Just had to draw not five minutes ago. . .

[Connal]

Well, I was woken up by my brother a few minutes ago.

"Connal, wake up. I think someone is trying to break in."

I jump out of bed, throw my pants on, slip my 1911 into my holster, and I see him going down the stairs with his smith in his hand. I hit the stairs, and I'm right behind him. We get to the bottom of the stairs, someone is rattling the knob, pounding on the door, and I hear someone saying "The god damn door is locked, what the fuck".

I was already on high alert, and not recognizing the voice, knowing that anyone who should be here, was here, I went complete code red. I have no idea who they are, what they want, or why they are here. All I know, is someone is trying to get in.

I look over at my brother, he has the smith at a low ready, I draw my pistol, and unlock the door. It flys open, and I can immediately smell what can only be described as beer, and vomit.

A drunk girl stumbles forward, and finds herself face to face with two guys in nothing more than jeans. One with a badge on his belt, and a pistol in his hands, another with an empty holster on his belt, and a pistol in his hand.

The one that stumbled looked at me and said "Jesus Christ Cody, why the hell did you lock the door." I know they are piss drunk. My name isn't cody. However, two doors down, there is a Cody. Before I can say anything, the girl behind her says "Um. . . I think we have the wrong house." The first girl takes a look at both of us, and says "Uh, yeah." The second girl, much more sober than the first starts apologizing, I can see she is scared to death. "I'm sorry, we must have gotten the address wrong, I'm sorry, please don't hurt us" and the like. My brother holsters his pistol, I holster my pistol, tell her it's no harm no foul, just scared the hell out of us. Told her which house was Cody's.

They both then apologized for waking us up, and disturbing us, and I watched to make sure they didn't go to the wrong house again.

I have never had to draw like that. I had no idea what was going on. I don't know if I should have done anything differently. Honestly, at this point, I don't care. I'm crashing from the adrenaline, my shoulders, and my legs hurt. My pulse is still through the roof, and I'm sitting here almost shaking.

All this, and I never even took the safety off. I can't imagine what someone who has to take a shot goes through. I hope that if I carry for another hundred years, I never have to do that again.

I almost feel bad for the girls that did it. I can only imagine their shock, instead of seeing a friend/boyfriend/lover, they come across a sleepy pair of brothers who are armed.

I am just really glad that it turned out ok. And now have a reason to tell people just why doors need to be locked.

[Justin]

Well, I hate to be one of those guys who's gonna give you negative criticism in the first reply, but why in the world did you unlock the door for the potential intruder? Any reason not to just announce your presence through the door and wait for a response or lack of, indicating a fleeing burglar?

[Connal]

Well, I hate to be one of those guys who's gonna give you negative criticism in the first reply, but why in the world did you unlock the door for the potential intruder? Any reason not to just announce your presence through the door and wait for a response or lack of, indicating a fleeing burglar?

I wonder that myself. I've thought these things through a thousand times. But, when you are woken up in the middle of the night, and it is all going down, your thoughts aren't on how you ran through it in your head, but what you are going to do now.

Had it been just me, and had there been noises like a crowbar trying to open the door, or something like that, I would have reacted differently. Since it just sounded to be someone frustrated, and I also had "backup". I guess I just went a different route.

[Wiley-X]

Badge on belt?

[Connal]

Badge on belt?

Yeah, we each just grabbed the pants we were wearing earlier. When he isn't on duty, he keeps his badge next to his holster on his belt. It isn't one of the legendary "CCW Badges". My brother is one of those "damn dirty LEOs".

I guess I am one of the few people that can't use the excuse "I don't have a LEO to carry around with me."

[Steve in PA]

So, your brother is a LEO, but neither one of you think to call 911??

And as the other poster said, why even bother to open the door??

You went "complete code red" because someone rattled your door??

Use tonight as a learning experience.

[Justin]

I wonder that myself. I've thought these things through a thousand times. But, when you are woken up in the middle of the night, and it is all going down, your thoughts aren't on how you ran through it in your head, but what you are going to do now.

Had it been just me, and had there been noises like a crowbar trying to open the door, or something like that, I would have reacted differently. Since it just sounded to be someone frustrated, and I also had "backup". I guess I just went a different route.

I can totally understand the "woken up in the middle of the night" part. When I lived by myself, before I was married, I would frequently leave my door unlocked. Was woken up in the middle of the night, about 3 am, by the sound of footsteps in the next room over(kithcen) and a visible flashlight moving around the room through the short hallway connecting the bedroom to the kitchen. My immediate response was not as tactically sound as I would have hoped, but the intruder was at my bedroom door within 5 seconds.

I would imagine, however, that in a scenario where I had the time to get out of bed, put on pants, and make it to the door, I would have a clearer head and be able to react in a manner more befitting the circumstances.

Oh, and in the scenario above, it turned out to be George, my mildly senile-ish 90 year old WWII vet neighbor needing assistance, and I was just preparing to go for my gun when I heard his voice, which stopped my going for the gun. The escapades with George are interesting to say the least, and he is quite a character, but for now suffice it to say that he doesn't have much of a support system, so I help him out when I can, but the man does some really dumb, rude shit sometimes.

[Connal]

So, your brother is a LEO, but neither one of you think to call 911??

And as the other poster said, why even bother to open the door??

You went "complete code red" because someone rattled your door??

Use tonight as a learning experience.

Problem is, in this area, there are no local LEOs on duty after 2AM. 911 will contact one of the two state boys that are somewhere within the county. Might take half an hour for them to get there, maybe less, maybe more.

I went code red because someone was pounding on it. Not a "knock knock, who is there", but a "this door is in my way, and I want in."

Yes, in retrospect, I more than likely shouldn't have opened the door. But when you turn the porch light on, and that doesn't deter someone from treating your door like it wronged their family, you don't always do things the way you should.

As I said in the original post, I could have done things differently. A few years ago, a couple miles away, one guy shot a few times through his door because someone was pounding on it like that. Tonight, it could have gone either way. I'm just glad that no one got hurt, and that they eventually got to where they needed to go, and got off the street.

The point of this post, is that no matter how many times you run through a scenario in your head. No matter how many times you say "what if". When things happen, plans go out the window. I learned from the situation, and I hope others do as well. You always think "Well, if this happens, I will . . . " But it never happens like that.

The heat of the moment, quick decisions, adrenaline. All can be a factor.

[uniballin]

It is different when it is actually happening TO YOU. You can read on here dozens of times about what you "should" do when you realize that you're being burglarized, but it's impossible to predict exactly how you're going to react under the adrenaline rush.

I heard voices coming from my living room, and instinctively went for the gun and slowly walked down the stairs. The "smart" thing to do would have been to stay on the top floor, away from potential danger, but that's not what I chose to do. Anyway, the stairs must have creaked or something, so they scrammed... but if I would have made it to the bottom of those stairs without them knowing... who knows what the hell would have happened? I'm just glad I didn't have to find out.

[Exbiker]

So, your brother is a LEO, but neither one of you think to call 911??

And as the other poster said, why even bother to open the door??

You went "complete code red" because someone rattled your door??

Use tonight as a learning experience.

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