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Home Invasions
altlat55
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I know that I don't post all that often, and nearly exclusively in the beer thread with occasional forays (or invasions!) into the baseball or GoT thread, but I need to write this down to hopefully feel a bit better. I'm not really looking for H&A, although I'm not opposed to it, but I just want to tell you guys.
So last night there was an attempted break-in of my apartment. It was around 1:30 and I was still awake luckily, even though I had been telling myself I'm going to bed just five more minutes for the past hour, when I heard footsteps around my front window. I live in a garden-level apartment in a part Chicago where all of the the houses are about 4 feet below street level, which puts the first floor windows right at ground level. I move the corner of the curtain and I can see a guy trying to pull open the casement window. I yelled out, "HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING," but I don't think it came out as threateningly as I intended, and grabbed my phone and called 911. The guy put his hand on the window and kind of banged it, and he certainly knew I saw him, but he didn't run. Instead he went around the house from window to window trying to open them. After I got off the phone, I went into my closet and I grabbed my biggest framing hammer and hoped he didn't get in.
This house is like a duplex, but with three apartments. I share a main entrance with the first floor, so I can get to their front door without going outside. I went upstairs without turning the light on in the hall, so he couldn't clearly see me through the semi-transparent door, to alert the neighbors and also because I didn't want to deal with this alone. While I'm going I see the guy clearly just standing outside the front door, like he's waiting for me to answer the door. This is where I get really dumb.
I kind of had a thought when he put his hand on the window that he was waving at me, and I don't really know the neighbor that well and I thought it could be him - so I crack open the door. I still had my hammer in the left hand behind the door and there is a young guy, maybe 22 years old, and he's stinking drunk. He just looks at me and doesn't say anything or move or anything, and so I asked what he is doing here. He gives me some kind of story about how he's just out here talking to his girl Lexi, and not sure what he means. I tell him there are no Lexis here, and he says that no she was just out here with him. I live in a fairly nice neighborhood and there are two police stations in a three block radius, and I expected the police to show up at any second then. He started to move towards the door a little, and (again stupidly) switch the hammer to my right hand. He says kind of in a tough way, "what are you going to do with that, bro?" I told him, "hopefully nothing." I now realize at that point I should have just quickly closed the door, but I was really expecting the police to be there any second and I would prefer him to be here when that happened. Then he starts calling over to the side of my house, "Tank - tell this guy that I'm just out here talking to Lexi." I started to panic a bit more at the thought of there being more guys than him. I say something like you guys need to leave now unless you want to get arrested. Again, I don't think I should have done that either because now he (they?) actually did leave.
I knocked on my neighbors door and after 30 seconds or so of convincing the guy who lives there that I am actually the neighbor (I could hear his wife on the phone saying, "now they are inside the house!", he opened the door and we waited for the police. Of course, by this time there is nobody for the police to find and they looked around a bit, drove up and down the block, and then left.
Around 30 minutes later, I saw the motion light go on again, and I looked into my daughters room (my wife and daughter are visiting my in-laws in Greece), and I could see feet through her curtains. This time I just went straight back upstairs to both make sure it wasn't them walking around the house before going to bed, and because it wasn't necessary that we both call 911. The police were faster this time, and three squad cars rolled up a few minutes apart. The officer, who stayed to talk with us, said that his partner thinks he sees something so he's going to go, and we ask him to please tell us either way. Suddenly, we heard someone yell, "GO, GO, GO!" and then the drunk guy ran down the streets with the two police officers chasing him. They went back into the alley so we didn't get to see any resolution to the chase, but about 10 minutes later one came back with a picture in his cellphone to confirm it was the guy - it was.
I don't know what he really wanted. Was he just drunk and confused looking for this Lexi and thought she was in my house? If so, why did he come back later? If he was actually attempting to rob the apartment why continue to try and open windows instead of just breaking them since it was very clear that we were already aware of him? Was there really more than one person? I don't even know what happened to the guy, or if he was actually charged with anything. I suppose I could probably call the police station in morning and ask what happened to him.
