my weekend of random bizarre events
 

So, in the past I've heard some odd sounds coming from the building next door. I'm on the 2nd floor (top) of my building on the corner, facing the street the this other building. Occasionally will hear yelling, pounding, and one night a month or two ago one of their windows broke, apparently from a radio being thrown into it. I kinda suspected that someone lived there that wasn't quite right.

At any rate, Saturday afternoon the g/f and Calvin are home with me and I'm about to pack the car to head for a gig. I hear some of the yelling, pounding, etc and look outside my front door to see if I can tell what is going on. I go back in the apartment, pick up my amp head and the plate glass window facing their building (which I'm standing 2' from) shatters. Thankfully the blinds were closed. We were all startled and I went out to try and figure out wtf was going on. There was no one around, but there was a small window in the unit next door open, and the yelling started up again. I called 911 and carefully went outside to wait for Santa Monica's finest. They showed up (2 units) and I pointed out the unit in question. They tell me to go wait in my apartment. I start cleaning up the glass and a few minutes later the cop shows up with a middle aged woman. Turns out she's from a home care agency and there is an adult autistic woman who lives in the unit with full-time supervised care. Well, evidently not supervised enough to keep her from throwing a hard plastic water bottle out the window at mine to break it. She apologized, left her card and I told her I'd give the info to my landlord for repair costs. We then packed up the car and left for the gig.

So...yesterday we just finished dinner, were watching a bit of food network right before I was about to leave for another gig. I'm on the couch and notice out of the corner of my eye that the screen door is slightly moving. I figure one of the cats might be trying to push it open so I get up. I see a 30-something woman standing outside the screen door (front door was open), and upon seeing me she walks in the apartment (!). She starts babbling about people trying to kill her, that someone was killed down on 3rd street and they are after her. At this point Calvin retreats to his room and my g/f is standing up just kind of freaked out. I ask her a few questions keeping myself between her and the rest of the apartment. Kind of an odd position as violent crime certainly does exist in the world. I ask her where she's from and she said, "3rd street," and then says that they're going to come through the windows to get her. And I'm on the 2nd floor - so at that point I say, "get the **** out of my apartment right now." She starts babbling a bit about them being after her and hesitating so I get in her face and begin moving her out of the apartment, locking the door behind her. I watch through the peep hole. She lingers for awhile on the 2nd floor landing (10 unit building, half lower, half upper), then finally goes down the stairs. I go out a few minutes later and she's nowhere to be found.

My building is one building away from a supermarket and other businesses, so if she really was in danger she was 100 yards away from a populated public spot. I figure she was just nuts - plenty of that in Santa Moinca. I also wondered if it might be the adult autistic woman from next door as it was quite a coincidence, so I emailed the caregiver. She said the description didn't fit as her client is 19 and dark haired and has people constantly there so she doesn't leave the premises.

We actually spent Saturday afternoon looking at a house to rent and hopefully we'll get it (in competition for it at this point with at least one other couple). Freaky weekend...

Move

seems that "what if" situation was never planned for.

Where was Hobbes? U ought to be used to this kind of shyte from having to deal with your family.

You know the schizos have this weird kind of radar they can home in on a kindred spirt. It realy is uncanny.

Wow, sounds like a really nice place


to move away from.

Glad nothing turned out too badly. Hopefully, that trend keeps up until you find a new place.

I was expecting you to announce that you'd found yourself driving a mustang. ;)

Moving is on the docket, but this actually is a pretty nice part of Santa Monica (Lincoln Bl just below Montana Ave in north SM). My hunch is that there are more "supervised" people living among the population that people realize. The second event was just whack. As for being "prepared," I have plenty of firepower but certainly don't keep it for quick use. And I'm not planning to change that strategy. This was a random occurrence and did not require deadly force. Had my door been closed (as it normally is) it never would have happened.

We are hoping that the landlords of the house pick us to be their tenants as it'll be a much nicer environment.

wow. is her name "Luka"?

you were probably not in danger, but i bet it was really nerve racking to be in that situation.

start saving moving boxes ;)

Sounds like a coincidence that this random nutjob showed up... hope the new house comes through for you guys.

There are bad/crazy people everywhere, unless you want to move to Antarctica.

Or the threat of it. This time.

Being from OC, places like Santa Monica freak me out. I was up there a few months ago looking at a Duc 900SS and just could not believe the freakiness out and about. Interesting part of the world you have there, Todd.

before the early eightys there were places to supervize those people for just this reason.
thank you Ronald-

Yikes! Good luck with the house hunting, Todd. Just don't move next to a neighbor like Vinny's:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/562195-my-bloods-boiling-need-some-advice.html

Yep, and there is also a high porbiliity for more "authorized residential care facilities" in an area where one already exists with no major public/neighbor/HOA/councel objection. This is also true with registered sex offenders. Once one finds a spot that they don't get hassled, more start popping up all over in that same area.

was she hot?

Sounds like life in the big city . . .

