Called 911 for the first time Yesterday
 

About 3:00 Sunday morning, I woke up when I heard the front door latch being jiggled. As I got up I heard someone pushing on the door trying to open it as if hitting it with their shoulder. Then whoever it was started banging hard on the door. Real hard as if trying to kick it in.

I looked through a window and it was some younger guy I did not recognize.
I yelled through the door, can't remember the exact words but it was something along the lines of if you don't want to get your head blown off you better get the fuch out of here quick.

He took off, I watched him run down the street about 50 yards or so where there were 3 or 4 more of em in an SUV.

I picked up the phone and called 911 and told them what was going on. the wife was watching them out the window and yelled, he's coming back.
the guy ran up to the front door again and tried to break it down. Either he's a wimp or I have a big, solid, sturdy front door, or both. He hit the door hard and bounced off.
My front door is a big, solid, 40" wide deal with heavy hinges and hardware.

I yelled again that he's fixing to get himself killed, same thing again. He ran back to the SUV and they took off.

I yelled to the 911 dispatcher that she better hurry up and get cops here before I kill this punk, evidently that was the wrong thing to say.
She started asking me about weapons, if I had a gun, was it loaded, etc.
I said, no, I don't have a gun.
That's my story, I'm sticking to it. I was not holding a 12 gauge with 6 in the magazine and one in the chamber with my finger on the safety. She asked me again and said the cops won't respond if I'm armed. WTF?
She was more concerned with me having a gun than the guy trying to break into my house. I had to tell her I was not armed and wasn't going to arm myself.

Just then the motion detector light in the back yard came on. Then I saw the SUV pull around the corner in front of the house. I told her she better get the cops out here now, she said 4 were on their way.
I never saw anyone in the back yard, it might have been the neighbor's cat for all I know but I doubt it.
The SUV pulled up just down the street about 30 or 40 yards away and parked in the middle of the street with the headlights shining towards my front door (I live on a corner).
I could see a couple of them standing outside the SUV, one of them started walking towards my the house again, then he turned around and they drove off in a hurry. Maybe they heard a siren but I didn't.
Less than a minute later I saw the first cop car drive by.

If I actually had a shotgun, at that time I would have unchambered the round and put the gun away in the bedroom closet and then waited for the police officer to come to the door. But I didn't have one so that it irrelevent.
As I started telling him the details, I saw 4 more police cars go by in different directions.

I told the officer they looked like late teens early 20's, not gang bangers, not the type you'd notice or worry about.
Maybe they were really drunk or on drugs, likely they just had the wrong house, who knows.
I told him it didn't seem like a home invasion attempt. Lots of it didn't add up. I definately did not know them and they didn't know me.
He heard something come over the radio and he said "we got em" and ran to his car and took off.
Never heard another word from them. Weird.
I checked to see if Orange police posted an arrest or call log on their web page, they don't.

I figure a bunch of punks got all wasted on something, prolly had a problem with someone else, and were looking for revenge and went to the wrong house by mistake.
One of em came really, really close to picking the wrong house. If he had managed to break into the house where I, my wife, and my two kids were and he came at me or one of them, there is absolutely no doubt what I would have done.
I'm glad it didn't come down to that.
I was really, really wound up for several hours after that. Haven't been that fired up in a long time.
Always figured that kind of crap happened to someone else but not to me. Guess it was finally my turn.

Glad it worked out ok for you Sammy.

Oh and I have an alibi ;)

Scary stuff.

Glad to hear it turned out ok.

The cops won't show up if the homeowner is armed?
That's good to know.

Thugs can shoot it out with the owners without the cops getting in the way.

Damn my shoulder hurts this morning.

The police have absolutely ZERO obligation to come to your aid. --Sad, but true.

I'm glad the problem sorted itself out, w/o your needing to clean-up guts.

I know plenty of cops and they wouldn't refuse to show up if a homeowner was armed, but they'd want to know and would be real cautious if he was. Can't blame em for that.
I figure that was just something the dispatcher said to make sure. I was wound pretty tight at the time and she could prolly tell.

Glad you're ok, Sammy. I'm glad you were prepared, and I'm glad they didn't get in.

That's another thing that came to mind, the shotgun I didn't have was loaded with bird shot, instead of the double aught which was not out in the garage.

I kinda figure that 3" birdshot rounds would still do the job but I'm glad I don't know for sure.

Scary tale, Sammy...glad it all worked out. Any damage to your door?

Would you call the station to see what was the real story? Who they are?

I am planning to do that just to see if they'll give me any details.

I didn't see any damage to the door except the deadbolt and lock mechanism seem kinda sloppy where they go through the edge of the door.

Wow, very scary, glad it all worked out ok.

THe whole "they won't come if you're armed" thing is pretty bizarre. To me that means, killing them is the only option. I bet the cops would show up to pick up the bodies.

Scary stuff. The fact that they kept coming back is the really scary part. Makes it seems "less than random".

That is damage to your door. Call the police station and tell them that you want to press charges.

. . for evidence against you.

Sounds like what you really need is...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3382/...4d7ea22a32.jpg

http://images.travelpod.com/users/un...hant_spike.jpg

wow. just wow.

i hope my new front door is strong enough. wow.

sammy, i am glad you are ok.

Bird shot is a great way to inflict painful surface damage, and possibly inflict a lethal injury that will kill your attacker in a few hours, or maybe even in a few minutes after he has time to shoot back.

Buckshot is for stopping them, rendering them incapable of returning fire. Load the buckshot.