Home Invasion.

[BCmJUnKie]

Okay so I have been getting a lot of inquiries lately on the details when I was home invaded. So this took place almost 4 years ago, it was in Brevard county Fla. Merrit Island to be more specific.
I was about a year into my tattoo apprenticeship, I lived with my mentor at the time due to apprentices don’t get paid, I had no other options as far as living went.

So I get home one night, my mentor, (we will call Ted) was sleeping in the living room with the TV on, another friend was also there, sitting on the couch watching Tv while I was on the computer, my back towards them (about 20 feet away) and the front door to MY left. Its about 9 pm when I hear a knock at the door which automatically got my attention, you would never hear a knock without a phone alerting first.

You didn’t just “Stop By” our house, its rude and it was next to a bad area. I immediately look over my shoulder to “Bill” that is already looking at me, My look said “Is it for you?” His look said “ I don’t know who it is” with a shrug.

I get up and walk towards the door and look out the mini window at the top, I see two black males with their hoods on, which isn’t really odd, it’s a style I most times do myself, They look up and I recognize them from 2 nights ago when they were at our house, getting tattooed (something Ted would do for friends) so I opened the door, “Whats up man is Ted here?” “Ya come on in fellas”, they walk through the door and after it closes, and they take a few steps in, I realize these are NOT the same guys that were here the other night.
We walk into the living room, “Hey Ted wake up, you have company!” He wakes up, he says “What? Who is it?”
What came after was a VERY distinct sound…
Two pistols rack. ****.
I knew exactly what this was. ****. That’s all I thought

What came next was a clutter of words from the guys, like ringing in your ears and you could only make out parts , “Get over to the ****in couch” “Move” “Wheres the ****in safe!” This is happening while I have a pistol in my face, then in my back as I walk towards the couch, I sit down and now its IN my forehead.
The couch is positioned so Im facing the computer desk I was just at. There is a coffee table in front of me and Bill is to my left, on the far end of the table is where Ted is sitting, We all have our hands about ear height, I have a pistol in my forehead, it’s a Glock. I cant make out what model. The other kid has a PPK, its nickel plated. Then I think about MY pistol…that’s on my ****ING bed at the other end of the house.
Now the kids are screaming about money and the safe, these idiots didn’t clear any of the house, they didn’t ask if anyone was home, they didn’t even lock the ****ing door behind them. Ted gives them the money that’s on the table in front of us, about $1,500 in cash, in separate envelopes. Then they stand him up to go to the safe. The idiot holding the gun to my head is goin back and forth from me to Bill. I could tell he was scared.

I regularly watch reality TV, people getting robbed at gunpoint and shit, I always wondered how I would handle myself in those situations…Im also watching the clock on the DVR, about 5 minutes have gone by. Ted comes back with the other kid and sits down. The kids are screaming about wheres the rest and we better give it to him. They are starting to get mad at this point, on kid gets up on the table and starts kicking Ted in the face, over and over, screaming give it up. They start talkin about pistol whipping him, The one kid does. The kid with the pistol in my face tells him “Don’t let that shit go off!”

This dumbass gets down on one knee, facing away from me over by Ted, so he can drop the mag and UN-chamber the round. ****ing idiot. ZERO gun control. This is where I figure out exactly HOW I handle myself in these situations. While his back is turned and he’s down on one knee, I have a gun in my forehead…I swear to god I could have dis-armed him, he wasn’t even LOOKING at me! And now hes the ONLY one with a gun. I think about it…do it! Fast! Now! Take it and KILL this mother****er!! But then I think about, what if my friends don’t back me up. Bill is a big guy, but hes a kid, and hes already crying and pretty upset. What if I get my friends shot. Its already MY fault they are in the ****ing house! So I don’t. I sat there.

The sound of someone getting hit with a pistol is not a pleasant one. In fact it sucks. It’s actually a dull thud accompanied by metal parts moving and clicking. He got hit so many times. It seemed like he wasn’t going to stop. Blood was going everywhere…
The kid holding the pistol. In my face was taking turns kicking him in the head while the other kid kept hitting him with the pistol. At one point, the kid pushed my head back with the gun HARD cause I was being “Too Quiet”, He said “You bein awfully quiet over here”, I was PISSED. I said “What do you want me to say?” In a Don’t be an idiot kind of tone. Honestly, what the ****.

Now they start talkin about shooting one of us, apparently, what they have already is not enough. They Gotta shoot someone.

So I guess I was the one “Nominated” for this.

They stand me up and tell me to un plug the house phones…for real. House phones. Who has a HOUSE phone? We didn’t. Im in the kitchen and hes behind me, pistol is now in the back of my neck. It was cold. Honestly, I wasn’t really bothered by it. I mean if I had a choice, of course I would NOT prefer to have a loaded gun in my neck but I was in the situation, I accepted it.

I started thinking about all the cool people I had met, all the things I got to do and my accomplishments. I appreciated that I got to do the things I did. So if this was it, I was ready.
He’s walking me through the kitchen and down the hall, it’s a pretty big house so the walk seemed like it took forever. We pass a bedroom to the right, then two closets and then the hall comes to a “T”, with a bedroom to the right and another hallway to the left, that has two more bedrooms.

