Thought i was going to have to squeez the trigger

[DGR959]

I have carried now for almost 4 years and have never once come so close to pulling my weapon out of my holster and squeezing. this all happens last week and its taken me a few days to sit back and really reflect on what happened and what could have happened.

I work full time for a large company where i am NOT allowed to carry and i respect that (plus they pay way too good to leave lol) i work 4 days a week and get my 40 hrs plus in. On my days off i work for my best friends father who does general contracting along with property maintaince on a few of his own along with with other peoples properties in Reading. I mostly do electrical but i am skilled enough in almost everything else except for plumbing. Friday started like any other day of working for him which included running around to fix little things and then helped with moving some stoves, fridges and water heaters around to different places. Towards the end of my day while ridding with my boss we got a call from his roofer that there was a problem. He couldnt get anyone to awnser the door at the place that needed to be finished. Myboss said we would be right over.

On the ride over he explained that this property was being leased by some people who where a couple months back on rent and where going to be evicted at any point. He didnt own this property but was contracted by the owner who lived in Jersey to take care of it including all maintaince and collecting rent. When we showed up the roofer was standing there and said he thought someone was home but no one would open the door .... Thats where everything started ....

My boss walked up to the door as i stood leaning against his truck maybe 6-8 ft back from the front door by the curb. He knocked a few times and the a few times more before someone finally opened the door. The BG was latino, i would say early 30's about 6ft maybe 180 lbs.

Boss - We are hear to finish up the repairs on the roof and I also need to speak with someone about collecting back rent.
BG - no one is here and i dont know what your talking about.
Boss - ok thats fine, can we come in so my roofer can finish his repairs ?
BG - NO
Boss - No ? we need to come in to finish a job
BG - No, i dont need to let you in
Boss - "raising voice" You are not even on the lease agreement, and that clearly states that we may come onto OUR property at anytime to make repairs or do an inspection ... NOW may i come in ?
BG - NO ... no one is comming in today i dont care who you are
Boss - ohh really, again you have no right to any say of what happens

At that point it was getting heavy .. With his last comment my Boss being a bull headed PA Dutchie stepped inside over the door step. At that point the BG ran back into the room which is when i saw 2 other guys in the other room. In an instant the BG came back around the corner charging at my boss with a club or billy club of some point in his hand. This is the exact moment that i knew i had a choice to make and fast. I reached behind and clicked off the saftey as i was about to draw my LC9. I thought if he came through that door way i would have no choice but to fire to save my boss's life. My boss was smart enough to step back out of the way and to the side giving me a clear line of site at the BG and what was behind him. Instead of comming through the door way the BG came to a stop and slammd the door shut. My hand stayed at 5 o clock not knowing what to expect. My boss called the police right away and explained what happend they of course said they would come down. (now anyone who knows Reading knows that takes forever) he also called the land owner and explained to him what happened. About 5 mins later the person who was leasing the placed quick pulled up and jumped out of the car saying he was there and there was no reason to call the cops and we should come inside to talk about this. I finally spoke up and said there was no way we where walking inside that home to which my boss agreed. the Police then called back and my boss advised them that it was cooling down and no need to come. The person on the lease and my boss went back in forth on how the lease was written and we should be able to just show up and blah blah blah for about 10 min. He also said his friend didnt like being threatend and would have knocked out my boss if he would have not moved. My boss returned by saying that his friend was lucky he stopped because I carried and was legaly allowed to and he knows what kind of shot i am. (Now i did not agree with my boss saying any of that. IMOP i would rather no one knew that i carried). At that point my boss told the roofer who was standing there the whole time to go to a different site and that we would not be finishing the job there until after the eviction was finalized and the tenent removed.

