What would you do?

[Gordon]

I never told his on internet before today, really not very exciting but demonstrates the restraint we must use with tresspassers:
Last June I was in my gun room , which is a 8' by 20' attachment to my non attached garage made out of 3/4" plywood plus siding and insulated and sheet rocked. I have a humongous safe which when the 2" thick door is swung open blocks the entrance if I open only half of the double entrance door (36"+36") . I was working at my bench on some project with the safe door open and the outside door partially open and the vent fan on the end of room near the bench on.
I had a friend up on my house doing some roofing repair with a helper about 75' away. My yard is fenced on the road and cross fenced for pastures and the driveway is 600' long. I have a Ridgeback/Mastif cross 125 pound dog- who stays on the property and bites strangers if they aren't cool! Listening to a talk show on a Saturday morning I begin to hear a soft voice holding a conversation . It sounded like it was about 50' away and I thought it was the roofer's helper talking to my friend on the roof . But the voice went on and on for about 1/2 hour and I begin to make out weird words and sentence structures. I moved to my safe near the door and listened with the radio and fan off and decided I didn't know who was talking but it sounded like a bizarre monologe!
I grabbed the closest loaded pistol that would conceal in my sweatshirt- a S&W 296 .44 special loaded with 180 grain XTP Hornady ammo . I closed the safe door partially and looked around the corner of outer door to find a long haired bearded, dirty bum about 30 or so leaning against the back of my garage and haveing a real evil sounding conversation with himself- about 10 feet awy!!
The gun imm. goes to low ready (2 hands and finger straight along trigger down under eye plane) and I challange the TRESSPASSER with : a strong " what are you doing here?"
The stranger starts approaching me with his hand extended, I yell: " Stay back, Stay back" and level the gun at his chest. He keeps coming and my finger goes to trigger and I tilt my head down on sights taking a back step and repeating the command to " Stay back" at the top of my voice.
He holds out his hand as if to shake hands and slowly advances oblivious of my gun and I continue to step back keeping about 8 feet from him (too stinkin close!!!!) . My friend the roofer, an old combat amigo of mine from VN and a bar brawlwer if there ever was one yells down to me "is there a problem?" *(&^ yes I replied. Right then the guy begins retreating and suddenly his reddened crazed eyes focus on that big .44 muzzle with the cylinder that was beginning it's rotation as he kept coming! He starts saying with his hand out" I was at the party last night Bro, I just wanted to thank you" He was obviously still drunk/stoned from what ever/whereever the party was but I informed him clearly and while being covered that he was to leave right now and never come back! My friend wanted to get in his face , but I restrained him (and my now present barking dog- who had been harrassing my goats or something in far pasture near the woods) and we escorted the troll to the county road and went back and called the sherrif. The sherrif came about 1/2 hour later ( ) and I never heard if they contacted him or not.
Bottom line: no lawsuit, I felt safe and in control, I prolly was lucky my friend tilted the odds in my favor enough to wake a whacko up enough to back off the muzzle of a loaded , and ready to go off in a fraction of a second more .44!!!! No lawsuits, no cops , no mess! If this would have happened inside my house I think it would have had a different outcome if I couldn't have retreated like I did outside!

 

[MikeIsaj]

Sounds like you did allright to me. Weapon at ready, strong verbal commands, notified LEO, good enough for me. Glad you didn't have to shoot. That's never fun, even when the target is some burned out druggie. Do you think this idiot has any idea how close he came to being shot or eaten by a large dog?

Some may say, a person of that condition could have been shoved away. I would shoot before I could touch him. You never know what his mind is seeing or what he has hidden.

You're alive, he's alive, a good job.

 

[epijunkie67]

What else could you do?

Sounds like the guy was not acting normally. Strange man deep on my property , acting unusual, talking to himself, approaches me despite a drawn firearm and repeated commands in a language he speaks? In a better world we would like to think that he is just a drunk or stoner and could be talked to and redirected. And in truth the majority of time that may be correct. Unfortunatly, in todays world you can not take that chance.