I stopped at the end, he asks why am I stopping, I say “Well where the **** you want me then!” He don’t know. These kids are IDIOTS, so he turns me around and now my friends are there too, they start thinking, and decide the CLOSET is a good place for us. The kind with the folding doors with the slats you cant see through, only if youre on the inside you can see out.

I had just cleaned the closet out the day before, everything was stacked in Tupperware bins and organized, now its crunching plastic, the sound of it “Popping” under the weight of three grown ass men. Glas s and other shit breaks and scrapes etc.

The doors close…in slow motion.

It seemed like it took forever, and I knew what was coming next.

These ****s didn’t have the balls to shoot us and watch it.

As soon as the doors closed I knew the bullets were coming through, tearing through us and splintered wood flying everywhere.

I closed my eyes….Footsteps followed a slamming front door.

Pussies

[Kfgk14]

Jesus God...
Glad you made it through alive. Those shit stains ever get caught?

[BCmJUnKie]

I dont know.

Either way, they will answer for that.

You dont just come in someones HOME and do that shit.

I had a couple guns at the time. One in my bedroom and a shotgun behind the front door.

I laugh when I hear someone say they keep guns "Hidden" through out the house.

Well, maybe it works, Im not sayin it would never pay off.
It didnt for me.

I got slack with my carry weapons and thats what happened.

I keep my pistol ON me at all times now.

It was most definately life "Changing" in the sense that, how I do things.

More cautious of when someone knocks on my door. Who I let in the house. Where I keep my weapons, situational awareness etc.

[uwe1]

I laugh when I hear someone say they keep guns "Hidden" through out the house.

Well, maybe it works, Im not sayin it would never pay off.
It didnt for me.

I got slack with my carry weapons and thats what happened.

I keep my pistol ON me at all times now.

It was most definately life "Changing" in the sense that, how I do things.

More cautious of when someone knocks on my door. Who I let in the house. Where I keep my weapons, situational awareness etc.

^^^This here is what I see as the best lesson from all this.

If possible, carry around the house. I don't always do this as I have young children, and we are always playing, which makes carrying a huge inconvenience.

As for hiding guns around the house, it really only works if you practice planning on how to get to them. It is very convenient to have guns located in different parts of the house if you don't always have your carry gun on you. This way, if some weird shit happens and you're not carrying, you're not left completely vulnerable.

Always be careful answering the door. Never assume whomever is on the other side is harmless and never let anyone in. Have your gun with you. If possible, purchase a security door. It's a good deterrent and at the very least will give you a few additional seconds to react if shit goes south.

Spending a couple years on this site has completely changed how I view home security and how I plan to respond to a home invasion. I'm with IraqGunz, if someone makes their way in, all bets are off because they mean to do me and mine harm. I'm no ninja, so I can only hope to perform adequately, but I will do my damned best.

Thank God I live in Arizona, and not California.

[BLINDFIRE]

I keep my pistol ON me at all times now.

It was most definately life "Changing" in the sense that, how I do things.

More cautious of when someone knocks on my door. Who I let in the house. Where I keep my weapons, situational awareness etc.

BCM- I am most grateful that you that you decided to share your experience with us. You talked about how, you carry constantly now. I was just debating this with a co-worker lastnight at work and he was telling me "how crazy I was for carrying at home", etc. I think I will have him read your story, because he didn't believe that this type of scenario was plausible. I now KNOW my decision to carry at ALL times is valid & definitely not "crazy"!

[PA PATRIOT]

I have come to see in my 9000+ moons of working the streets that people make it easy to become a victim of a crime by letting their guard down and excepting "its not going to happen to me" mind set.

Basically they set their selfs up to be hit by failing to recognize what makes them look like a easy target to the scum of the earth.

Home Invasion always has the same theme that residents had cash, drugs or guns inside the home and that the location appeared to be a solf target by lacking adequate lighting, appearance of poorly constructed doors and jams or concealed unsecured windows.

In other cases the scam of gaining entry by impersonation of police, utility workers or customers of a cash business being run inside a home has worked and is mostly targeted against woman and the elderly.

Most times the home owner just obliviously strolls up to the front door and is jacked while entering because they were not aware of persons around them.

If we make it easy they will come and take what we have. So a little corrective action along with being armed goes a long way in preventing Home Invasions and Burglaries at are homes.

My priority list of corrections,

1.Home Alarm,

This is your early warning system!

Non-Contract Wireless Units which you own can be found on the Internet at good prices. I own one that has a built in dialer and battery back up. It has never false alarmed and will call any number programed into its memory and play a pre-recorded message made by you.

2. Lighting,

Simple enough add some light 360 degrees around the home.

3. Entry Points re-enforced,

Don't leave keys in dead bolts if the door has a window.

Install a Fish eye door peep and make sure your front door light has a minimum 150 watt white light bulb.

