4:00PM parked in a Walmart parking lot, out where there aren’t other cars, I load my purchases in the trunk and another car, blacked out windows with two dudes inside quickly parks right next to my sedan. The dudes don’t get out.
I have to walk between the two cars to get into the driver’s side.
So I don’t.
I close the trunk and return to the Walmart where I can observe the car with blacked out windows and wait.
A good 20 minutes before the occupants get out of the car and walk towards the store.
Later that night around 11:00 the doorbell rings.
I get up, the front door knob is being rattled and someone is pushing on the door.
“Who is it?” I demand.
No answer. I can see a shadow outside.
My instinct was to leave the lights out, so I did.
The shadow remained and after ten or fifteen minutes the pressing on the door continued.
“Who is it?” I demanded again.
More silence.
I couldn’t get much of a description in the darkness—a male wearing a baseball cap, on foot walking East bound and now at the door to my neighbor’s house.
I called the PD dispatcher.
Nothing happened, no crimes committed and no guns brandished, but sometimes you just have to pay attention when your Spidey senses are telling you to beware.
If it happened to me, I would have made an extra step.
In my neck of the woods, local PD strongly encourage people to report suspicious persons or vehicles.
They’d rather “waste their time” and be safe than sorry.
First of all, I would like to say that parking on the outer parts of a parking lot where others are not parking is a bad idea. A parking lot is a transitional location and there are bad spots and there are worse spots to park. You did really good with not trying to get into your car. The further you are from the entrance the more car break ins, purse snatching, stolen catalytic converters are stolen.
Another good job for not opening the door but I would think that turning on your porch light puts the person at the door out of the dark and not so hidden. The ability to see who is at your door is important whether or not you know who they are but being able to Identify them in a line up would help. I believe that where I live the LEO would not come out to the house at all because it is not considered to an emergency. So, good work and keep safe!
I have an automatic porch light that lights up whenever anyone even walks by the edge of the property. It’s in town, so that is not that far away. Nobody can walk up to my front door without being illuminated. Is the OP sure the stranger didn’t try his door before the OP got there? A fair number of burglars don’t carry any tools. They just go around trying front doors to see if they are locked. Unfortunately, too many times they are successful in finding a door that is unlocked and they walk in. Until they pick something up, in CA they are merely trespassing a very low grade misdemeanor. If the cops respond because you have been holding a gun on the intruder, the most they can write him up for is trespass, a ticket with a promise to appear sort very similar in seriousness to parking in a red zone. He won’t get hauled off to jail. He won’t have to post bail. The cops may be apologetic but that is all they can do under the circumstances. You will be surprised. The burg won’t offer any resistance. He will apologize. Wrong house. He thought it was his buddy’s house. His buddy must have given him bad instructions. When he gets to court, unless he has a long string of CONVICTION, De judge will dismiss de charges.
Everyone whom I know well enough to admit to my castle after dark knows if they want to gain entrance they will call first and tell me they are headed over and their ETA. Otherwise the doors do not get opened after dark.
Turning the outside light on, and stating that you have (and do so) called the police would likely have been better. My door bell has a IR camera, so it does not need daylight to have clear visual, so I do not need an outside light on too see in the dark.
Actually our current President’s advice is to aim your shotgun out the window and just blast your neighbors house in an attempt to scare the criminal away:/
I had a similar experience to @John292 in a grocery store parking lot in CA except that the two perps had gotten out of their truck and were approaching me so I had to close and lock my door and hurry back into the store.
“Well, you know, my shotgun will do better for you than your AR-15, because you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.”
“I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out and put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,’” Biden said.
Not only does he suggest endangering neighbors with unaimed fire his suggestion breaks multiple laws. Not to mention leaving yourself with an unloaded firearm in the face of a criminal attack.
Pretty much all of his quotes on firearms and self defense show how completely ignorant he is on the topic. He is clearly unqualified to have anything to do with making or enforcing firearm and self defense regulations.
He is definitely one of those that we do not want armed as he would be more of a danger to the rest of us than any criminal would be. As president, unarmed, he is a far greater danger to us than a criminal is. Criminals can’t enact laws or write EOs that will send us to prison.
You obviously are rich, because blasting a gun in a neighborhood with no purpose, but to scare someone will likely see you at the bail-bonds office. And if those pellets, slug or whatever hit people r property, make sure you don’t stoop down to pick-up your soap in jail.
Where did I state that blasting a shotgun in the air to chase away criminals was a good idea?
If you had actually read what I wrote you would have seen that I simply stated that this was the advice the current occupant of the White House says he gave to his wife and then proudly passed on to the public in an interview.
I believe he is quite wealthy though and will never have to pay for any of his crimes. So I’m sure he will get away with giving this horrendous advice as well.
Hopefully you’re able to conceal carry in your state. Unfortunately, its come to that. I go nowhere without carrying my cc. Good instincts on the rest. It’s amazing what your gut feeling tells you.
