Well, it finally happened to me...

[DragonGunner]

Glad it came out to where he will go back to jail instead of the grave....if you dropped charges an he gets cut loose....he will rob or at some point kill someone...or someone else will have to kill him.....your doing him an his family a big favour by holding fast an sending him back to jail.....why some ignorant parents just want their kids out so they can continue their crimes is beyond me.....thats not love.

 

[Tinman]

Well, I must confess, I didn't read through all 11 pages.

Glad too hear it turned out well for you, but there where a lot of opportunities for it to go the other way, I hope you take away learning points from this. Here's a few things I noted while reading your story:

• If you wear glasses or contacts, the glasses would be the first thing that goes on at the first sign of trouble.
• Move the baby away from the door. Never put anything valuable to you near your choke point.
• Reinforce that door!
• Be very, very, very cautious who you allow to have information about your lifestyle, possessions, or habits. This is particularly important regarding firearms. Once the bad guys know you have them, they will file that away for a time when they need to acquire a gun.
• Criminals will say anything, and do anything to achieve their goal. Has it occurred to you that his verbiage was just a ruse to see if you would let your guard down long enough for him to take advantage?
• What was your wife doing during this incident? Have a plan, discuss your plan with her, execute the plan, and have a backup plan because the first one isn't gonna work.
• You made the statement "he's a good guy when he's not on meth" Unfortunately when he is on meth, he's breaking into houses with restraints, and deadly weapons. Judge the situation for what it is not what you want it to be.

Here's just a suggestion of what might have been a different option for you.
At the first thump, you get get on your glasses that are on the table next to the bed, and retrieve your pistol. The wife grabs the baby, and a cell phone and takes up a position behind you as far from the door (choke point) as possible. She starts calling 911 and you activate the light on the gun, and start addressing the threat. If the threat enters, it gets put down plain and simple. You've already made that decision and drawn the line in the sand.

Don't take this the wrong way, you all came out alive, and the threat is out of your house, that's a win! But, there are things you, and the rest of us, can learn from. You owe it to yourself and your family to be ruthlessly critical of your actions, and learn all you can from this.

As others have noted, Johnny knows where you live, and what you have, and he wants it for himself. Be prepared for him to show up again the first time he gets burned and needs cash.

Again, congrats on a successful encounter!

Tinman....

 

[redpitbull44]

Tinman, many of the things you said were good points. Moot points in my scenario, but good ones.

Understand that I am a proficient tactician. I know the ins and outs of personal safety. I am the guy people come to when they have gun/gear/SHTF/preparedness questions. Aside from not having the doors more secure (which they are now, more on that in a sec), there is literally nothing I could have done differently.

We are currently living in a 12x50 trailer. We were forced to move her due to dire circumstances (house fire, unemployment, etc). When I say my back door is adjacent to my bedroom door, what I mean is, it is exactly 24" from the edge of one door frame to the edge of the other, and they are perpendicular to one another. The back door, which is now properly bared, is made of tin and Styrofoam. You could probably knock it off the hinges with a mean bean fart.

As far my wife getting the baby and calling 911, there was NO time. Johnny was inside my house for less than 20 seconds. That is to say, that is the duration of the time he spent indoors. It only took him 5 seconds to gain access, during which I had time to ninja roll over my wife, pull the gun safe that is next to our bed open, take the pistol off the top shelf, turn, and aim. Then there was another 5 seconds of me not shooting him (1/2 second or so), while hearing him say "Don't shoot" and "I need your help". Took about 5 seconds for me to tell him to GTFO, and then took him 2 seconds to process and 3 to exit. Like I said, not enough time.

Our bedroom is 28" wider than a queen size bed, and maybe 40" longer than one. The baby's pack-n-play is 26" square or so. Where it is is the only place it could go. Totally sucks, but it is what it is, ya know? Also, the only phone jack in this tin can is at the opposite end of the place, and we don't get cell phone signal indoors either.

Like I said before, every situation is different.

Regarding the doors. This is a rental, and a cheap one at that. The land lord doesn't want to sink money into this place, and I honestly don't blame him. HOWEVER, after this happened, I informed him that I would be reinforcing the security of this place, at his expense, and he was fine with that.

Thank you for taking the time to post up those suggestions. Don't think that I'm being prideful and shrugging them off. Just realize these are all things I am intimately familiar with, yet they are things I can not do anything about at this time.

 

[Hoosierdood]

sounds scarry .hope it never happens to me dont know what i would do

Someone is trying to get into the classifieds.