95% of door frame failures occur at the frame contact point with the dead bolt/knob latch.

If you have a hollow core door/poorly constructed door use a re-enforcing steel clam sleeve a round the knob and dead bolt to prevent door split. I use them on any type of door to increase strength at the lock sets.

Re-enforce the door frame with a steel plate which runs the entire length of the latch side of the frame (Sold ay Home Depot or Lowe's). Don't use the supplied screws (1.inch) and substitute fully threaded four inch wood screws or concrete screws if the frame is encased by brick.

Replace cheap unrated lock sets, I have seen cheap sets blow apart with one hammer hit. Look for impact rated sets made by better known manufacturers.

Add a extra dead bolt lock 1.5 feet below the knob lock and it will distribute impact force over a greater area on the door frame.

Install a cross bar but make sure you have solid anchor points at the bracket sites and the cross bar places slight pressure on the door.

4.Windows,

Trim bushes that block the view of windows from the outside and if possible replace it with a good ornamental thorn type that is allow to grow tight to the bottom of the window frame.

Install half frame window bars on first floor windows or windows which have a low roof access Which Open In (Sold at Home Depot/Lowe's) If installed in a child's room Use a Simple Latch the child can open encase of a emergency.

5.Secure Electric Meter boxes and Phone/Cable lines.

Bad guys like to cut these to place you in the dark and disable alarms and your ability to contact 911.

If possible reroute cable and phone line up high or encase them in pipe or metal flex hose

If legal and safe to do place a protective metal box or bar cage over outside electric meter boxes to prevent the meter head from being pulled cutting power.

Following these suggestions will hopefully make to look less then a soft target and give you some piece of mind when home or away.

[drck1000]

Wow! First off, very glad that you and your friends came through that ok, at least relatively considering what happened and could have happened. And the attempted break in after that? Wow, just wow.

I used to think that where I live is relatively safe and somewhat boring. However, there have been a marked increase in home invasions, assaults, etc. latety and it's a trend that I only think is going to get worse. CCW is not allowed where I live and I have all of my weapons in a safe at home. This has me really reconsidering my approach. I live in a secured condo, but my neighbor is a good friend and I can see something similar to this happening where someone I met through him that I don't know well comes over. It's really irrelevant what I could envision happening though.

I appreciate your though process during and in analyzing the scenarios and situations after the face. No one knows how they would react in that kind of situation. Like you said, you remained logical, did not panic, even through the rush of emotions that can cause people to act irrationally. I've been at a place where shots were fired in our general direction (group of people outside a nightclub) and I truthfully didn't realize what was going on until WAY after everyone else was ducking for cover. I had never been in that kind of situation before and franking was just like WTF is going on. After that, I've found that I'm much more situationally aware.

Again, glad that you are around to share your experience. I am sure it has help a lot of people to wake up to reality and hopefully will help someone should something like this ever happen to them!

[dmaxfireman]

Thank you for sharing this story with all of us. After the message I sent you I went right to read this and I will be having my wife read this tonite. So many people think that 'this will never happen to me', and your story brings home that fact that it can happen to any one at any time.

Comes at a time as well when the second scumbag from the Cheshire CT invasion was just sentenced to death.... Cheshire CT, two towns over from me. I am on FD and have many friends I consider family on the PD so this is not meant to take a shot as any LEO's but 'police are minutes away when seconds count'

We are the first line of defense in protecting ourselves and our families, as much as shooting is a hobby / sport for me I consider it a responsibility.

Thanks again for sharing your life experience with all of us.

[BCmJUnKie]

You are most welcome. And youre right, "Anyone" it can happen to.

My mother in law INSISTS that I dont need a gun, this is a good town and bad stuff doesnt happen here.

She is completely aware of my situation and what happened.

I dont have to explain SHIT to her.

The ****ed up part is that its HER daughter and grandson that would be protected, and she says shit like that.

On another note, I would have to say, that the WORST part of going through that shit, by far, would be all of our DUMB ASS friends the next day talkin about...

"Oh man I wish I would have been there!

"If I was there I would have..."

"Those ****s are lucky I wasnt there" and every other stupid ass "Im a ninja commando and I can beat up ANYONE" attitudes

I didnt say shit when they said that stuff.

I just thought to myself...No one is dead. They left. Thats it.

[Ironman8]

On another note, I would have to say, that the WORST part of going through that shit, by far, would be all of our DUMB ASS friends the next day talkin about...

"Oh man I wish I would have been there!

"If I was there I would have..."

"Those ****s are lucky I wasnt there" and every other stupid ass "Im a ninja commando and I can beat up ANYONE" attitudes

I didnt say shit when they said that stuff.

I just thought to myself...No one is dead. They left. Thats it.

This is exactly what I was thinking, and hoping wouldn't happen here in your thread....so far so good. Thanks for sharing this....hopefully it helps someone realize the "holes" in their home defense plan. I know I keep a gun within arms reach of me MOST times in my home...I think I might be changing that to ALL the time now...especially with a few home invasions that have happened in my area in the past couple months.