Attempted Break In - Page 2

Uncle Billy · July 18, 2009, 07:50 AM

My house is in a nearly crime-free neighborhood (a stolen bicycle or an unlocked car on the street tossed for change now and then) but is close to one that's in the crime news a lot, for drug-related turf wars and bar fights. One night a few years ago, late at night in the summer, from my 2nd floor bedroom, I woke to angry crowd noises from a bar that's about a half mile away as the crow flies but about 2 miles on the streets, punctuated by 3 shots, a change in the crowd noise, then about a minute or so later, 2 sirens. A brawl in the parking lot had one shot dead and the other on the lam. If it's close enough to hear it's close enough to be alarming, even though the state liquor authority closed the place. So... I have an alarm system that calls the police if it's tripped and when the security company calls no one answers the phone in the house (or does but hasn't got the password)- costs me $27.76 per month, and also monitors the house for fire. As others have said, the exterior lights, which light the back yard and the garage are all loaded with 150 watt equivalent bulbs that actually use about 28 watts I think, that are on dusk to dawn- I thought that a place that's well lit all the time would discourage some of those with felonious intent before they began their activities, for 2 reasons: the chance of being seen begins when they walk up to it; and it announces that preparations have been made to make getting away with anything a risky business. Such an assumption is correct: Next to my bed- on the second floor with windows on the back yard and on the driveway- are a 12 gauge loaded with buckshot and a loaded Ruger .44 Magnum in a western-style gunbelt hanging on the inside of the closet door (no kids here). Near the bedroom door but not in view are a loaded Walther PP and spare loaded clip and an M1 carbine with 2 30-round loaded clips at hand. A very bright flashlight is immediately available and so are a hard-wired telephone and my cell phone. Next door the neighbors have a pair of Rottweilers which are as dumb as a box of rocks, but very attentive to what's going on outside, with loud, "big-dog" barks and a deep growl that will make your hair stand up when you hear it. In the detached garage are a fire alarm and an intrusion alarm that makes dogs howl all over the neighborhood whenever it goes off. I had the cellar windows replaced with glass blocks of the sort that let light in but distort the view and are almost impossible to penetrate. All of this in a neighborhood that has had no burglaries or vandalism in the 13 years I've been here. Guess you could say either that I'm prepared, or that I'm paranoid and insecure. Truth is, I'm both.

Dabull · July 18, 2009, 09:58 AM

@Uncle Billy

Nice job...a layered defense to harden your house against unwanted visitors.

Uncle Billy · July 18, 2009, 10:12 AM

Thanks, Dabull. I don't let everyone that comes to my home know how it's set up (except for the obvious and non-dangerous things like the lighting). I don't want to give the impression I'm a paranoid gun nut. Those that know me well know I sort of am anyway.

My girlfriend once opened my closet door to find another pillow and the Ruger Super Blackhawk nearly broke her nose. She said "Wow, that's a surprise! I don't know you well enough to have guessed you'd have a gun". I said, "If you don't know me very well, then what the hell are you doing in my bedroom needing more pillows?"

rshanneck2002 · July 19, 2009, 08:05 AM

uncle billy,its great, the idea of a layered area is fine words. It is exactly what i have done at my home. and please do turn out the lights,flood the outside area. You can see out and the bad guys can not see in,pick good areas in your home for defensive purposes. I have a spot in my house i can cover all 3 doors with a shotgun, from the front to back door and the door to my attached garage and i would never pull the trigger unless one of the doors where kicked in. I know my inviroment inside like the back of my hand and any fool who hears the slide of a pump shotgun,well if he keeps coming he is trully a FOOL! All of my doors and most of the downstair windows have portable alarms attached to them and are switchted on almost 24 hr aday and when i sit at my kitchen table i can moniter the front and back yard with two cameras at said table. We have had alot of home invasions in my area involving apts, they go around banging on doors until some fool opens it,then bum rush and once inside its over. Nope, it aint mayberry these days.

big26john · July 19, 2009, 08:44 AM

A fullsize revolver is a great home defense weapon. I have a small 38spl snub and they are nice too. I would perfer to "check" the house as you did unarmed with a handgun as if you are ambushed you can use it with one hand where you can't with a long arm.

I do have a few questions though.

1) Why were the blinds swinging if the one pane of glass was not broken?

2) If you had already cleared the house and you identified what had made the noise with no entry. Why did you not flip on as many lights as possible and maintain your position? If you did see someone coming through a window wouldn't you have the first shot?

the motion lights in the rear of the house would help as would the flashlights.

To me this sounds like an attempted breakin and not and not vandalism. Could have been teens trying to rob you though... Vandalist are not going to scale your rear fence to throw a brick at your rear window. They are going to hit and run hitting whatever they can leave the fastest from. Think of teens trying to toilet paper a house. Burglers are going to target the rear sliding door fence or not. The crook probably though there was no one there. If the brick bounced back at him he either got hit with it or it or was trying to locate it due to darkness when he realized that you were home and he took off.

Dabull · July 19, 2009, 10:04 AM

Quote:

1) Why were the blinds swinging if the one pane of glass was not broken?

The brick was thrown with sufficient force to break the outer pane of glass, and bend the door frame inward a bit, but not break the inner pane. The blinds were likely moving due to a combination of impact vibration (which also knocked some items off of my pantry shelf) and the inward bowing of the inner pane of glass which did not break. Can't be sure.

Quote:

2) If you had already cleared the house and you identified what had made the noise with no entry. Why did you not flip on as many lights as possible and maintain your position? If you did see someone coming through a window wouldn't you have the first shot?

