Four hours later and I'm still shaking ...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Someone tried to break into my apartment this afternoon. Three someones, actually. I know this because I got a good look at them through the peephole in my front door after they robbed my neighbor’s apartment.

I wouldn’t have seen anything at all if it weren’t for the knocking at my front door. I was home sick today and I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I looked out the peephole. It was blocked. The knocking turned to banging, and I heard someone trying to turn the doorkob. So I ran to the bedroom to get my portable phone. When I got back to the front door, I could see out the peephole again. That’s when I saw two guys carrying my neighbor’s stereo. They got into a car with their lookout (a 20-something girl) and drove off.

I called the police and was able to give them a description of the suspects and their car (unfortunately I couldn’t see the license plate from my window). I was talking with a sheriff’s deputy in the hallway when my neighbor came home. The burglars used a crowbar to break the deadbolt. A maintenance worker came out and put a temporary lock on her door, but she said she’s afraid to stay there. The poor woman. :frowning: She just moved in, and she already wants to move out. She’s meeting with the landlord tomorrow to see if she can get out of her lease.

I feel horrible for my neighbor – her apartment was trashed, and she’s scared half to death to sleep there tonight. I wish I could’ve done more to help. I keep thinking that I could have called 911 a few minutes sooner or quietly snapped a picture of the thieves from my window as they were leaving. The worst part is that I don’t feel safe here anymore. Three people tried to break in today. Who’s to say they won’t try again tomorrow? Or tonight, for that matter? The deputy told me that this neighborhood isn’t safe. If a deputy doesn’t want to be there, what chance do I have?

My only consolation is that my lease expires at the end of August. If you ask me, that’s 11 weeks too many.

2

Wow!

I’m glad you’re OK.

I hope you’ll be willing to testify if these three go to trial.

3

Glad you are safe and that you kept your wits about you.

Get an extra bolt lock for the door asap. Maybe even one of those door stopper bars that you can use when you are at home. Consider getting an air horn (bike or marine supply shop).

Ask the police to patrol your block and ask your neighbours to call and do the same.

Stay safe.

4

Actually that’s unlikely. Those three will know the occupants will be alerted and the police will have been in the area. They’ll want to move on to some other building that’s not suspecting anything.

5

Yikes, that’s gotta’ suck, sorry you and your neighbor had to deal with that crap, glad they didn’t get anywhere with you…

yes, add another security barrier/lock/something…
look into getting a dog (if your lease permits it) at the very least, it’s barking would wake you if the thieves attempt to come in at night
get a canister of pepper spray/foam, keep it accesable

this next reccomendation must be seriously considered by you, you must look deep within yourself and see if you’d feel comfortable with the responsibility of…

gun ownership…

specifically, a good, solid, reliable pump-action shotgun in either 12 or 20-gauge, load it with birdshot (size 8-6), it won’t overpenetrate walls (birdshot won’t go deeper than 2 levels of wallboard at most tactical ranges), perhaps keep a “meatier” backup shell as the last shell loaded, for example, my Mossberg 500 starts off with #8 shot, then #7 (2 shells), then a 3" Magnum shell with #3, and the final emergency shell (if all else fails) of 000 Buckshot

i’ve never had to use my shotgun in a defensive manner (unless you count defending myself from evil clay pigeons :wink: ) but i don’t live in a high crime area…

another few benefits of a shotgun (esp. the 12-gauge)…

with standard home defense rounds, overpenetration is not an issue, as it would be with a rifle or large-caliber handgun, if i was using my .357 Magnum for home defense, i’d need to know what was behind my target and behind the wall, as the .357 is a high velocity round that would likely go through the robber and still have enough energy to penetrate multiple layers of wallboard…

the diameter of the muzzle bore and the general appearance of the shotgun is very visually intimidating, the thief knows you have some serious firepower on your side that could put him in a world of hurt…, the value of this simple visual deterrent cannot be overestimated

a pump-action shotgun makes an rather unmistakeable and unique sound when chambering a shotshell, it’s an easily recognized sound, and an auditory deterrent in and of itself, if the thief can’t see you, and he hears the unmistakeable sound of your 12-gauge chambering a round, he’ll think it’s time to leave, very quickly…

a shotgun is more forgiving of errors in aiming, you still need to point it in the direction of the robber, and at most tactical distances the shot cloud won’t have much time to spread out, but it’ll still have a larger area of effectiveness than a handgun or rifle, and in a stressful situation like a confrontation with a robber, you don’t want to have to deal with the stress that properly aiming a rifle/handgun would add to the situation

there’s no guarantees, obviously, but many times, the simple appearance and sound of a pump shotgun has caused a robber to flee in terror, you’d protected yourself and property without even having to fire a single shot…

however, gun ownership is not to be taken lightly, it’s a large responsibility, and you need to decide if you’re up for the responsibility

i’m not reccomending you go out to your local sporting goods store and buy a gun, that’s your decision to make, you could probably get along just fine without one, but since you’ve already encountered robbers in your apartment complex, it’s logical to assume that unless they get caught, they may be back…

6

I have a lovely looking shot gun for this exact reason. I have the safety on ALL THE TIME and have a permit considering I have recently taken this up as a hobby (shooting targets, not robbers).

