We live in a quiet neighborhood in Fishers, so things rarely happen. Tonight, at 10:30pm, I heard banging on my front door. As I stood up from my couch, I observed a shirtless white male with hands in pockets tweaking out on the other side of largely glass door ten feet in front of me, peering through my front window and banging on the door staring at me and then waving. I went straight to our bedroom (right by front door), alerted my wife and called 911 after retrieving an illuminated/suppressed firearm.
I secured our children’s room, pulled all blinds completely shut, turned on all exterior lights and waited for the police.
Turns out, it was a very very drunk friend of a neighbor who was confused what house he was returning to. Total response time until arriving at my house was 15 minutes. Total response time from banging on door until firearm in hand, 15 seconds.
What I did well:
-Stayed inside, secure and safe with family
-Immediate firearm access
-After threat was gone and awaiting police, I placed my firearm on a table to the side of the door and covered it with a jacket, instead of keeping it in hand or holstered (too many 911 callers get shot), or waiting until I saw police. Do not have it in your hand when police arrive; you may not see them coming. Stay inside until police arrive, don’t be mistaken for the bad guy. Don’t create any possible unfortunate accident.
What we learned:
-My wife should have grabbed her firearm
-My wife should have placed the 911 call,
not me. I was not observant of the situation during my call.
-Our front door has too much view of our interior in general. Curtains on order. I did not like that he could see me assessing the situation.
-I should have alerted 911 I was armed and would disarm once I saw a police vehicle and before making contact. Too much risk a cop could have approached my front door without me seeing and noticed a gun in hand.
Glad all is well. Not 100% sure if they verified he was truthful, or just let him go and gave me the bogus story he told, but I’d imagine they would have verified. Good lessons learned we’ll take into account and discuss now!! Be safe all.
I secured our children’s room, pulled all blinds completely shut, turned on all exterior lights and waited for the police.
Turns out, it was a very very drunk friend of a neighbor who was confused what house he was returning to. Total response time until arriving at my house was 15 minutes. Total response time from banging on door until firearm in hand, 15 seconds.
What I did well:
-Stayed inside, secure and safe with family
-Immediate firearm access
-After threat was gone and awaiting police, I placed my firearm on a table to the side of the door and covered it with a jacket, instead of keeping it in hand or holstered (too many 911 callers get shot), or waiting until I saw police. Do not have it in your hand when police arrive; you may not see them coming. Stay inside until police arrive, don’t be mistaken for the bad guy. Don’t create any possible unfortunate accident.
What we learned:
-My wife should have grabbed her firearm
-My wife should have placed the 911 call,
not me. I was not observant of the situation during my call.
-Our front door has too much view of our interior in general. Curtains on order. I did not like that he could see me assessing the situation.
-I should have alerted 911 I was armed and would disarm once I saw a police vehicle and before making contact. Too much risk a cop could have approached my front door without me seeing and noticed a gun in hand.
Glad all is well. Not 100% sure if they verified he was truthful, or just let him go and gave me the bogus story he told, but I’d imagine they would have verified. Good lessons learned we’ll take into account and discuss now!! Be safe all.