"Get out of my house"

[EvilKidsMeal]

i would have told him to lay flat on the ground and not move a g** damn inch towards me or i would blow off his f***ing head.

this relates to my other thread.

if you can hold him at your house, by law how would this be different from a thief at a store you work at?

especially since there was no proof of the man in the OPs response proving he stole something, or did anything other than break in where as in my thread there was clear proof he stole something.

this is why i thought it may be reasonable to hold someone.

exactly why i posed the question in the other thread. it seems to me that these situations could be similar.
not trying to beat a dead horse or start anything, this is just another legitimate question pertaining to the law.

 

[eatsnopaste]

I want pic's of the roommates sister..What was she sleeping in...was there really an intruder or did she run upstairs and you two got caught by her brother?

 

[CSK22]

Where did you move Reid? Lafayette or West Lafayette? Had you asked I could have informed you of places not to live around.

Also not sure exactly why you handed your roommate a gun........ and cops downtown if thats where you are respond quickly as well, should have called them after at least

Glad everything ended up ok, glad you did the right thing as well, keep those windows locked! And I'm always down for a steak out! (with steaks preferably)

 

[karodger]

Where did you move Reid? Lafayette or West Lafayette? Had you asked I could have informed you of places not to live around.

Also not sure exactly why you handed your roommate a gun........ and cops downtown if thats where you are respond quickly as well, should have called them after at least

Glad everything ended up ok, glad you did the right thing as well, keep those windows locked! And I'm always down for a steak out! (with steaks preferably)

+1 You know you can always call us for backup too Josh and I are always down for a gun party

 

[Liberty Sanders]

I'd have dropped him after the first warning. Now's he's left alive to break in somewhere else. What if it's a sorority house?

 

[karodger]

I'd have dropped him after the first warning. Now's he's left alive to break in somewhere else. What if it's a sorority house?

It wouldn't be the first time a drunk guy broke in to a sorority house. but they wouldn't have made him leave

 

[SSGSAD]

I have read all 3 pages, my only question is this..... Is everyone going, with you to the range, and LEARN how to safely shoot your guns !!!!!

 

[OZZY.40]

It wouldn't be the first time a drunk guy broke in to a sorority house. but they wouldn't have made him leave

Wow I just got a great idea, but I will probably get shot or arrested

 

[E5RANGER375]

this relates to my other thread.

if you can hold him at your house, by law how would this be different from a thief at a store you work at?

especially since there was no proof of the man in the OPs response proving he stole something, or did anything other than break in where as in my thread there was clear proof he stole something.

this is why i thought it may be reasonable to hold someone.

exactly why i posed the question in the other thread. it seems to me that these situations could be similar.
not trying to beat a dead horse or start anything, this is just another legitimate question pertaining to the law.

i'll answer the best i can. keep in mind im no lawyer, thank goodness. but i did sleep with one a long time ago

the reason its different is that the guy is in your private dwelling and IS a threat to your life just by being there in my opinion. also dead men tell no tales. all you have to say is the guy threatened to kill you and then moved foreward. (actualy let your lawyer say that for you).

if the guy that robs your store has a weapon then you CAN hold him at gun point, but i'd rather shoot him and not take the chance of dying at his hand.

merchandise and personal property being stolen does not itself give you a right to shoot in indiana. but the being in fear of your life part does.
all you have to do is be in fear of your life and as long as its not a far stretch (like you shot the guy in the back) then you will walk.

i see stories on here and in the news all the time where people are too merciful when they could have legaly killed a person. im not all about killing someone if they dont deserve it, but a person who is threatening my life (knife, gun, bat, etc) is gonna get shot before they kill me or even have the chance. theres no time for repentance when i bring the gun out. thats the time to make their peace with a higher power if they believe in one, and it better be in less tha 2 seconds.

 

[TopDog]

This is all been said before but this way you get a consensus of what most of us think would have been better steps to take.

1. Call 911, who ever calls 911 first is the victim. I know that is not a hard and fast rule but I believe most police officers respond that way.