Keep the doors locked. Especially considering you live in a rough area.

And as MacTech said, get a dog. If the sound of a big doggy growl doesnt get rid of them, the sound of shot gun loading is sure to send them packing :slight_smile:

7

Thanks to everyone for the advice and good wishes. I’m feeling a little better today, but I’m still more than likely leaving this area. I’d already sent out resumes for jobs in other parts of the state when the break-in happened. This is just a little extra incentive for me to step up my job search.

When the maintenance guy worked on my neighbor’s door yesterday he installed a metal plate over the deadbolt so that it can’t be pried open. I called the leasing office this morning and asked if I could have one installed on my door, too. The office manager told me that they usually only do that after they remodel the apartment (in other words, after I move out and the next tenant moves in), but she’ll see if they can find one to put on my door in the meantime. I’m not holding my breath. My neighbor’s door still had the damaged frame when I came home this afternoon, even though the office promised her it would be fixed today.

MacTech and Atheist Princess, the thought of gun ownership did cross my mind yesterday. Just out of curiousity I checked my lease to see what it says about guns. Turns out I can be evicted for “discharging a firearm in the community” or for “displaying a firearm in a manner that alarms others.” Heh. I’m pretty sure the three burglars would have been “alarmed” if I had had a gun (gotta love that wacky contract wording). I don’t know if I really want gun ownership at this point, but I’m going shopping for pepper spray this weekend.

Zebra, I’ll definitely testify if these three get caught. I don’t want them to get away with this. It might not be necessary, though. The sheriff’s deputies got some good prints from my neighbor’s furniture, and one of the thieves bled on the door. We’re hoping the physical evidence will lead to something.

QuickSilver, I plan to install a chain on my door this weekend, assuming the leasing office OKs it. My neighbor says the office is giving her a hard time about repairing her apartment or allowing her to install any safety devices. In the meantime, we’re all keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

Little Nemo, thanks. :slight_smile: I keep trying to tell myself that the thieves won’t be back. Unfortunately it turns out that this isn’t the first group of burglars to hit our complex. It’s just never hit so close to home for me before (figuratively or literally).

8

Where do you live that you must have a permit for a sporting gun?

9

Holy crap.

FYI, if someone ever tries to enter your home again while you’re home, try to get out of the apartment, if you’re able. Robbers who aren’t expecting someone at home may turn violent if they catch you there. So get the hell out of there if you can.

If you can’t, then run to the window that has the most traffic and break it. For some reason, the sound of breaking glass gets people’s attentions. Holler like the dickens if you need to. Your goal is to get them to go away. Anything that draws attention to your home will be a deterrent.

I am so sorry that this happened to you and hope you have peace of mind soon.

10

That assumes that they are not all total morons. A huge assumption when it comes to the type of people who commit burglary.

11

you might want to study the wording, i don’t live in your area, but it may be that the above clause is to prevent you from going next door to your neighbor’s unit and shooting her stereo because she’s playing it too loudly, or waving your gun in the air to clear out the noisy party next door…

there have to be allowances made for home defense in a lease, if someone broke into your apartment while you were there, and they ran once they realized they were on the wrong end of your 12-gauge (probably filling their underwear with excreta as they stared into the 12-gauge’s cavernous muzzle), i don’t think your neighbors would complain, they’d probably thank you for scaring off the robbers

as far as the pepper spray goes, make sure you find the one with the highest Scoville heat rating, the Scoville is a measurement of how hot the pepper is, i have a tactical aluminum kubaton (small striking weapon) with a pepper spray canister in it, the spray is at least 2 MILLION scoville heat units

another less-lethal option could be astun baton (like a stungun but longer), that more than likely would not have any restrictions in your lease, a combination of pepper spray and a stun baton may be servicable in your case…

12

Australia.

We also cannot have Pump actions without a special permit (and major reasons).

Hell I need 2 categories of licence to hold mine and my brothers .22LR & Magnum, the Double Barrelled Shotgun and .243.

Ours are for vermin control on our farms though.

Handguns are a no no too without a category H licence and only for Target Shooting or Security IIRC.

13

When I was burgled, I lost a lot of sleep. Don’t worry you will get over it.

(How odd, this is the second time today I have mentioned my adventure with a burglar on this board.)

14

Yep, Australia. We have strict gun laws. Well they got strict after a certain psycho killed went on a shooting massacre in Port Arthur a few years ago…

15

Actually that mainly just lost us our access to semi-automatic rifles, not really any great loss in the scheme of things.

The laws were already quite stringent.

16

I am surprised. It would be nice to have an armed populance should something like WWII happen again. :slight_smile: Father was there during that period BTW and spoke highly of the country and people.

17

I wonder if in your situation a stun gun would have been effective to use while they were turning your door handle? Zap the metal handle from the inside and scream “I have the police on the phone!”

But a gun would be a better defense option to fall back on.

-Tcat