Attempted Break-In

One night last week, my wife and son went to bed while I stayed up to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm.
About 15 minutes in, I heard some odd thumping noises, but assumed it was my son upstairs in the bathroom. A few minutes later, I heard someone trying to get into our locked French doors from our back deck! The curtains were drawn, so I couldn’t see out. I jumped up from the couch, clicked on the outdoor floodlight, and pulled the curtains aside… to find a dude on my deck on his way to checking the kitchen window.

He turned suddenly to face me peering at him through the glass of the door, and he began making a steady exit from the deck. I opened the door and took 2 steps out to chase him, when reason took over and I darted back inside to dial 911. As I spoke to the dispatcher, I ran into a side room to see if the guy left my backyard, and I noticed my shed was open (apparently he checked the shed before trying my back door).

He was gone, and the gate remained locked, so I deducted he had jumped the fence twice- once upon entering, and once on exiting. At least I got a good look at him in those few seconds.

Long story short: When the patrolman arrived and took down all info (including my description of the dude) he gave me his card and left to look around my property and back yard. I didn’t have much confidence in the dude being apprehended. But here’s where it gets good - the officer knocked on my door 5 minutes later to tell me that he had found the guy’s cell phone in my side yard!

Apparently the dude dropped it hopping my fence!

Next morning, 2 officers and a detective came by to look for more clues. They got fingerprints from a side window, as well as photos and measurements of footprints in the rain-soaked yard! They told me they know who it is and expected to make an arrest later and would let me know.

Next day, I got a call from the detective. He told me the guy was one of a ring of 3 who robbed houses in the area, but our man had eluded police and hid out in Philadelphia. Fortunately they arrested the driver of the ring, and were confident of capturing the remaining 2 suspects.

The sad part is, these were just kids - 18 year olds who lived in my town (one kid was in my son’s yearbook from last year). They had successfully robbed a house in a development next to mine the same night my house was the target. The officer told me they would all be going to prison on a slew of charges when arrested and processed.

Today I’ve been informed that a second arrest was made, though I’m not sure if it was the guy who was at my house. But both he and the driver made bail and were free for now. As a parent, I can only imagine utter disappointment with my son had he acted as they did.
Now we await the last arrest and the trials of all three.
I hope they serve their time well, and turn their lives around upon release in a few years.

That’s crazy shit. Good thing you thought logically and didn’t pursue him. Who knows what he could’ve been carrying.

I remember a couple of years ago I came home from school and was napping. I woke up in the middle of my nap to some noise but went straight back to sleep because I thought it was my neighbor just doing something in his backyard. Later, when my parents came home we found out someone tried to break in through our backdoor. The lock was all twisted and scratched up and it looked like someone had tried to pry the door open with some long object. Luckily, we have these heavy duty ass doors so they couldn’t get in. I forget if my parents called the police but I remember there being a string of robberies around my neighborhood at the time. I think they were all caught since the robberies eventually stopped and it died from the news.

Home invasion is so stupid. It’s hard to believe that kids are doing this. I would have investigated the noise with a gun. That’s how I respond because I don’t know who it is or what they have. Right there an 18 year old kid would have had a .45 pointed at him. For what, trying to break in and steal a few things? Don’t they know people will defend their homes? They are lucky to be alive. Hopefully after a little bit of time served they will change their ways. If they don’t they’re going to go into the wrong house one day and get killed.

I am sorry to hear of all this Iron, it’s just scary to think about. Then, on top of it all, it ends up being some punk kids. Man I hope the DA goes after them in court.

When I saw 911 in my peripheral when reading I though it would say “Then I grabbed my Colt 1911…” damn

But, entertaining.

Glad you and your family are all ok, scary shit man.
I’ve been forced to work nights or no job at all and leaving my wife and infant son home alone at night worries the hell out of me, I take a little comfort that she knows how to use the shot gun and has her own 380 as back up but still.

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
I hope they serve their time well, and turn their lives around upon release in a few years. [/quote]

2nd that one.

Shit, I am just glad everything turned out ok. It is worrying when you know that some people out there will do something like this.

Seems pretty brazen with you still up and watching TV. I don’t know the layout of your house…but couldn’t the guy see lights on in the house, TV flickering, or the sound of the TV?

I would think if I was going to break into a house, I would make damn sure no one was home…lest I find a Kimber Tactical Ultra shoved in my eye. :wink:

[quote]JPCleary wrote:
Seems pretty brazen with you still up and watching TV. I don’t know the layout of your house…but couldn’t the guy see lights on in the house, TV flickering, or the sound of the TV?

I would think if I was going to break into a house, I would make damn sure no one was home…lest I find a Kimber Tactical Ultra shoved in my eye. ;)[/quote]

Remember though, if you are making the decision to rob houses, you aren’t very bright to begin with. At least they waited till it was dark out. I give them credit. … BUT he did drop his phone LOL fucking idiots.

V

I’m glad that nobody was hurt and they actually caught the kid.

Did he take anything from the shed?

Police actually did their job? I am impressed.

In Canada if you pull a gun, or a knife for that matter on an unarmed intruder you are fucked in the court of law, period. The homeowner is now the criminal and the intruder is the victim.

You(homeowner) is going to jail. It dosen’t seem right but thats how it is here.

I heard an audio tape of a dude that shot and killed two guys breaking into his neighbors house. He was talking to the 911 operator the whole time. They ran across his property and he gunned em’ down, all on tape. Anyone else heard this recording. I think it was break.com. I was always curious as to what happend to the guy.