There are poor, broken, deranged, and disabled people out there in the great U S of A, as there are everywhere. Some of us live where we don't have to see this, some of us live in the midst of it, most of us get a little dose every now and then.

I'm the same way, guess us Orange county folks just can't deal with diversity ;)

You're welcome to break out your checkbook and support them any time if you really feel that strongly about it.

you should really rethink your "what if" stance here. it doesnt matter what zippy code you live in. she had the DROP on YOU! and you poo'd yerself big time! admit it. i would have, and i can admit it.


we have a white guy we know. nice home, nice zippy code.................HOME INVASION! beat/pistol whipped the living dog snot out of both he and his roomy. cleaned them out of property. as in a pick up truck full of their stuff. they never planned for it, expected it.


badguys followed him into a home depot. cased them. all on video. when he left home depot, they followed. not 15 seconds after he shut the door they came through the unlocked door.

cops caught one but never recovered property.


think about this real damn hard.

1) spoon

2) attached really really bright light(UTL)

3) phone



theres only (2) ways that crazier than a shat haus rat beeaatchh would have left my house................on a back board or in handcuffs.............PERIOD!


and i would have been perfectly LEGAL!

poo'd myself? No, just took care of a crazy situation as best I could with no violence. Escalation of force was not necessary. You can always play, "what if?" And in CA you can't use deadly force in a situation that doesn't call for it.

So let's go with your path of action. Crazy woman walks in the apartment. I grab the nightstand spoon and tell her to get out. That agitates her more and she reaches into her bag. I put two in the chest and one in the head with my g/f and son watching. Even if I don't go to jail for killing an unarmed person, my son and g/f end up pretty messed up in the head.

Instead I calmly handle the situation with no escalation of force and it's over in a minute or so. Son and g/f are a little freaked out but nothing serious.

So, could she have killed me or had some accomplice waiting in the wings? Maybe. But she didn't.

Silly, we pay whether they are in or out.

+1,000,000

Kudos to Todd for keeping it reality based.

+10,000 seems a totally reasonable response. Imagine that!

You mean it's not heroic and studly to gun down an unarmed woman just because she is one of the unfortunates in need of psychiatric help?

Not in the least. Deadly force was not called for and threat of deadly force probably wouldn't mean much to a crazy person. NS handled it just right. However, in a what-if scenario, he'd have been totally unprepared to defend his loved ones, had the intruder been intent on doing bad things to any of them. And that's why I usually have a spoon within reach most times. I wouldn't even display it in a case like happened here. But you never know if the crazy person is a decoy to keep you occupied, while the real bad guys go to work or what the hell is going on.

Indeed. Managed care, at an institution, might be the least-cost option.

Makes me really, really glad I live in a reasonably sane part of the world... Good luck with the new flat Todd!

1st NS did you strip search her? how did you know she didnt have a weapon? hmmmmm?????


you make it sound like im some bloodthirsty killa. the reality is SHE GOT THE DROP ON YOU AND YER FAMILY PERIOD! nightstand spoon dont git it! had she had a weapon ..............you were ALL TOAST!



as the rickster stated.........."within arms reach". this crap of leaving spoons in yer glove box, under yer mattress, in the cookie jar is just that............CRAP! the spoon is worthless and it can get ugly real damn fast as in my friends situation. and hes damn lucky hes alive.


kidnappings and home invasions the majority of the time end up a murr-durr due to bad guys wanting no witnesses.


me? i would have grabbed my spoon, cocked locked ready to rock, and called 911! to the nats azz of the law, then if she had made any threatening moves, well...............adios! via con dios!


had she had anything in her hands construed as a weapon, or made ANY threatening moves, there would have been NO 911 call. just a call to my lawyer, then 911 to report it.


my friends home invasion happened 15 seconds after he walked into his door. his 1st mistake was not locking the door behind him. his 2nd mistake was his shotgun(which they stole) being in his closet.


the castle doctine defense applies here. the lesson YOU need to understand, and its a harsh damn lesson to accept is : SHE GOT THE DROP ON YER ENTIRE FAMILY and there wasnt a damn thing you could do about it if she had a weapon.


if that happened to me and my family................I WOULD HAVE POO'D MYSELF as prepared as i am for just such an invasion.


i live in a 2 story house. i usually(not always) hear a vehicle, or "mr snuggles" alerts me to an "intruder" on my property. but i have watched coyotes and people come on my property and "mr. snuggles" sleeping on the job being his worthless self.

if upstairs i have spoon at the ready. if downstairs i have spoon at the ready. i dont mean a round in the pipe, but ready to go, not in the holster. with integrated brighter than hell light for crap that goes bump in the night!


you learned a valuable lesson how vulnerable alot of people are here. learn from it, and be a boy scout................."BE PREPARED!"



remember this comes from someone that had the fun(?) of waking up to my next door neighbor MURR-DURRED(red-rummed) on his DOORSTEP IN DOWNEY,KALIF!


