At 2:00 am last night, some guy claiming to be "Orlando, my neighbor from up the street" rang the doorbell and repeatedly knocked on the door. After arming myself, I checked the area in front of the house to the best of my ability in case there were others with him. Also, I looked through the window to inspect the guys hands in an effort to see if he was holding a weapon of any kind. I answered the door with extreme caution opening it only about half an inch and blocking it from opening further with my foot. I should note that, if I hadn't been concerned he would wake my son up, I would probably not have opened the door at all, but for those of you with kids that have trouble sleeping, you'll understand my predicament. He asked me to call him a cab. That sent up warning signals in my head. I have never seen this guy before and since I have lived at the same address for 13 years, it was unlikely he was my neighbor. Also, if he did, in fact, live up the street, why would he need a cab? If he needed a cab to get home, he could walk. If he needed a cab to go somewhere else, why not go home and use his own phone? I told him I couldn't help him. He protested by repeating himself so I told him to get lost. I watched him leave, then decided it would be a good idea to call the cops and let them know this guy was out there. We saw the cops come down the street and saw them talking to the guy. We didn't see if they arrested him or let him go. Who knows? He could have been drunk or confused about his whereabouts or he could have intended to kill everyone inside if he could have gained access. It's strange how, regardless of the efforts you make to prepare yourself for such an occasion, you aren't really sure how you'll respond when it happens. My wife and I have made and practiced plans for situations like this and decisions still get made on the spot because they weren't in your plan. Thankfully, I did learn something about myself. In this situation, I was alert and ready to make decisions even though I had woken up minutes or even seconds ago. I knew what I needed to do and I did it. Did I do everything right? No. I would change a few minor things but overall, I am pleased with the way my wife and I handled it.
I'd recommend calling the police department and try to find out what this guy was doing. I am also curious as to what he was doing. I know many daytime burglaries occur with this same story in the event the resident opens the door. if they don't open the door, it is assumes nobody is home and a quick boot to the front door allows access to your goodies inside.
Since it was 2:00 am on New Years morning, he had probably been out partying and knocked on the wrong door. He couldn't see my face and may never have realized he was at the wrong place if this was the case. If he was attempting to gain some kind of reconnaissance about our house, he will have some problems. My wife is a stay at home mom so there is rarely a time when no one is home and she is both armed and trained to respond. I can't say I'm not curious about what happened to the guy but, unless I see him around here again, I think I'll just let it go.
I don't have a cordless phone. My wife and I each have a cell phone and I wouldn't hand that to a stranger outside my door at 2:00 am. Also, I wouldn't open the door far enough to hand him anything in case he would reach in.
Better a screaming kid than a whole house full of dead. At 2am, unless I know them, the visitor better be in uniform with his/her squad parked in front of the house. PERIOD! At 6'2" and 300 lbs., if I had evil intentions, I'd have gone through that door, and you, like poop through a goose. Please, please, don't ever do anything like that again. Let me give you a better visual about that situation... If that "neighbor" had been an ex-inmate, particularly a "yard-ape"*, once you cracked that door open, you and your wife together wouldn't have been able to hold that door back. And being that up close and personal, even having a gun might not save you after having that door mushed into your face. And if this animal overcomes you and gets further infuriated by you trying to stop him with a gun, just what do you think is going to happen? It'll probably be sadistic, terrifying, painful and fatal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Yard-ape- Not a racial term. It's a term used to describe a percentage of inmates who don't have prison jobs (What? You think we have jobs for all 1600 inmates?) that spend most of their time on the weight pile. They do this for up to 6 hrs a day, 7x52 and the big yard rarely closes for weather. And most of them have the reflexes of a cat. I have seen some real freakazoids in my 24 years in the prison. I've personally been in fights where it took up to 13 cops to take down one inmate. We had one inmate that used to load up an old army duffle bag with hard cover books and walk up and down the stairs (four flights) to the drill hall (the gym) three times at least 3x a week. Oh yeah, and he was the guy it took 13 cops to bring down. Oh, and the joint that butts up to ours, the Sex Crimes prison? I've watched those patients (we're not allowed to call them inmates) from the tower working their weight pile, too. I often thought, 'How nice, they got here for just raping a girl. After this, next time he'll rip one apart." Bet you don't open that door again, huh?
You don't know me and you have underestimated my abilities. I'm 32 years old and far better trained in matters of self-defense than the average Joe. I am well aquainted with what could happen in real life and I had adequately assesed this guy as not posing much threat to me or my family. I appreciate your opinion but please don't assume I'm seeking advice or approval. I was just sharing a personal story.
You could pick this apart and armchair quarterback it for days.... The reality is, it came out fine. The OP did what he did within his abilities and confidence level...no one had to get hurt...that was a WIN on the score card. OP...I don't know if you own or rent...but my suggestion is that you spend a few bucks on a security screen for your door. Even the least expensive models ($100) can give you extra seconds of standoff or delay in entry. Every second counts and even 4 or 5 seconds of delay gives you a whole lot of time to act. I bought the one that the SWAT commander has on his house ($1700 installed). He bought HIS after they had to hook a chain to one on a dope house and pull it off with a 4X4 F250! I figured if it was good enough for HIM...it was damned sure good enough for me. I have one on the front door and a model for the french doors leading to our patio. I know the ones we have are spendy...but I think it's money well spent. I don't advocate opening the door...but none of us had our boots on the ground. With a sec screen it is safer to do so. True a sec screen will NOT stop bullets...then again...neither will a door. I have also installed a few web cams around our house. I painted them the same color as the house and they are hard to spot UNLESS you're looking for them and have an nidea where they are. They are SO inexpensive now...I bought a set of eight for less than a hundred bucks. I have them plugged into our old and retired computer and they run all the time. All I have to do is look at that monitor as I go to the front door...and I can see who is on my porch. And...of course..."My Girls" answer the door well ahead of me....
I would have done the same thing. No one comes inside my house unless I know them. It's nothing personal, I'm just cautious.
