnt add up and you chose not to use the gun.  In close quarters like that, a gun can sometimes be a detriment.  To truly be effective you need some amount of separation, to prevent being overpowered and having the gun taken away from you.  So either way, its likely you made the right choice.  If you had taken the gun, then I agree with what has already been said.  You never, ever fire a gun without knowing exactly what you are shooting at and whats behind it.  Especially in the house.  

I think you did exactly the right thing, and NOT picking up the gun showed remarkable restraint.  Having a gun requires presence of mind and a sense of responsibility.  You demonstrated you have both.  Dont second guess yourself.

[NUKE]

one of the best first alerts to an intruder is a good dog. A good dog, like the chow chow that recently bit my face off

I have always worried about shooting a loved one by mistake. I have guns, but don't keep them loaded under my pillow or anything like that.

Pretty scary story.....glad it turned out okay.

[Tarmac]

A Stinger XT sits in my pistol safe.  If I'm grabbing one, I'm grabbing the other.  

The button is on the butt end of the light, so you never have to fumble to figure out which side of the light it's on.  Pricey, but rechargeable, and one of the best flashlights I've ever used.

[Hangtime]

yup. intrusion invokes mans deepest instinctual reactions. We need to channel that..

Training. Gives you an opportunity to make better choices via experience.

You've just had the most outstanding and effective training experience of your life... take advantage of the kick-in-the-ass jumpstart, visit a range (it'll calm your nerves) and work out your guick reaction plan.

Stuff like weapon location, load, notification (wife, police), advance, evaluate, illuminate, identify, communicate...

You da man; yah done good. No reason yah can't improve the odds by doin even better the next time...  because if you fire that weapon, even in your own house and ANYBODY goes down, your life is gonna be forever changed unless you did things just right.

[NUKE]

Originally posted by Nash
Was once I was downstairs at the computer and heard this ruccus upstairs. Scared the bejeezus out of me so bad that, without thinking, I grabbed the monitor and pulled it clean out of the wall/computer and ran upstairs with it... expecting to, I don't know, throw it at someone.
 

That's pretty funny, and it's cool that you have the guts to post it.....one of the things I've always liked about you.

Isn't it strange to think that, even though you were scared, you still ran upstairs to confront whatever/whoever was there?

Personally, a dog and a baseball bat are pretty much my first lines of defense. It would take a hell of a lot for me to go grab my gun.

[eagl]

The idea of practicing a quick reaction plan is a good suggestion.

I have a basic plan that involves disengagement and immediate security, then finding a phone first at dialing 911 (999 here in the UK) before I attempt any sort of contact.  If I'm not already near a firearm, my first go-to item is the phone.  I can use the few seconds spent dialing 911 to go over any escape or confrontation plan so I'm not rushing into a confrontation while half asleep or confused.

As for my confrontation plan, there are a few steps I would plan on taking.

Before all of this, my primary plan is avoidance/disengagement and call 911.  Then I would try to go with this general basic plan.  Obviously if they were actively assaulting someone in the house, the priorities would shift some but at least dialing 911 should still be done prior to the confrontation if at all possible.

1.  Locate all intruders if possible, and if they're moving wait until they're in an area that gives them no cover, no escape, and at least 10 ft distance between me and them.
2.  Instant illumination of the situation.  Their eyes may be better adapted to darkness than mine and you can't be sure you know where everyone is but they'll know right where you are, so might as well turn on the lights.
3.  Assess number, size, ID, and weaponry of intruders.
4.  Shout something suitably heroic such as "freeze or I will shoot"
5.  If I see ANY weaponry or they make any steps in my direction, go 2 to the body and 1 to the head until they're down.

Having a phone by the bed is just as important as any weapons you choose to keep available.  If they're ransacking another room but haven't entered your room or don't know that you're there, might as well sit tight and give the cops some time to show up, especially if there are other family members in the house that may not be able to defend themselves.  But even if there is an assult in progress, at least dialing 911 and shouting something about them killing your wife and then putting down the phone (don't hang up!) is better than not calling at all, and it only takes a few seconds.

[Ghosth]

My daughter got a chance to look down the end of my shotgun barrel one night at 3:00 am. She made an unscheduled change of plans late night and didn't let us know.

She made just a smidge too much noise coming in, was rooting around in the kitchen looking for food when I flicked the light on and racked the action.

Needless to say we both got scared a bit. Her more than me I think.

ALWAYS be sure of your target before shooting.