Attempted Burglary
I spoke with a friend the other day.
Like most of my friends, he lives in the country/sticks/boonies.
His house is set well back from the road with lots of trees/woods.
Last week for several days they kept getting phone calls at all times of the day. When they would answer, the other party would hang up.
Then one day his son was on the Internet. When that happens at their house, if you call, the phone on your end just rings and rings - but on their end, nothing.
The guy's wife says, "Richard - there is a car parked in our driveway".
Their driveway is long - probably 100 yards and the car was about 20 yards in.
Two dudes sitting in the car.
Richard arms himself with a 1911 and goes outside and starts walking up the drive - the pistol is in his hand.
The car reverses, spews gravel and pulls out to the road and then goes down the road about 50 yards.
Richard is focused on the car trying to get a description. All he got was "white males"
The guys in the car start hollering - "HEY! HEY! Over HERE!".
DOH!
That's when Richard realized what happened and beat a careful retreat to his home whereupon he called the Sherriff.
These guys had his phone number. Probably opened his mail box one day - saw who lived there, looked him up in the phone book.
They would periodically be out looking for trouble (burglary) and call his home - when there was an answer, they knew someone was home and would just hang up and look for easier pickings.
Then they called and "no one was home".
There were at least THREE of them (I suspect four)
The car pulls in off the road so passersby don't see it.
One (or more) guys get out and go to scope to the place out - dogs? cameras? alarms? People actually home?
If all is clear they likely hit the place and then call in the car/lookout to grab the goods and off they go.
If the coast is not clear - they beat a retreat.
There was at least one other person in the woods/behind the house when Richard went out - that's who the car occupants were hollering to.
There were at least 3 (and I think four so the recon guy didn't have to be alone) dudes.
And a 1911 with 7 shots (mine carried 9 on board but his had 7 - I asked).
Richard's eyes aren't that good.
I've seen him shoot - he's "okay".
That's not enough rounds if those guys decided to fight.
Lessons Learned:
o Be alert to pre-operational surveillance. Most crooks plan at least to some degree their attack. These guys had been "reconning by phone" for a few days.
o Consider how easy (or hard) your place is to hit when you are not home - fix deficiencies.
o The threat you see is not the only threat - to not get "target fixated". Richard could have been killed by the guy(s) in the bushes.
o Plan for the real threat - not your fantasy. You will rarely have a single opponent.
o Carry more ammo.
o When you have a choice - a pistol is not the choice. As Clint Smith said - "A pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should have never laid down in the first place".
o Criminals tend to prey on their own. Criminals operate in and amongst their own socio-economic class and race.
o It CAN happen to you - have a plan.
When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. – Luke 11:21 – 22
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If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe
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posted by Joe @ Wednesday, May 05, 2010
8 comments
8 Comments:
I was glad to see you advised up arming. Meet and greet with maximum firepower. If it is important enough to pick up a gun, use the biggest one...
My $.02 is that even if you have no dogs, a beware of dog sign with a few near by visual clues can by you time. An electronic dog bark at the right time can really give you an edge...
An unlisted and unpublished number can obviously help in this situation. We have caller ID and we have anonymous calls blocked as well.
Good article and good tips! I'm glad everything turned out okay for them!
Approach from a position of cover. You know your own property. Use it to your advantage. Buy body armor.
Abraham
Good advice. I had a break in last year, cops said it was just kids, not career criminals but I would not would have wanted to have been in the house alone and unarmed if they'd gotten in when I was there.
I have a weapon handy, all the time. There's no taking chances be it rural or city.
Don't be involved with drug dealers, or give anyone the idea that you are one. The home invasion crowd often gets its "leads" from the drug dealing crowd.
One of the favorite home invasion targets is drug dealers. Secluded rural areas are in some ways ideal locations for these types of crimes.
With a home invasion their preferred point of attack would be when the person is getting in or out of their car. Per Gavin de Becker's "Just 2 Seconds", this is also one of the favorite locations for assassins to strike at their target. The entry and exit into a car is a very vulnerable point.
In a specific case I know of, a drug dealer in North Carolina is contacted by a middleman (woman actually) in Georgia, and she brings up her muscle from Florida to hit a small rural drug dealer in North Carolina. They had a can of gasoline to convince the tied up victims to tell them where the money was. Their primary target was the dealers wife and child.
The neighborhood was remote, but not so remote that neighbors could not see cars driving up toward other neighbors houses. So alert neighbors (more than one) called the police when they saw the set up.
Fortunately the absolute numbers of these type of people are still relatively small in most of the USA, but it is not a game and is deadly serious.
Nice post, I do find a problem with the steps a thief will go through before breaking into your house. First, if I don't know who is calling me I wont answer the phone and I don't always answer a knock on my door. I hear home invasions are more likely to happen during the day and since I am a stay at home mom I really hope you are wrong.
We can have a gun in our house, we have 3 little kids and 1 of them has Autism. I have read that having wasp spray around is a 2nd best to a gun. At least it gives you a chance to get away.
Hey Joanna,
I'm assuming you meant to write we CAN't have a gun in the house because you have three little kids and one with autism.
My advice is to "free your mind". You CAN have a gun. The problem you perceive is not "a gun" but children gaining access to a gun - those are two very different things. I submit that if you buy a small locking safe next to your bed to keep the gun (pistol) in at night and then wear it during the day in a holster - your children will not have access to it but you would - instantly -in an emergency.
There are other solutions. Wasp spray I would think would be even more dangerous - to the kids and to you. They can access it. They could blind themselves or each other and you would not treat it the same (security) I'm thinking as a loaded pistol. If you have "a place you can keep it" then you could keep a pistol there. We liked "up high" when the kids were toddlers - after they grew we taught and disciplined them. We did not have child with autism though - you have challenges - but not unsurmountable ones.
Anything is better than nothing but a pistol is a lot better than any chemical spray. Most home invasions involve multiple attackers - you may get ONE with the spray...
In the end it's your life and you get to decide. I just urge you not to paint yourself into a mental corner. Banish "can't" - you CAN, just maybe in a different way.
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