I only cleared the adjacent kitchen (while unarmed investigating the noise), then returned to the bedroom for phone and gun once I saw what had happened. The light switches for the exterior lights are located near the front door and by the broken sliding glass door, so I chose to barricade rather than move to turn those on. We thought someone might be trying to come in the other bedroom windows, which would have put them between me (at the front door) and my wife (in the bedroom). Problem solved if the lights had been on full time or connected to a motion detector.

I agree the most likely explanation is teen thinking the house was empty.

July 18, 2009, 07:50 AM	#26
Uncle Billy Senior Member Join Date: June 10, 2009 Location: Small city in New York Posts: 482	My house is in a nearly crime-free neighborhood (a stolen bicycle or an unlocked car on the street tossed for change now and then) but is close to one that's in the crime news a lot, for drug-related turf wars and bar fights. One night a few years ago, late at night in the summer, from my 2nd floor bedroom, I woke to angry crowd noises from a bar that's about a half mile away as the crow flies but about 2 miles on the streets, punctuated by 3 shots, a change in the crowd noise, then about a minute or so later, 2 sirens. A brawl in the parking lot had one shot dead and the other on the lam. If it's close enough to hear it's close enough to be alarming, even though the state liquor authority closed the place. So... I have an alarm system that calls the police if it's tripped and when the security company calls no one answers the phone in the house (or does but hasn't got the password)- costs me $27.76 per month, and also monitors the house for fire. As others have said, the exterior lights, which light the back yard and the garage are all loaded with 150 watt equivalent bulbs that actually use about 28 watts I think, that are on dusk to dawn- I thought that a place that's well lit all the time would discourage some of those with felonious intent before they began their activities, for 2 reasons: the chance of being seen begins when they walk up to it; and it announces that preparations have been made to make getting away with anything a risky business. Such an assumption is correct: Next to my bed- on the second floor with windows on the back yard and on the driveway- are a 12 gauge loaded with buckshot and a loaded Ruger .44 Magnum in a western-style gunbelt hanging on the inside of the closet door (no kids here). Near the bedroom door but not in view are a loaded Walther PP and spare loaded clip and an M1 carbine with 2 30-round loaded clips at hand. A very bright flashlight is immediately available and so are a hard-wired telephone and my cell phone. Next door the neighbors have a pair of Rottweilers which are as dumb as a box of rocks, but very attentive to what's going on outside, with loud, "big-dog" barks and a deep growl that will make your hair stand up when you hear it. In the detached garage are a fire alarm and an intrusion alarm that makes dogs howl all over the neighborhood whenever it goes off. I had the cellar windows replaced with glass blocks of the sort that let light in but distort the view and are almost impossible to penetrate. All of this in a neighborhood that has had no burglaries or vandalism in the 13 years I've been here. Guess you could say either that I'm prepared, or that I'm paranoid and insecure. Truth is, I'm both. __________________ Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?

July 18, 2009, 09:58 AM	#27
Dabull Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 380	@Uncle Billy Nice job...a layered defense to harden your house against unwanted visitors. __________________ "Its better to have a gun and not need it, than to need a gun and not have it." -- Clarence Worley in True Romance

July 18, 2009, 10:12 AM	#28
Uncle Billy Senior Member Join Date: June 10, 2009 Location: Small city in New York Posts: 482	Thanks, Dabull. I don't let everyone that comes to my home know how it's set up (except for the obvious and non-dangerous things like the lighting). I don't want to give the impression I'm a paranoid gun nut. Those that know me well know I sort of am anyway. My girlfriend once opened my closet door to find another pillow and the Ruger Super Blackhawk nearly broke her nose. She said "Wow, that's a surprise! I don't know you well enough to have guessed you'd have a gun". I said, "If you don't know me very well, then what the hell are you doing in my bedroom needing more pillows?" __________________ Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?

July 19, 2009, 08:05 AM	#29
rshanneck2002 Senior Member Join Date: December 14, 2008 Posts: 194	uncle billy,its great, the idea of a layered area is fine words. It is exactly what i have done at my home. and please do turn out the lights,flood the outside area. You can see out and the bad guys can not see in,pick good areas in your home for defensive purposes. I have a spot in my house i can cover all 3 doors with a shotgun, from the front to back door and the door to my attached garage and i would never pull the trigger unless one of the doors where kicked in. I know my inviroment inside like the back of my hand and any fool who hears the slide of a pump shotgun,well if he keeps coming he is trully a FOOL! All of my doors and most of the downstair windows have portable alarms attached to them and are switchted on almost 24 hr aday and when i sit at my kitchen table i can moniter the front and back yard with two cameras at said table. We have had alot of home invasions in my area involving apts, they go around banging on doors until some fool opens it,then bum rush and once inside its over. Nope, it aint mayberry these days.

July 19, 2009, 08:44 AM	#30
big26john Member Join Date: July 13, 2009 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 35	A fullsize revolver is a great home defense weapon. I have a small 38spl snub and they are nice too. I would perfer to "check" the house as you did unarmed with a handgun as if you are ambushed you can use it with one hand where you can't with a long arm. I do have a few questions though. 1) Why were the blinds swinging if the one pane of glass was not broken? 2) If you had already cleared the house and you identified what had made the noise with no entry. Why did you not flip on as many lights as possible and maintain your position? If you did see someone coming through a window wouldn't you have the first shot? the motion lights in the rear of the house would help as would the flashlights. To me this sounds like an attempted breakin and not and not vandalism. Could have been teens trying to rob you though... Vandalist are not going to scale your rear fence to throw a brick at your rear window. They are going to hit and run hitting whatever they can leave the fastest from. Think of teens trying to toilet paper a house. Burglers are going to target the rear sliding door fence or not. The crook probably though there was no one there. If the brick bounced back at him he either got hit with it or it or was trying to locate it due to darkness when he realized that you were home and he took off.