Nearly Drew Down on Someone At Neighboours House

I appologize for the length of this but here goes:

We had a burglary December 9th of last year. Six of my guns were stolen and I know that I should have secured them yada yada, but it was a random smash and grab because my number just came up.

Ok so on to the scenario. My next door neighbour knows of the break in and two days before the thugs hit our house, someone stole the license plate from her car parked in the alley. Needless to say we are a bit nervous about people wandering around the "hood.

I'm getting ready to go to the gym for my workout, and over in her yard I hear yelling. I'm in the kitchen and shut off the lights, peek out the window and see some scruffy looking dude in her yard, yelling and whistling. I don't know who this character is but it is obvious to me at the time, he isn't supposed to be there.

I go to my new gun safe and get my S&W Model 19 .357 magnum, go back into the kitchen and now the guy is standing below my window with a phone in his hand, frantically texting and yelling some guys name. My thoughts are that he is the look out for someone already inside the neighbour's house and probably has seen me looking out the window and is alerting his accomplice. I could not see the back or front door of the home so I am assuming the worst. Then the guy climbs back over the locked gate to her backyard. Now I'm on double alert. I am about ready to go out and introduce the guy to my Smith & Wesson and inquire as to what he is doing.

I put on my coat, put the .357 into the inside pocket as to conceal it a bit and gingerly open the door, and step out on my back porch to confront the potential thug. I'm looking for others as well as the percieved dirtbag but I see nobody. Apparently he made a quick exit through the yard and out the gate to the alley.

I made a dash for my detached garage, opened the door and went out into the alley but whoever was in the neighbour's yard was long gone. I called my wife on my way to the gym. She has the neighbour's phone number and alerted her there was some stranger in the yard.

Now for the good part, I guess. The guy turned out to be a co-worker of the neighbour's brother who also lives in the house. Apparently, the guy was trying to locate him. My wife did speak to the neighbour on her way home from work. She packs a Ruger LCR .357 and when she got home, she saw the guys at the back door of the neighbour and one of them was unlocking the door. The neighbour lady called back and said that she talked to her brother and chewed him out royally. She knows that both me and my wife are armed and carry and she told her nutty brother that he needs to be more careful because someone is going to get hurt because of our break in, her license plate being stolen and all that.

I know that I should have called the Police but things were happening way to fast and by the time they would have arrived, the guy would have been long gone. My wife appologized to the neighbour for scaring her about this, but she said that she was glad someone was watching out for her house. Her father lives there too and he cannot hear very well, so if someone was breaking in, he would not be aware of it and could be in danger.

I'm just glad that it was a false alarm but I was prepared to draw down on this guy should he prove to be something else.

Not your property, no sign anyone is in danger, you should have called the police if you thought he was up to no good. I am not putting myself at risk for someone elses property.

If he was the look out like you thought then you had unknown BG's around. Not wise trying to do what you did at all. Glad everything is OK.

I missed the "nearly drew down" part in your account of the incident. You got a gun out of your safe, put it in your pocket, after which the potential threat was nowhere to be found.

His yelling and his presense being blantantly obvious would have been my clues that he was not planning a break-in. Sorry to hear of your break-in; been there, done that bit also.

I won't say it was right or wrong to investigate what was going on by yourself--we each have to do what we feel we need to do--but I feel you took the proper steps and hopefully exercised due caution in doing so. So many fail to realize how quickly these things happen, and any hope to "be a good witness" can vanish while taking the time to call the PD first.

Good neighbors take care of each other; a lot of that idea is missing these days.

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Originally Posted by OldVet

His yelling and his presense being blantantly obvious would have been my clues that he was not planning a break-in. Sorry to hear of your break-in; been there, done that bit also.

I won't say it was right or wrong to investigate what was going on by yourself--we each have to do what we feel we need to do--but I feel you took the proper steps and hopefully exercised due caution in doing so. So many fail to realize how quickly these things happen, and any hope to "be a good witness" can vanish while taking the time to call the PD first.

Good neighbors take care of each other; a lot of that idea is missing these days.

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I definitely agree with that. But the importance of calling the PD is that it gets people rolling in case the OP gets shot or knifed or there are folks in the house and things start getting out of control. Again....the OP thought it could have been a look out. This is not an active sooter situation where you react and don't have time to think. He had time to go get his gun...he had time to call. I am not dogging the OP at all. It is a natural instinct to want to do something.

Well I'll take the opposing view on this one. I have a neighbor who is a good friend of mine. She's a single female, living with her 16 year old daughter. I can see her house from the front of mine, but it's probably 200 yards or so to her back door from my front door.

I keep an eye out for strange vehicles at her house, like she does mine. There have been many times that I've called her to ask about a red pickup in her yard, etc...to make sure that she knows what's going on at her house while she's at work. She's done the same for me. We have both been victimized in the past, her more than me, by burglars, and I'll be damned if I'll let them get away with it if I can stop it. I have on one occasion not been able to reach her instantly, so I went to her house and confronted the unknown subject. I didn't prone him out, or stick a gun in his face, but had he been up to no good, he'd have been detained while the SO responded.