Now that night is here I am left with this uneasy feeling. It's not quite fear, but even though I know the chances of this guy coming back are almost none - it still feels a bit... gross I guess? I rode home in my cousins car once in the passenger seat where only minutes before a thief sat and stole his stereo. It's kind of the same feeling, although now it seems like there is still the smallest possibility that it could happen again.
Anyone have any similar stories?
So last night there was an attempted break-in of my apartment. It was around 1:30 and I was still awake luckily, even though I had been telling myself I'm going to bed just five more minutes for the past hour, when I heard footsteps around my front window. I live in a garden-level apartment in a part Chicago where all of the the houses are about 4 feet below street level, which puts the first floor windows right at ground level. I move the corner of the curtain and I can see a guy trying to pull open the casement window. I yelled out, "HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING," but I don't think it came out as threateningly as I intended, and grabbed my phone and called 911. The guy put his hand on the window and kind of banged it, and he certainly knew I saw him, but he didn't run. Instead he went around the house from window to window trying to open them. After I got off the phone, I went into my closet and I grabbed my biggest framing hammer and hoped he didn't get in.
This house is like a duplex, but with three apartments. I share a main entrance with the first floor, so I can get to their front door without going outside. I went upstairs without turning the light on in the hall, so he couldn't clearly see me through the semi-transparent door, to alert the neighbors and also because I didn't want to deal with this alone. While I'm going I see the guy clearly just standing outside the front door, like he's waiting for me to answer the door. This is where I get really dumb.
I kind of had a thought when he put his hand on the window that he was waving at me, and I don't really know the neighbor that well and I thought it could be him - so I crack open the door. I still had my hammer in the left hand behind the door and there is a young guy, maybe 22 years old, and he's stinking drunk. He just looks at me and doesn't say anything or move or anything, and so I asked what he is doing here. He gives me some kind of story about how he's just out here talking to his girl Lexi, and not sure what he means. I tell him there are no Lexis here, and he says that no she was just out here with him. I live in a fairly nice neighborhood and there are two police stations in a three block radius, and I expected the police to show up at any second then. He started to move towards the door a little, and (again stupidly) switch the hammer to my right hand. He says kind of in a tough way, "what are you going to do with that, bro?" I told him, "hopefully nothing." I now realize at that point I should have just quickly closed the door, but I was really expecting the police to be there any second and I would prefer him to be here when that happened. Then he starts calling over to the side of my house, "Tank - tell this guy that I'm just out here talking to Lexi." I started to panic a bit more at the thought of there being more guys than him. I say something like you guys need to leave now unless you want to get arrested. Again, I don't think I should have done that either because now he (they?) actually did leave.
I knocked on my neighbors door and after 30 seconds or so of convincing the guy who lives there that I am actually the neighbor (I could hear his wife on the phone saying, "now they are inside the house!", he opened the door and we waited for the police. Of course, by this time there is nobody for the police to find and they looked around a bit, drove up and down the block, and then left.
Around 30 minutes later, I saw the motion light go on again, and I looked into my daughters room (my wife and daughter are visiting my in-laws in Greece), and I could see feet through her curtains. This time I just went straight back upstairs to both make sure it wasn't them walking around the house before going to bed, and because it wasn't necessary that we both call 911. The police were faster this time, and three squad cars rolled up a few minutes apart. The officer, who stayed to talk with us, said that his partner thinks he sees something so he's going to go, and we ask him to please tell us either way. Suddenly, we heard someone yell, "GO, GO, GO!" and then the drunk guy ran down the streets with the two police officers chasing him. They went back into the alley so we didn't get to see any resolution to the chase, but about 10 minutes later one came back with a picture in his cellphone to confirm it was the guy - it was.
I don't know what he really wanted. Was he just drunk and confused looking for this Lexi and thought she was in my house? If so, why did he come back later? If he was actually attempting to rob the apartment why continue to try and open windows instead of just breaking them since it was very clear that we were already aware of him? Was there really more than one person? I don't even know what happened to the guy, or if he was actually charged with anything. I suppose I could probably call the police station in morning and ask what happened to him.