We left the location and the land owner called him back apologizing for what happened and saying he would be pushing the eviction through ASAP. From there we stopped at a Bar we had done some work at and each had 2 Sam Adams Octobefests which he was more the happy to pay for. He said it was nice having someone like me around in case something like that ever happened. After he dropped me off I had some time to really think about what happened and how close i thought i had come to making a choice. Its been a strange couple of days with thoughts going back and forth on would I have been right or should I have done something different. I have tried to include as much detail as i could and i may be forggeting somethings or not descibing them well enough. I look to this forum for alot of knowledge and great information and now its my turn to ask. What would you have done ? Was I in the right to think about pulling from my holster.
Thank you for any thoughts or wisedom

PS.. spelling was never my strongest subject lol

[zackattack784]

It sounds to me like your boss is a hot head and nearly got himself into big trouble. I've only ever rented an apartment once, but the lease had a provision that 24 hours notice was required prior to entry by the landlord (unless there was an absolute emergency of course). I believe most leases are like this. Was the person renting the place given 24 hours notice? If not, your boss might have been trespassing and had you shot the guy I wouldn't expect to see the light of day anytime soon. When you're dealing with shooting people, you better make sure you are 110% in the right first. The second there was conflict I would've told my boss to call the landlord or call the police. My freedom is way too important to me and I'm not going to risk it by involving myself in situations like this.

And since when does a landlord ask construction workers to collect back rent? That seems fishy to me.

[DGR959]

understand your first point and i honestly dont know how the lease is written. As for the other part I dont think i made that clear lol. He owns and runs a property managment company is the best way to desribe it. He does some maintaince himself but is more into showing homes and apartments and signing new leases out. I guess its kind of like a subcontract to the owener who lives in a different state

[gnbrotz]

Shooting someone in their own home (even a "bad guy"), isn't a position I'd like to find myself in.

[King 5.45]

Your boss has no business treating you like some sort of guard dog on a leash. That's on a par with being with a mouthy woman who starts threatening that you're gonna do something with that pistol if so-and-so doesn't shut up and back down.

[tl_3237]

It sounds to me like your boss is a hot head and nearly got himself into big trouble. I've only ever rented an apartment once, but the lease had a provision that 24 hours notice was required prior to entry by the landlord (unless there was an absolute emergency of course). I believe most leases are like this. Was the person renting the place given 24 hours notice? If not, your boss might have been trespassing and had you shot the guy I wouldn't expect to see the light of day anytime soon. When you're dealing with shooting people, you better make sure you are 110% in the right first. The second there was conflict I would've told my boss to call the landlord or call the police. My freedom is way too important to me and I'm not going to risk it by involving myself in situations like this.

And since when does a landlord ask construction workers to collect back rent? That seems fishy to me.

I agree. IMO the boss lost his self-defense justification (s. 505) and the OP lost he defense of others justification (s. 506) when "With his last comment my Boss being a bull headed PA Dutchie stepped inside over the door step" in spite of being told several times by the occupant that entry was refused.

If its a contract dispute as to what the lease says they should be argued before a trier-of-fact - not by a physical confrontation.

[zackattack784]

understand your first point and i honestly dont know how the lease is written. As for the other part I dont think i made that clear lol. He owns and runs a property managment company is the best way to desribe it. He does some maintaince himself but is more into showing homes and apartments and signing new leases out. I guess its kind of like a subcontract to the owener who lives in a different state

Well I would find out if there's even the slightest chance you may be going back. And even if you give 24 hours notice and the renter won't let you in, just call the police or the landlord, there's no point in trying to start conflict, especially after what happened last time.

[zackattack784]

Shooting someone in their own home (even a "bad guy"), isn't a position I'd like to find myself in.

I agree. IMO the boss lost his self-defense justification (s. 505) and the OP lost he defense of others justification (s. 506) when "With his last comment my Boss being a bull headed PA Dutchie stepped inside over the door step" in spite of being told several times by the occupant that entry was refused.

If its a contract dispute as to what the lease says they should be argued before a trier-of-fact - not by a physical confrontation.

Both great posts and couldn't agree more.

[DGR959]

I fully see where everyone is comming from and never thought of it that way. I think i was caught up in what ifs that i didnt step back far enough to see the real root of what was going on. this is why i love this forum

[ansehnlich1]

Oh lordy, I ain't allowin somebody to feel all cozy about steppin' up just cuz I carry, that's the thing that bothers me most here. There's a certain special feeling I got when I first strapped on a firearm to carry around, and that was a keen awareness of the responsibility involved.

It's like drivin around and my wife steppin up to some group of hooligans then lookin' over at me when they charge and sayin' 'shoot 'em festus'!!!

Guarantee that ain't happenin with this old boy.

I'd be havin a little pow wow with this boss guy and lettin him know next time he steps up don't count on my firearm savin the day, in fact, I'd be all pizzed off the guy run his mouth like he did.