[rodwhaincamo]

I, too, live in an apartment with the same concerns. Despite living on the "good" side of town there are crummy neighborhoods nearby and the "rift raft" can be seen roaming the streets.
Come to find out, once I got to know a few of my neighbors, that the master bedroom windows are easy to get into, and that several apartments in our little vicinity had been broken into that way along with a few kick-doors. Oh great... Eventually we came home to find our window broken. The car has been broken into 3 times in less than 2 yrs
I have installed screw on window locks, cheapo alarms on the window and door, placed my reloading table in front of the bedroom window, and furniture in front of the sliding glass door [In the 2nd bedroom???] of my daughters room, as well as night lights.
This ought to buy us a little more time and ensure that an intruder[s] cannot get the drop on us in the middle of the night. And the dim lights are enough to identify the intruder[s].
There are the frangible types of bullets intended for such applications, though I have some in my 44 Mag, they don't seem to perform as advertised. Some merely causing flesh wounds, some not fragmenting but acting more like a fmj. I intend on doing some testing with the mock walls I have made [waiting on siding and insulation to simulate exterior walls].
I rather like my downwind neighbors and would feel better about using something less dangerous. But if it doesn't perform well it's 44 Spls with hollow points.
Another thing I have been considering trying are shotshells loaded with larger shot [4 to buck].
The 38 Spl would do well. I would suggest, if you are leaning towards such, to get a 357 Mag and use 38 +Ps. It would give you a larger range of uses. But I am of a mind to use larger calibers.