You did everything you could to avoid a shooting. I guess if you are looking for other options then you might have tried calling the law before confronting the guy. You obviously saw him before he saw you. Arm yourself, call the law while keeping him observed, and just watch him without confronting him until the cops arrive. If he tries to go someplace you would still be free to confront him.

It's a shame that a shoot to wound senario is such a bad idea in todays justice system because this case would be perfect for it. Guy advances, you put one in his leg and then cover him til the law arrives, and if he attempts to produce a weapon you finish the job. Makes sense to me but I'm not the plaintifs attorney.

 

[HankB]

Maybe he WAS just trying to thank you . . . or maybe it took a while for what you were holding and your willingness to use it to penetrate the drugs he was hopped up on, and that made him decide not to try and assault/rob you. Or maybe your buddy making himself known penetrated the druggie's narcotic haze and made him back off.

Maybe he had no evil intentions.

Maybe . . .

Glad you're OK and don't have to face a lawsuit from his next of kin.

 

[Balog]

Sounds as tho you did good. My only advice is to take a long gun when investigating disturbances outside in a rural area. Lotta possibilities (longer ranges, multiple or covered targets, animals either by themselves or with their owners etc) that could best be handled with the range, capacity and power of a good rifle or carbine. Assuming that you own such a thing, of course.

 

[Kevmo327]

Sounds like you did well.

THe situation sounds like a similar one I had about 15 years ago when an intruder got into the hallway/stairway of a 3 family home I owned in Boston.

I caught him trying to break down the first floor tennants door (my sisters place) and leveled a 686 at him telling him to get back and lay down, the PD where on the way and the guy started coming at me slowly.

It wasnt until I cocked the hammer back that he seemed to snap out of it and comply.

The PD showed up shortly thereafter as did my atty (he lived accross the street) and we all went to the station to get this sorted out.

Turns out the guy was an escaped mental patient who thought he was at his GF's house and in reality he had no clue where he was or how he got there.

Scary stuff

 

[jzzmusician]

Freaky situation. I own a restaurant and have had a number of people whose "elevator doesn't go to the top" come in here and occaisionally create a moderate disturbance.

I always have a phone with me. At home, and at work it's a cordless phone. I talk to the guy. If they don't leave immediately I call the cops. I give them 10-15 seconds. After that 911. On the road I have a cell phone. I find that works pretty good.

"his reddened crazed eyes focus on that big .44 muzzle with the cylinder that was beginning it's rotation"

Are you saying you were beginning to pull the trigger? If so, from my perspective, that was pushing your luck.

I can't tell you what I would have done. Don't know whether I would have even drawn my weapon. You never really know till something happens.

jzz

 

[Alex45ACP]

Sounds like he had some mental problems, schizophrenia or something like that
If that happened to me I'd probably just stay out of sight and call the cops and not confront him if possible.

 

[Gordon]

The guy had backed me up about 30 feet with me yelling at the top of my voice. I was almost backed up to a retaining wall where I could not retreat. I was NOT gonna let a younger complete stranger whacko tresspasser lay his hands on me - sorry ! He kept coming with NO response to my requests until my friend yelled from his flank, which reinforces my feelings of his evil intent.An attempt to shake hands is the most common sucker punch! I am a senior citizen and was in reasonable fear of my life so I almost lit him up!
Yeah, now , two Awerbuck shotgun classes later, I won't venture forth with out a street howitzer ! The 30 to 45 minutes the calvary took to arrive would be quite a time to "retreat and observe", and like I said ; the guy was unexpectedly close when I came upon him (I did not draw until he would not leave or respond with why he was there), he just kept coming!

 

[XLMiguel]

Glad things worked out OK. IMO, you've got to treat anyone who advances on an obviously armed person yelling "Get away from me!!" as a threat. The outcome may have been tragic, but a justifiable shoot.

 

[Gordon]

During a break in an advanced weapons class I was kicking back talking to Scott Reitz of LAPD Metro SWAT and told him " Scotty, I am taking this training as a sport; I am too good natured and too old and laid back to shoot anybody. I am real good at defuseing situations also, although I can't run away like lightning anymore"
His response was "You don't know if you will have to shoot anybody".
My response back was , "Yeah , maybe but at least I'll know HOW now"

 

[kirkcdl]

I would've let the dog have him...