Ironically the shooter said at one time,“ya know, I don’t even like my neighbors but this shit has to stop”

Nothing was taken from the shed. I assume he was looking for spare keys to the house.
My wife was shaken up, understandably. She wondered how anyone could be so bold/stupid as to try to break in just minutes after we had gone to bed. All the lights in the house were off except the family room (where I sat with the TV on). Our blinds were all closed back there, but the front of the house had all the blinds open. The fingerprints taken by the detective were from the side window ledge. Apparently the kid leaned on it as he peeked into that window.

I do not own a gun, but that night I seriously considered it. Later, I rationalized that it would have made no difference. The time it took me to grab the gun would have been enough time for the kid to have determined that there was no easy access into my home, and could have been gone by then. I think things turned out quite good when you consider the circumstances.

One thing I noted as the kid ran - he had what looked like an inhaler in his mouth. I was so curious as to what it was I almost asked him as he took off! LOL

I wasn’t scared at all. I just reacted. The scariest part was that brief moment when I heard the door handles jiggling as he tried to get in. The closed curtains and that sound were reminiscent of some horror film where you could only imagine the most horrible creature out there. lol

I have a German Shepherd/Chow mix and you better believe that he hears people, animals way before I do and he is usually right at the window watching them, barking, etc…

Have you considered a watch dog ID?

I have 2 little dogs who usually bark at every fucking thing! They hear a car door slam across the street and it’s a barkfest!
That’s what we found so surprising. Not only did they NOT bark or stir at the noises or my activity that night, but they didn’t even react when the patrolman came into the house.

[quote]bond james bond wrote:
In Canada if you pull a gun, or a knife for that matter on an unarmed intruder you are fucked in the court of law, period. The homeowner is now the criminal and the intruder is the victim.

You(homeowner) is going to jail. It dosen’t seem right but thats how it is here.

I heard an audio tape of a dude that shot and killed two guys breaking into his neighbors house. He was talking to the 911 operator the whole time. They ran across his property and he gunned em’ down, all on tape. Anyone else heard this recording. I think it was break.com. I was always curious as to what happend to the guy.

Ironically the shooter said at one time,“ya know, I don’t even like my neighbors but this shit has to stop” [/quote]

Here in most states, you can pull a gun or knife, but you can’t use it unless you reasonably believe that you or others are going to be seriously harmed or killed. Some states like Florida have a stand your ground statute, and Texas, where that incident you described took place, allows people to use deadly force to protect their own or a neighbor’s property.

[quote]theOUTLAW wrote:
bond james bond wrote:
In Canada if you pull a gun, or a knife for that matter on an unarmed intruder you are fucked in the court of law, period. The homeowner is now the criminal and the intruder is the victim.

You(homeowner) is going to jail. It dosen’t seem right but thats how it is here.

I heard an audio tape of a dude that shot and killed two guys breaking into his neighbors house. He was talking to the 911 operator the whole time. They ran across his property and he gunned em’ down, all on tape. Anyone else heard this recording. I think it was break.com. I was always curious as to what happend to the guy.

Ironically the shooter said at one time,“ya know, I don’t even like my neighbors but this shit has to stop”

Here in most states, you can pull a gun or knife, but you can’t use it unless you reasonably believe that you or others are going to be seriously harmed or killed. Some states like Florida have a stand your ground statute, and Texas, where that incident you described took place, allows people to use deadly force to protect their own or a neighbor’s property.

[/quote]

This is completely off topic, but wouldn’t it be funny if someone made a username “theINLAW” and followed you around and acted like your mother in law? Sorry, as you can tell by some of my posts today it is SLOW at work and I’m extremely bored. I might be borderline delerious.

V

[quote]bond james bond wrote:
I heard an audio tape of a dude that shot and killed two guys breaking into his neighbors house. He was talking to the 911 operator the whole time. They ran across his property and he gunned em’ down, all on tape. Anyone else heard this recording. I think it was break.com. I was always curious as to what happend to the guy.
[/quote]

That was from Pasadena Tx, about 20min from where I live. Joe Horn, he caught a bunch of shit from the new black panthers and whatnot but a grand jury cleared him. I love the part where he says, move and your dead. Boom.

[quote]Vegita wrote:
theOUTLAW wrote:
bond james bond wrote:
In Canada if you pull a gun, or a knife for that matter on an unarmed intruder you are fucked in the court of law, period. The homeowner is now the criminal and the intruder is the victim.

You(homeowner) is going to jail. It dosen’t seem right but thats how it is here.

I heard an audio tape of a dude that shot and killed two guys breaking into his neighbors house. He was talking to the 911 operator the whole time. They ran across his property and he gunned em’ down, all on tape. Anyone else heard this recording. I think it was break.com. I was always curious as to what happend to the guy.

Ironically the shooter said at one time,“ya know, I don’t even like my neighbors but this shit has to stop”

Here in most states, you can pull a gun or knife, but you can’t use it unless you reasonably believe that you or others are going to be seriously harmed or killed. Some states like Florida have a stand your ground statute, and Texas, where that incident you described took place, allows people to use deadly force to protect their own or a neighbor’s property.

This is completely off topic, but wouldn’t it be funny if someone made a username “theINLAW” and followed you around and acted like your mother in law? Sorry, as you can tell by some of my posts today it is SLOW at work and I’m extremely bored. I might be borderline delerious.

V[/quote]

Haha…that would be pretty funny, but it would be a waste of time since I don’t really post much. Originally though, I made this name to be a dick to people, so if someone did that back in '08, it would’ve been good.