I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to post this, but I guess I'll go ahead anyway.
I recently moved, along with a few college friends, into a house just a couple miles from campus. The neighborhood, while not great, isn't terrible either.
My roommate Michael, invited his sister to stay with us for a few nights, so she was sleeping on the couch downstairs this evening.
My second night in the house, I wake up to Michael shaking me and saying, "Get up! There's someone in the house!" Apparently his sister had awoken to some guy moving around near her in the night, and she had run upstairs to warn us. Thankfully, she had managed to get upstairs without the intruder seeing her.
I get up, grab my XD9 and my Surefire, and start to head toward the stairs. I see Michael (here's the funny part) grab my pocketknife from my dresser, open it, and hold it like a sword in front of him. Despite the tension, I can't help but chuckle, and I grab my .380 carry gun and hand it to him.
We head down the stairs, turn the corner, and I see a large man standing in my hallway. I fix the light on him, and ask him what he's doing in my house.
He hesitates awkwardly, and mumbles something unclear, so I repeat the question louder. He mutters something indistinguishable again, so I tell him he needs to leave. In response, he asks me to take the light out of his eyes, saying he has sensitive eyes.
I'll add at this point that the guy was obviously on something. Either drunk or high, but he just wasn't totally with it, which made me additionally cautious.
I left the light in his eyes, and again demanded that he get out of my house. I nodded toward the door and told him, "There's the door, get out."
At this point he began walking toward the door, then changed direction slightly and began walking toward me. I realized at that point that I didn't want to shoot him, but I really thought I was going to have to shoot. Fortunately, he seemed to rethink his actions, and again headed to the door.
We finally got him out, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We realized in the morning that he had come in through a window.
In hindsight, I realize a couple things I could have done differently.
1. I should have called 911 or had someone call as I went downstairs.
2. Some might say that I should have held him until police arrived. While this might have worked, if I demanded that he stay where he was and he refused, I would be faced with a difficult decision of whether to try to restrain him by force, or to let him go.
So there it is. My actions may not have been perfect, but I felt that I handled the situation reasonably, and I managed to make it through the night without killing anyone.
I recently moved, along with a few college friends, into a house just a couple miles from campus. The neighborhood, while not great, isn't terrible either.
My roommate Michael, invited his sister to stay with us for a few nights, so she was sleeping on the couch downstairs this evening.
My second night in the house, I wake up to Michael shaking me and saying, "Get up! There's someone in the house!" Apparently his sister had awoken to some guy moving around near her in the night, and she had run upstairs to warn us. Thankfully, she had managed to get upstairs without the intruder seeing her.
I get up, grab my XD9 and my Surefire, and start to head toward the stairs. I see Michael (here's the funny part) grab my pocketknife from my dresser, open it, and hold it like a sword in front of him. Despite the tension, I can't help but chuckle, and I grab my .380 carry gun and hand it to him.
We head down the stairs, turn the corner, and I see a large man standing in my hallway. I fix the light on him, and ask him what he's doing in my house.
He hesitates awkwardly, and mumbles something unclear, so I repeat the question louder. He mutters something indistinguishable again, so I tell him he needs to leave. In response, he asks me to take the light out of his eyes, saying he has sensitive eyes.
I'll add at this point that the guy was obviously on something. Either drunk or high, but he just wasn't totally with it, which made me additionally cautious.
I left the light in his eyes, and again demanded that he get out of my house. I nodded toward the door and told him, "There's the door, get out."
At this point he began walking toward the door, then changed direction slightly and began walking toward me. I realized at that point that I didn't want to shoot him, but I really thought I was going to have to shoot. Fortunately, he seemed to rethink his actions, and again headed to the door.
We finally got him out, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We realized in the morning that he had come in through a window.
In hindsight, I realize a couple things I could have done differently.
1. I should have called 911 or had someone call as I went downstairs.
2. Some might say that I should have held him until police arrived. While this might have worked, if I demanded that he stay where he was and he refused, I would be faced with a difficult decision of whether to try to restrain him by force, or to let him go.
So there it is. My actions may not have been perfect, but I felt that I handled the situation reasonably, and I managed to make it through the night without killing anyone.
You did the right thing.
)
I know that's an extreme example, but it is a possibility.
