Sunday morning....BANG!

Status
Not open for further replies.
jmace57

jmace57

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
956
Location
Texas
This past Sunday morning was one of those few, GLORIOUS days in Houston, Texas. 65 degrees and low humidity.

I got up and made my breakfast about 7:15AM. I was sitting inside the house at the dining room table, with the double French doors wide open about 3 feet away.

The next thing I know, I hear a huge BANG of a gun going off...outside....CLOSE. I live in a subdivision of 1/4 acre lots, so the houses are all around me. Not a shotgun. A sharper report. Not a high powered rifle report.

The first thing I did was get on the floor. Then I gradually stood up and looked out the back doors - I see my neighbor behind me over the privacy fence (an older woman) looking at me with a questioning look? I mimed a "who knows" back to her.

Then I sat there thinking..."what should I do?" "Should I call the cops?" I ended up not doing anything. This is smack dab in the middle of the city. I'm looking for comments, especially from any current or former LEO as to what I should have done.

Thanks

PS: I'm new to the neighborhood, and do not know my neighbors well, yet.
 
Call the cops. Believe me a firearms heard call is nothing out the ordinary for us. I'll gladly see what all I can figure out on that, versus dealing with a 5 year old that doesn't want to get ready for school. And yes the later is a fairly frequent type of call you get on patrol these days.

-Jenrick
 
When I lived in the city it was fairly common to hear gun shots, I always dialed 911. Gun shots in the city can usually only mean one thing, criminal activity.

Now that I live out in the sticks, I don't bother calling the cops, cause I know it's just someone that's shooting a snake, or maybe a coyote, bob cat, or some other critter getting at their horses or live stock. And since we're outside of the city limits, the cops won't even come out for a shots heard call anyway.

GS
 
Happened to me on Saturday. I assume it was the neighbor taking a red squirrel, but not a .22LR., not a shotgun.

When I get a chance I will go over and talk to neighbor Bill. The neighbors on the other side were pretty freaked out.

"Don't scare the women and horses........."
 
One of the benefits of living in a small "cow town" here in Indiana. You occasionally hear shots which is allowed since there is no ordinance against firing guns inside city limits. Just recently I had a large groundhog digging under my deck, I called the PD to see if they had a live trap to catch it. The officer simply told me to get out my gun and shoot it.:eek:
 
jmace57 said:
The next thing I know, I hear a huge BANG of a gun going off...outside....CLOSE. I live in a subdivision of 1/4 acre lots, so the houses are all around me. Not a shotgun. A sharper report. Not a high powered rifle report.

The first thing I did was get on the floor.
Click to expand...

I lived in urban SoCal during about Peak Crime (early 1990s). Hearing gunshots was common. Hearing exchanges of gunfire was common too. I had neighbors show me bullets they said came through their walls. I bring this up to say, "been there."

As paranoid as I tend to be, it never once occurred to me to get on the floor. I don't think I would do so even today. I'm not saying that to be critical, macho, or anything in between...just marveling at how different people are wired.

Nowadays my primary residence is in a small Texas city. The sound of gunfire on a Sunday morning is common, but it is more distant than you described. Folks just outside city limits shooting on their private property.

As for what you should do...personally I think "nothing" is the correct response. Why:

"Police and witnesses thought the backfire was a weapon shot and reported gunfire outside of the station.*"
http://www.inquisitr.com/1984596/co...ter-climbing-on-hood-of-car-firing-15-rounds/

If police officers can't tell the difference between a gunshot and a backfire, I figure you probably can't either. If you had seen something that would be different but as it is all you got is a loud noise.
 
"As for what you should do...personally I think "nothing" is the correct response."

Roger that - mind your own business until you have a valid reason to call the po-po.
 
Sure it was a gun shot and not a firecracker? Don't you know your neighbors well enough to ask them? If it was that close you felt you needed to take cover, where the shot came from should be easy to figure out. A gunshot can mean nuttin' or it could mean a problem. Could be the neighbor shot a snake, or a possum. Could be they had a ND when cleaning their SD firearm and shot themselves in the leg and were bleeding to death in their kitchen. Could be the drunk three houses down finally got tired of his wife naggin' at him. She's now in the freezer. There's minding your business and there's paying attention to what's going on around you. Part of that is knowing your neighbors and the types of folks they are. Being concerned about a gunshot in the neighborhood, does not automatically mean calling the cops, unless you know for sure it's trouble. It means calling/talking to your neighbors first.
 
Happened to us too. But what I heard was the tail gate of a large dump truck being slammed to shake stuff out of the tilted bed. Seems that's a technique drivers use to fully unload the bed of dirt, gravel or whatever.

