8:00 AM Saturday. My wife is doing gardening in the back yard. I am sitting at my computer in the back bedroom, which has a window facing the backyard. The dogs start barking. Our damn dogs bark at anything and everything. I hear the back door slam. Must be my wife coming in. The dogs start whining and crying- more than usual that is. I decide to see what if anything is the matter.
I see a stranger run out our back door, hop the fence and run away. :mad:
I do NOT see my wife who was in the back yard just a minute ago :eek: :eek: :eek:
I run out of the bedroom. My wife is not in the house. I grab some shorts and sandals. I run out the back door. The stranger is gone. I still don’t see my wife anywhere. She does not answer any of my increasingly frantic calls.
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Finally, our neighbor says my wife is in her house calling the cops. She saw the guy jump the fence and run into our house, and decided to go next door to call for help. Apparently it was a grab 'n run: the only thing missing was my wife’s purse. The police come, we report the incident, and hear that daytime occupied-home entries have been on the rise in our neighborhood. Apparently the bastard in question knew that if my wife was in the backyard gardening, the back door would be unlocked.
On the fortunate side: (1). no one hurt. (2) I’d removed the $100 cash she got from the bannk yesterday from her purse for my weekend purchases.
On the unfortunate side: (1). Spent all day cancelling credit cards and checking account. Will have to notify Social Security of a stolen card to avoid identity theft, and have all our automatic deposits changed to our new bank account. (2). Eighty-some dollars worth of new locks for our doors, since her keys were in her purse. (3) Told it would cost $700 to completely re-key our car, or $200 just for the ignition lock. Can’t afford it; will just have to hope our five-year old car with the broken passenger side handle isn’t worth stealing. (4). If they ever do catch the bastard, which would be a long shot, we can’t even swear that we could identify him, since we both got only fleeting looks. (5). Casually leaving the back door unlocked in the summer for convenience sake will have to be a thing of the past. (6). Worry that our house has now been cased for a return trip, and none of our doors or windows would stop someone with a crowbar determined to get in. (7). Second only to the intruder himself, fury at our dogs for their counter-productive constant barking, which makes them useless as guard dogs. And (8). knowing that even having a sidearm at my hip from the moment I got out of bed would not have prevented this.
I am so sorry to hear about this. I’ve had a home broken into and my belongings gone through and stolen, so I know how infuriating it is. It’s hard to describe the personal violation it makes you feel, but somehow you do feel it. It’s extremely creepy.
I do hope they catch the guy trying to use one of your cards or checks. That would rock!
That’s just insane. I hope he gets caught quickly. Anyone ballsy enough to run into someone’s house in broad daylight with the homeowner right there has just got to be stupid enough to do something to get caught.
At least you have the dogs to watch out for you. I know that after something like that I would be jumping up at every little noise.
It is entirely possible that that was part of the plan, but the fact is your dogs were barking. He now knows there are dogs - he doesn’t know that they bark at anything, he doesn’t know if they are friendly or vicious or what. It would not be in his best interest to try and come back for more - he’ll go somewhere “safer”.
For a while I lived with a housemate who raised Great Danes.
When we moved into the last house we shared, we were warned that there was a problem with theft in the neighborhood, and that we should be careful of our possessions.
Then the new neighbors got a look at the two Great Danes we were bringing in. And said something along the lines of, “Well, I guess your stuff’ll be safe after all.”
Now, about these two dogs. They were bird dogs. Chicken, to be specific. One fine evening they were left out in the back yard while the sun set, and they started barking and crying… because it was dark! The larger and older of the two dogs, Basil, was such a marshmallow, the only time he’d ever scared me was when I saw him with a little girl’s head in his mouth. (She was having a grand old time, giggling and laughing, just enjoying playing with the dog. I like to died. And Basil was told, in no uncertain terms, that he was not to do that to any child, ever again.) I kept threatening to get a sign for the backyard: TRESPASSERS WILL BE SLIMED
IOW, these dogs were mostly harmless. But they looked, and sounded, pretty intimidating.
The crime rate, according to our neighbors, plummeted around our house. Just from the dogs we had that would bark at anyone.
I had a co-worker who brought her Great Dane to work. It had a vet appt or something and her husband was going to pick it up on his way. Or something. For whatever reason, there was a Great Dane at work.
It was quite a shock to walk into the reception area and see a frickin’ Shetland Pony standing there.
Now, I do not like tiny little yip-yip dogs, but Great Danes are just too big.
To be completely honest, I agree, Ivylass. The head of the dog will be behaving while you scritch him gently behind the ear. And the tail is destroying everything in the next room while it’s being wagged. :eek:
ETA: But the robbers did seem to find them even more intimidating.