We live out in the country, with Sheriffs Deputy's covering the entire County. Slim to no chance that they could get here before anything was over, and I'll not let anything happen to my friend, or her property, that I could prevent.

Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

Be velly velly careful about how and what you do with your weapon outside your own property limits especially if you have not notified LEO's of the potential problem. You did not mention any weapon other than yours, nor did you indicate any intrusion to your property. Depending on the laws where you live you could turn out to be the bad guy going to have a talk with the local sheriff. Be very aware of your state laws before engaging.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike1956

I missed the "nearly drew down" part in your account of the incident. You got a gun out of your safe, put it in your pocket, after which the potential threat was nowhere to be found.

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He was vaulting over the fence into her back yard when I was going outside but he made a mad dash to the alley. Had he still been there, I would have "drawn down" on him. So hence the "nearly drew down" had the guy still been there. Thankfully I did not have to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OldVet

His yelling and his presense being blantantly obvious would have been my clues that he was not planning a break-in. Sorry to hear of your break-in; been there, done that bit also.

I won't say it was right or wrong to investigate what was going on by yourself--we each have to do what we feel we need to do--but I feel you took the proper steps and hopefully exercised due caution in doing so. So many fail to realize how quickly these things happen, and any hope to "be a good witness" can vanish while taking the time to call the PD first.

Good neighbors take care of each other; a lot of that idea is missing these days.

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Believe me that thought ran through my mind but the guy may not have been aware that I was home, or anyone else at the neighbours. There are so many stories of people have knocks on their door in broad daylight and the maggots pushing their way inside, so what would be different about someone "yelling" maybe to an accomplice who could have been inside that home. I didn't know but with the increase of home invasion and burglary in my neck o' the woods, I am taking no chances.

I'm definitely not criticizing your actions, I wish more neighbors and citizens would get involved. He certainly would have got my attention and, like you, my appropriate investigation.

My scenario was a little different. I was walking my GS when he took his "alert stance", those familiar with GS know what I mean.
He was staring at two young guys in the neighbors back yard and they were staring back. We watched for a few minutes and I
took the dog back to the house.
Phoned the neighbor's house, got their machine which meant no one home. Told the wife I'm going to check these guys out. I was
halfway there when the neighbors drove up. About that time I recognized one of the young men as the neighbor's grandson all grown
up.
Told the neighbor I had his back ... he thanked me and said I'd do the same for you. I know what's tucked in his waistband and I'm
sure he would. My right hand never left my "pocket" till I recognized the g.son.

The humorous part of this encounter was the g.son saying we were admiring your dog to which I replied he was admiring you to and
wondering how you would taste. He got a funny look on his face while the neighbor laughed.

Generally someone being loud or doing what this guy did isn't too high on my alert list but shouldn't be taken for granted, I had something simillar happen the guy was drunk and thought my house was his house...he ended up passing out in my lawn and woke after I assulted him with my lawns irrigation system while the cops where being called.

All he needed was blue/reds and a quick lawn shower to sober up before he knew he'd made a mistake.

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I guess what I am trying to convey is that I am still reeling from the burgary. It has been just over one month and still fresh in my mind. I feel violated, six of my guns are missing and I have no clue as to who did it or what they look like. Everyone now is a suspect that comes around and I don't know them. I have been told by the investigating Police that it is a possibility they will come back to finish what they started. I have other "stuff" in my house that would be very tempting for some sub human to want to take because he feels entitled to my stuff.

My neighbour had an "incident" last summer when she spooked two dirtbags in the alley looking around, one of them she saw slinking around my detached garage and she blazed him with her car lights, scared them off with threats of calling the police. One of them came back later, got on her front porch and was looking inside her window. Scared the daylights out of her young teen daughter who was downstairs at the time and witnessed it. No wonder we want to be packing and confront people outside our homes that we do not know.

I have installed a motion light between our houses that lights up the whole yard in an instant. She asked me to do it because a day after our burglary she heard the noise of someone between our houses in the dark and feared her home might be the next target. Needless to say all my good neighbours are nervous about our burglary and are on heightend alert.

Do I hate living this way? Yes, but we have to be reactive in order to stop what could be a potential break in considering the thugs might not be so considerate as to do it while your are away from home.

I would have went to get my gun also, seeing the guy was right outside your window. Just dont do a zimmerman.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoJoGunn

He was vaulting over the fence into her back yard when I was going outside but he made a mad dash to the alley. Had he still been there, I would have "drawn down" on him. So hence the "nearly drew down" had the guy still been there. Thankfully I did not have to.

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In my attempt at gentle decorum, I was being subtle. How can you draw down on anyone when your gun is in your safe?