Now that night is here I am left with this uneasy feeling. It's not quite fear, but even though I know the chances of this guy coming back are almost none - it still feels a bit... gross I guess? I rode home in my cousins car once in the passenger seat where only minutes before a thief sat and stole his stereo. It's kind of the same feeling, although now it seems like there is still the smallest possibility that it could happen again.
Anyone have any similar stories?
altlat55 on
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I then yelled something at the guy and he started walking towards the room. He gets near the door and I jump up, kick him square in the hip and he falls into the closet. I'm wearing nothing but my boxers and I leap out on top of him ready to basically kill this guy when I notice he's crying and whining.
I get up and he starts whimpering and asking why I kicked him. He just had a 280 pound hairy ass dude on top of him and I kicked him fucking hard.
Turns out he was wasted and wandered into the wrong house. I told him to get the fuck out.
When the cops cane I told them what happened and key them know that he went severely limping outside if they wanted to look for him.
I didn't sleep right for at least 2 months. Every sound I heard made me get up and check. It was a horrible experience and it was actually completely innocent.
I can't imagine what it would feel like if someone broke in with intent.
The guy is honestly lucky I took the time to notice him whimpering. I don't like to hurt people so I was hesitant.
i'm coming around the corner of the shed behind him as he drives off. i'm to far to make a strike but i swing anyway just to see if
he sees me. in the dark i'm sure he thought it was a katana, lol. he drives off fast, through my neighbors yard. the police show up right after him and off they go.
i should have grabbed the camera and not the weapon.
i'm not concerned me might come back. this story reminds me of another time. a drunk driver went off road and went all the way behind my house before turning toward it and getting stuck a few feet from my back door. he hit the brakes at the last minute. he couldn't get the car from neutral to reverse to drive away but had the engine all the way revved up. he was going to put it into drive or reverse so i grabbed my bokken (again) and stepped out the door to confront him. he panicked, jumped out of his running vehicle, and took off on foot. left his wallet too.
I don't know if that'll help ya sleep or not, but you might be able to apply something similar with whatever set of beliefs you hold. All else fails, you might find solace and confidence in restudying philosophies you hold dear to your heart, be it a song, novel, or essay.
She followed him into the hall and said "no, not wrong room - wrong house!" He apparently seemed really confused and got really apologetic and left. She followed him to the door telling him off for breaking our door, which he denied, claiming he'd just pushed it open. Despite the fact you could clearly see the frame was smashed.
He left without incident, leaving behind a dirty pillow he'd brought. So I guess our house had been used as a squat by junkies or whatever while it had been empty over summer, and he'd not realised it was now occupied.
That kind of set the tone for living in that house. It was a right dump.
See if you can install some bars on your windows if they're not already there. (Hopefully they are, given you're at ground level.) Also, if you don't own pets, get a couple of motion detectors to place by the doors. That way, it should be super difficult for anybody to get in, and if they do, you'll notice. You can also buy door jambs for the bedrooms, if that makes you feel better. If a motion detector goes off, jamb the door, stay put and call the police.
It is a story about the time my whole family was almost murdered by the Mexican mafia!
so while I pretended to be drunk I was in fact becoming extremely sober
ended up walking them up to a police car, the bloke had escaped from prison???? it was in the news
also i have had to chase a drug addict away with a baseball bat after he kept patiently trying to pick our back door's lock and the police didn't show up
...and Metzger never posted again.
This summer's comedy blockbuster: Families!
We had a wonderful gent kick down the door of our flat in Halls in our first year. He'd methodically gone through and kicked in the doors of every flat one between the 4th and 9th floors trying to find one of my flatmates because he couldn't remember where she lived exactly. He was not the most pleasant chap.
Each time they went away and it was scary for a few minutes, but at this point it doesn't even register on a "violation of personal space" kind of scale. I imagine it would have been a lot worse if more had come of those situations than did though.