My sympathies, Lumpy, but as a 17 year former resident of Minneapolis, this kind of thing is not uncommon.
I’ve spoken enough about the five attempted break ins at my old house, WHILE I was there. Never bothered to count the number of times idiots walked up and checked my door knob.
In 1998, a man walked into a friend’s house but ran when their 14 year old daughter screamed. Lucky he ran, because mom was a 2nd degree black belt tournament fighter and as it was, chased the guy quite a distance.
About two years ago, a woman who was a customer of mine was jumped and beaten in her driveway in the Lake Harriet area while preparing to leave for work.
Just too many other incidents I know about to list here. Minneapolis ain’t exactly a safe place, hasn’t been for a long while.
I wouldn’t exactly worry about the cops catching anyone on this. They took a report, it was filed, they’re done. No one is looking for anyone.
If this person has a social security number and your address, I hate to say it, but you’re going to have to worry about identity theft for a long time. My wallet was stolen and it was over 2 years later that the info was used to buy stuff 300 miles from where I live. I didn’t have to pay for any of it, but the person wasn’t caught either, despite opening 3 credit accounts in my name. Take precautions to monitor new credit accounts being opened for the foreseeable future, is my advice.
Man that sucks and I hope it all stops now and does not show its ugly face again.
I had my truck stolen out of my driveway a year and a half ago. It was scary enough thinking they came on to my property in the dead of night to steal it much less enter my house in broad daylight.
I have three fairly large dogs and two are semi good watch dogs. That night all three were upstairs in bed with me because my BF was working nights at the time. Not a peep out of them.
Screams must beat guns then, since that got him to flee in the first place.
Lumpy, I’m sorry to hear that. Over a decade ago I lived in the “Wedge” area of Minneapolis for a year or so (then moved to St. Louis Park), and even in that not-necessarily-pleasant part of town the worst I dealt with was a drunk passed out in the women’s bathroom in the park. As someone mentioned above, if the guy didn’t ditch the wallet he might have longer-term plans in mind, so put a “lock” on any new credit offers.
Robbers are businessmen. They want to get drug money fast and clean. A barking dog gives them another problem they do not need. They have to be pretty sure you have a bundle of money to risk a dog or 2.
You know, just a thought - it wouldn’t hurt to buy a Club or some similar theft deterrent system to give yourself some peace of mind with regards to the car.
This is not a gun thread, this is a home invasion thread. The man did not have a gun, so let’s not go into hypotheticals here. He was just some idiot who walked into a random house uninvited and scared the shit out of the daughter of a mom he didn’t want to mess with.
I’d also advise shopping around for another locksmith.
I bought a theft-recovery vehicle that had just a “valet key” --one that would unlock the driver’s door ONLY when inserted one way and the ignition ONLY when inserted the other way.
The first locksmith I called said he had to buy all new locks, keyed-alike, and install them. His estimate was $700, parts and labor.
Second locksmith said “No problem. 50 bucks for the first key and my standard 2 bucks for each additional. C’mon down!” And so I did.
Update: our credit cards were used half an hour after the robbery at a gas station; the latest scam is that thieves offer to pay for people’s gas with stolen cards for cash back. The cops hope maybe they’ll have the guy on camera. They also said that the gas station in question is a notorious hang out for “low lifes”.
At fifty feet, you’re reasonably safe. Most people can’ t hit the side of a barn if they are standing inside it with a handgun.
Quick rule of thumb in martial arts, and this only works if you train at it. If I’m more than 15 feet from the bad guy, I’ll run, broken-field style, for the reason above. If I’m 6 feet or less from him, I’ll take the gun away from him. It’s that 6 - 15 foot range that causes problems.
This is the reverse of the problem the OP has. You needed a key to fit an existing lock. He has an existing lock that the bad guy has a key to. totally different situation. You needed a key cut, he needs new locks.
There might be one hope to stop the thief. Many cars nowadays have a chip inside the key that the car interrogates and verifies when the key is inserted. If it is a non authorized key the car will not start.
I know on a Volvo, I can un-program an existing key, and that key will no longer start the car. Unlock the doors, yes, fit into and turn the ignition lock, yes, start the car no.
It might be worth it to call the dealer and ask if your car has a chipped key and if it can be unprogrammed.
This always makes me wonder why handguns are so popular for home defense. Shotguns are better. You have a lot more rom for error. You can fire in the dark, with shaky hands and you’re probably still going to hit something.
Sorry, Lumpy. We’ve had my wife’s purse get stolen out ofher car and that was bad enough. I can imagine that the sense of invasion at seeing someone in your house, combined with the moment of panic at not being able to locate your wife, along with the added grief of having to re-key everything just makes it that much worse. Where’s Joe Horn when you need him?