2. First thing is I would not live with someone that didn't know how to use a gun. Seriously. I don't know your roommate but I'm just guessing here, that giving him a gun was not the best move on your part. I would consider a little training for anyone living in the house.

3. Be weary. The intruder knows where you live and he survived one encounter. I think you did the right thing but he may come back thinking if he gets caught again you wont use force. Just be extra careful.

Good job in a tuff situation, be safe, be smart.

 

[paddling_man]

3. Be weary. The intruder knows where you live and he survived one encounter. I think you did the right thing but he may come back thinking if he gets caught again you wont use force. Just be extra careful.

He's already weary. His roommate, Zorro, woke him up about a large intruder in the house.

A rental-house full of twenty-somethings, near campus? I might have let him walk too. My house with my children there or even alone. I think things would have ended much more like e5ranger describes.

 

[lovemachine]

Reading every post on here, made me think of what I would do. I'd make sure my wife call 911. And if I saw the guy standing there, I would have no idea if he was really armed or not. No idea if there was any other guys in the house. But, after identifying the thread, I would pull the trigger, and neutralize the threat.

If someone breaks into your home, you have to realize that your life, your family's life, is immediately in danger.

 

[roscott]

Thanks for the input everyone. I guess I could clarify a few things.

Michael, who I gave the gun to, is plenty competent with a gun. The only reason he didn't have his own with him is because he hadn't brought it to the house yet. (Crazy, right?)

As for letting him go, as many people have stated, he might have been just some drunk college guy, or a crackhead looking for someone to rob/rape/kill. In hindsight, I would have called the cops and held him, but I was surprised at my own reactions instead.

Waking up from a dead sleep, and suddenly jumping into a situation where I could be killed or kill, I (instinctively, I suppose) went into a very simple frame of mind: find the threat, secure the house, keep everyone safe.


It wasn't until later when I evaluated my actions that I thought of all the other things I could have / should have done.

For the record, I did call the police and file a report in the morning. And so far, no recurrent break-ins.

Also, I have to mention that there were a couple guys in our house not quite sure about having "dangerous guns" in the house. They are now all for the 2nd.

(Josh and Kyle, I did move to Lafayette, and you should come over and grill sometime. Heck, you can even bring Richie with you.)

 

[roscott]

I want pic's of the roommates sister..What was she sleeping in...was there really an intruder or did she run upstairs and you two got caught by her brother?

^^^ This guy is pretty funny. I refuse to post pics, because then you really would wonder about the truth of my story!

 

[dmorrow23]

Good execution I'd say. I would worry about the safety of the woman if the house is that unprotected. Especially if he is on drugs. A cheap fix is a guard dog.

 

[patton487]

You did great. Only thing I would suggest. I'm not an LEO, but I keep a set of handcuffs around.
If the guy is unarmed and you want to hold him for police it would be better than sitting around for 20 minutes holding a loaded gun in his face.
Glad everything turned out OK.

 

[beararms1776]

The guy is darn lucky to be alive and should be writing a thanks for the warning note.
Looks like you handled that situation fine but calling 911 should have been priority after retrieving your gun. Handing someone else in the house another gun might not be a good idea. If you had to shoot, it seems the other person could possibly become confused in dark close quarters and who knows how that could end up. Also who knows what their reaction would be to gunfire going off inside the home.

 

[semperfi211]

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 am glad the intruder left without harming anyone but there is also a feeling because he left alive he may be back. At the point when he was heading towards the door then changed direction towards you may have been the time when I would have given the coroner some overtime. Although it is easy to Monday morning QB. He may have been a drunk dumb a** that lost his keys and crawled in a window of the wrong house and the next day woke up with a head ache and a vague memory wondering what happened. If that was the case I would say he should have ended up in the drunk tank but not with the coroner.

 

[beararms1776]

I am glad the intruder left without harming anyone but there is also a feeling because he left alive he may be back.

If he comes back and hasn't changed his habits after that, he is certainly a fool and a danger to himself and others.

 

[Redskinsfan]

Situation satisfactorily resolved? Check. Nobody hurt? Check. Flaws in your plan/actions identified? Check.

I'd say you did just fine.

Best comments in this thread are above.

You did well.

Terry