as i have mentioned here before and i will say it again. my drill is to carry one spoon for 4-6 weeks at a time depending on weather and activity. when i get a hair up my arse, i change flavors and calibers. this means i rotate them. this means i remove rounds, refill mags, clean the new spoon of lint dirt dust, and go thru the drill every night when i lay my head to sleep and count lil elks jumping over fences right into my pick 'em up.


then when i wake up from my slumber, i drop mag, pull action back, check chamber, and then reinsert mag, remove UTL light, then holster and off to the salt mines i go.every damn day. and to make it entertaining as well as interesting i will often throw a snotspoon in the mix, and go thru the same drill. familiarity breeds confidence, and they all get rotated and cleaned.


now my final question??? how long did it take santa monicas finest to get there???? if she ONLY had a 6" butter knife....................well that could have really put the hurt on ya.


p.s. yesterday i changed from my hk p9s 9mm, over to my hk USP compact robar'd 9mm. why? because i am taking my p9s slide in to get refinished and its hot here and a 9mm compact is lightweight to carry while at work, bouncing all over hell, up and down bending over etc.


think this way:

.380, 9mm,.38,.40 and .45 for bad guy zombeez

and .357 and .44 for bad ju ju 4 legged kritters.


why? overpenetration!


good luck finding a new pad. its not real hard nowadays to become a statistic.

OddJob, having been to your house a few times, there's no way anyone could get inside who didn't have absolute intent of doing so. It's not the kind of place you can just stumble upon by accident. Had this scenario happened at your place, I can see being a little more defensive. I was in NS's previous place in W. LA and I go to Santa Monica plenty too. Those are the kinds of areas, where you could pretty easily run inside any bldg. with an unlocked door for any reason. Of course, that's all the more reason to keep the doors locked all the time. Still, deadly force or even threat thereof were not called for here.

rickster, remember i lived there. or should i say i survived living there. fully know the area as i called on every aerospaced mfg thruout l.a. county ,orange county, and san diego county.


my most fun time was calling on baker pumps downtown. i was informed to the south of us was the l.a. county jail. like a block away. and at any given moment there are over 5000 inmates incarcerated there. we got to meet quite a few of them after their release wondering down the alley one day.

one of the salesman i worked with and drank beer with was an ex carson cop. he became an ex carson cop after chasing a bad guy down a industrial area alley. couldnt find him. starting looking in dumpsters. came upon this one dumpster and KA-FEEKING BLAMMO off goes a sawed off shotgun just barely missing his head! bad guy had sawed off shotgun taped to his arm. my friend proceeded to fill the dumpster with lead. no more bad guy. and then my friend QUIT the force.


all i am saying is i would POO MYSELF if the same happened to me with an intruder with my house. ya gotta BE PREPARED for this crap. classic "what if the poo goes down" what the feek am i a gonna do about it to save my family from harm.


this can happen to any of us anywhere anytime.



there is MORE violent crime in a state with strict gun laws than in our state with good gun laws.



the bottomline crux of the biscuit for anyone is "where you in fear of yer life?"

This is my work station seconds ago. I'll be fine. My biggest fear right now is my boss on this damn conference call.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1308674441.jpg

Hmm, was it Whitey Bulger's girlfriend who stopped by. They were on 3rd street.

That hindsight is pretty darned accurate.
I think the point here is that when a crazy person comes into your home uninvited, you really don't know what their intentions are.
They are capable of anything and survival instict tells us that we can either be prepared for the worst if it comes down to that, or we can just be a victim and everyone can talk about what a tragedy it was the next day.

i'm allergic to being a victim so I do not allow myself to get into that sitch.

Some of you guys need to step away from the TeeVee and spend some time in the real world where 99.9% of the population has no interest in killing you.

If, by your numbers, even 0.1% of the local population wanted to kill me, I'd be pretty worried. That's a lot more enemies than I ever want to have. Even having that number want to kill someone or anyone is pretty scary.

I agree that dispelling the situation in a calm and controlled manner was the most effective avenue that Nostatic could have taken. Approaching her was a potentially dangerous move, but it also limited her chance of inflicting violence upon others, including Todd. Refraining from using a gun is also a positive in my book.

However, we have this:
Now, I can understand if your g/f was interested in the food network, and indeed, I myself do enjoy cooking from time to time. (Made some great tofu stirfry on Monday...) HOWEVER, I have a question for you Todd -- whose idea was it to watch the food network?

If your g/f was watching it, and you joined her, or she wanted to watch it, and you agreed, then that's not too bad. I'd say that's worth a 100point deduction,

But - if you chose to watch the food network, then that's pretty close to the "turn in your man-card" requirement.

At least you weren't Wendy Williams..... ooooa-aa ooooa-aa.... (I still think she's a man....)

In all seriousness -- both of those episodes are scary -- good to know you were level headed in both situations...
-Z-man.

Nothing wrong with Food Network:

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/...lean.gif?w=302

Giada is so smoking hot, and wears the lowcuts on every show. Big thumbs up.

But you're somehow hungry an hour later when the pounding headache kicks in.
OOOH, STOP THE NOISE.

Threesome!