Sounded like a gunshot from inside our house, and the urge to duck and cover was quite strong.
 
I wouldn't "do nothing"

At a very minimum, I would strap on my CCW and cell phone and investigate my property and immediate surroundings.

For all you might know, the neighbor kid may have snuck out his dad's handgun and just shot his little sister.

Calling the police would be a judgment call.... I'd go with my gut.
 
How did you know ?

How did you KNOW that was a gun shot ?.

Are you that familiar with guns ?,I was an LEO and there were people that I worked with that could not tell an M-80 from a backfire.

As a retiree [ hate to bother the troops before coffee ] ,I would look around [ armed of course ] to see if there was a reason to call 9/11.

Otherwise I would have another cuppa joe.
 
I hear gun shots probably once a week. Don't even think about it (unless I heard a commotion afterwards). If I were really concerned I'd call or walk over before I called the cops on my neighbor. I'm sure the S&T guys and LEOs are like 'err muh God that's so dangerous' but hey, life's not bubble wrapped and its usually pretty safe in my area (but again, that's why we carry, for that time that it isn't).
 
I live in the suburbs. This area was country 20 years ago & there are still larger pieces of property around here & strips of wood in between the houses. It is not an every day thing but I do hear shots on occasion. I usually just think to myself that I hope they are using a good back stop & go on about my business.
 
If you lived on my street, you'd have crawled under the bed this past saturday. Shooting started about 11:30 and didn't stop till about 5:00. It's nothing to hear hours of "target practice" in someones back yard, but if any of us hear screaming and cussing, we go running to see what stupid redneck done got drunk and caught a case of stupid, Armed of course. :)
 
I probably wouldn't worry, but I live in a small rural town. It wouldn't be that out of place here. As others have said, it was probably someone dealing with a nuisance animal.

If you notice a bad smell in a day or so, it's possible your neighbor may have committed suicide, or been murdered, or had an accident. Call the cops then. Just the cops. No 911. If we see a thread stated on THR about how stupid someone feels about having a negligent discharge last Sunday morning, you'll have a new friend, and a good laugh.

The other day I was working in my attic work space and heard what sounded like a 9mm being fired down the street. Then I heard it again , and again , and again. Drive by shootings do not happen here. Turns out it was a guy towing his buddy's dirt bike with a row strap, and the engine kept backfiring.

Don't worry until it's time to worry.
 
Hmmm a gunshot sound on Sunday morning? Would I.....Hit the floor? No. Call the law? Not a chance. Investigate? No need. Conclusion? Somebody touched off a round. Assumption? I guess Danny (my nearest neighbor)finally got that pesky groundhog (or armadillo, as the case may be). All likely scenarios not worth the time or effort to check out. YMMV
 
We live on a small farm in a rural area. We shoot quite a bit, as do most of our neighbors. It's more rare to not hear gun shots on a Saturday or Sunday morning. There's that one guy across the field to the east of us who likes to call the Sheriff all the time, though. Last couple of times they came out, they just shook their heads (after asking about and admiring our firearms) and left. They haven't shown up for awhile now. I think he finally got the stern lecture that one deputy suggested he needed.

If you're in the city, though, and you're sure it's gunfire, you should definitely report it to the police.
 
jamace, Some real interesting responses to your question here for sure. Unless you live in an area so rural that your neighbors routinely hunt, target practice, shoot snakes or other vermin in their back yards, Jenrick's response is the correct one. Don't ignore it and don't go to investigate, "armed of course" or otherwise. It is not your responsibility to determine if it was a gunshot or something else, or whether a crime was being committed. That is law enforcement's job. We had an altercation here recently where only one shot was fired. The public's ignoring it, or strapping on their hog leg and going to investigate themselves would not have helped the situation. I was at home one morning a couple years ago when I heard what I thought were gunshots. Of course it could have been M-80s, or engine backfires. Could have ignored it, could have gone over to investigate before calling the "po-po",etc. It was the sound of a murder occurring.
 
Heard a bang in the back yard 20 years ago. Then a few more. I thought it was fireworks as it was a few days after the 4th of July. It was the neighbor a few houses back shooting his next door neighbor and her daughter with a shotgun before blowing his head own off. They were throwing wood against his fence and he told them to knock it off. They told him to get bent and he over reacted.

In any case it could have been something like a car backfiring ( remember those ) or fireworks or something else. Let the cops sort it out.
 
"i guess texas ain't what it used to be."

It never was. Recall that the "wild west" was basically the birthplace of gun control (pistol laws) ;)

TCB
 
I live in a rural area and gun shots are pretty common means to dispatch pests, skunks and such. I don't really worry about it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top