Most home invasions are not random, we have nothing to fear...

[oakchas]

But sometimes, innocent bystanders may fall victim to such crimes, as seen in a terrifying home invasion on Friday when a 16-year-old girl called police from her bedroom closet as two men armed with a gun and knife assaulted her grandmother and brother.

Well, that's what they're saying at least, in Brockton.

Read more: Brockton police: Home invasions are usually

I find it interesting that the criminals were known to their victims in 65% of violent crimes... that leaves 35% that didn't know their assailant...

So, if you are the victim of a home invasion or other violent crime, will you know the perp?

My guess is, for those of us here; no, we won't know who he is or was...

Most of us don't associate with stupid people, we don't say stupid things like "You should see all the gold in my safe and my collection of guns. And by the way, my doctor prescribed me 90 days worth of oxycontin for my hangnail." And, we don't go to the local biker bar for a "little local" color with our cheeseburger.

So, if we are the potential victims, we won't know the perp, and likely he will have chosen his victim poorly... And that's okay by me.

Be safe, keep your business to yourself, but be prepared...

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[accessbob]

Two examples of H.I. were given in the article where they broke in and brandished a knife. I have started carrying on my person even while at home. If someone comes in with a knife, or hoodies and a knife, or whatever, they will be finding out what lead poisoning feels like - immediately with no questions asked.

[cj]

Ok, so they're not random. That's some comfort when they're non-randomly kicking your door down...perhaps because they got the address wrong...or the guy who lived there before you had sold drugs to one of their cousin's friends 3 years ago...

My personal local favorite was when one of the invaders called up a girl who was a victim in the house at the time of his group's invasion to tell her he'd found her cell phone randomly in his car, and did she want to go out with him when she met him to return it? Why yes she did, although she sent some friends in blue along first. Of course, that invasion wasn't random either, as they'd arranged to meet others in the house for drugs so were hoping to get some freebies.

[bigmacque]

Mark Twain said it best: there are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.

Remember the old commercials about car accidents, how most of them happen within 25 miles home? Of course they do ... how much of our driving is done beyond that? For the long commuter of course it's different, but for most drivers it's not.

So 65% will know their assailant? I would not bet on that number. If you're hanging with that much of a bad crowd, I'd think the odds are that you're one of the home invader types.

[TVille]

Knowing the home owner probably means "know of". So your gardener told some friends that he saw you loading guns (2) into a huge safe. I believe most aren't random, but I also believe that most victims don't know or recognize the relationship with the dirt bag that just kicked in their front door.

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[Crescentstar]

Still not very comforting, considering how many times these idiots get the wrong house.

[F350]

I'm sure Mr Petit will be comforted by those statistics.

[mano3]

Most of the home invasions that have happened in Elmore County, AL (where I live) have been against rural homes. I'm assuming that the BGs pick these homes because there's a lack of (if any) neighbors. The other trend I've noticed is that they go for elderly folks; easy target in their minds I guess.

Ever since we installed our alarm system, we noticed that amount of suspicious foot traffic has dwindled...

[Sig 210]

No surprise here. Folks hire carpenters, gardners, landscapers, lawn maintenence men, handymen and house cleaners without knowing who they are. Some companies hire workers from the halfway house or work release.

Do not leave valuables or guns lying around when theres a stranger working in or near your home.
Ask the owner of the company to vouch for his/her employees.

[Maso]

^^^ this guy. My buddys industrial supply store kept getting robbed. He suspected a few people, so put an alarm in. Things stil went missing. He was thinking it was an exwife of someone who worked there or the cleaning crew. The exwife got locked up and things still went missing. Turns out a lady on the cleaning crew was doing it, but was fired a while back, and convinced her friend to steal the parts for her. Crazy.

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[DMan]

Remember that this article states "known" to the home owner, it does not say close friend, associates, etc, it say's "known". We had a home invasion in our neighbor hood, and the BG was "known" to us all. The kid thought the people were at home/school, but someone took a sick day and he was identified and caught. He was a teenage kid from a looser family down the road that has no control of the kids/dad is already serving time. We can look at Sixto's neighbors, or any number of us that recognize who the BG is/or where they come from. BG's tend to stick close to home, they are lazy, which makes them do stupid things.

With this thinking in mind, I can see how 65% are known to the resident.

[hrufrdr1]

Known, unknown...can they dodge bullets?