Now, our apartment at the time was the bottom floor of a duplex. there was an outer door that wasn't locked, a second door inside that that was locked, and opened into a stairwell between our apartment and and the one upstairs. When she returned with the food, the man tried to force his way in through the second door, only to be greeted by this:
only looking considerably less relaxed and happy than pictured above. He backed off in a hurry, and my wife closed and locked both doors.
about a half hour later he returned, this time with a friend, and started yelling outside the window to be let in. My wife called the police (of course), and when they arrived the men scattered. The officers came in, took a statement, and that was that.
What did I do during all of this? Slept like a baby. Didn't wake up when the man knocked on the door, didn't wake up when Arwen protected her flock, didn't wake up when they were yelling outside our front window, and didn't wake up to see the nice policemen. I don't know what I would have done differently beyond not opening the door for the man asking for money at 2am, but I still asked Jerrica to please wake me next time something like that happens, just in case I am needed.
I went into a couple shops to see if I could shake them, but they just waited outside and started following me again after I left.
But I made it back to a main road without anything happening and they stopped following.
Not exactly the most exciting brush with the criminal element.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
Also looks like somebody broke into some cars right here on the corner of my street, yay for not having a car.
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Good on you for keeping cool and safe.
Once I did have someone enter my unlocked car. It was an '85 Pontiac Fiero and a stick shift, and since I didn't leave any valuables in the car I didn't bother to lock it when I went to visit my girlfriend at Purdue. I came back to the car the next day and thought something looked out of place. There isn't a glovebox in the tradional place in a Fiero, nor airbags, just a flat panel with a elastic band going around it for maps and things like that. Someone had clearly thought they there was a glovebox there, because they pulled the panel off and it was just sitting loosely in the spot where it went. I had a good laugh imagining someone pulling on the elastic band until the panel gave out and their surprise at finding nothing but wiring behind it.
also a homeowner in atlanta shot and killed an intruder after the second break in of the week. good for him!
it's late, the front door is open. In the front hall, the wall has a big bloody smear on it. He calls out for the two dudes who live there and neither answers.
So my mate, rather than calling the police or anything, decides to sneak into his own house and find out if someone has attached his housemates or whatever (he's a big guy and can handle himself so I guess maybe his is why he thought that?)
He goes up into one of my friends room and finds a massive bloodstain on the carpet. So he picks up a baseball bat and keeps going. Remember it's night time and dark.
Anyway so what had happened was that his house-mate (another friend of mine) had managed to fuck up making a space marine miniature (of all things) and stabbed himself in the hand with a modelling knife. It had bled really profusely and he'd gone to the hospital, the other house-mate had stayed at home to watch the house. Of course they had left the front door open and not cleaned up, the pair of twats.
So the guy at home, he's sitting at his PC listening to music on the headphones. So he doesn't know the guy is back. He gets up and walks out of his room into the dark hallway and sees someone sneaking around in the darkness with a baseball bat. So he attacks the guy.
Cue the pair of them grappling over a baseball bat in the landing for a while before they recognise each other. And that is the story of how my friend home invaded his own house.
The nerdiest home invasion story
I'm down in West Town area, and we get people cutting through my yard and jumping the fence and stuff sometimes
Most of the time it's totally inconsequential, but I've had it happen at like, the exact moment that I'm coming home, aiming to unlock the gate that there are strangers standing on opposite sides of
It was definitely a panic moment. It lasted like half a second and they both ran off, and there were no signs of any forced entry or anything, so they were probably just using the yard as a shortcut or drunk or whatever, but still.
I'm also aware of the racist past of the neighborhood so I'm not trying to become one of the old guys sitting around the steps complaining about the changing demographics, either.
What I mean by that last sentence is that I want to be part of the neighborhood for the next few years that we live here, but I am in no way interested in getting involved in the good ol' boy daley club or anything. There are permanent residents here that aren't like that, and those are the people I'm interested in being move involved with.
Not quite. You need to substitute the baseball bat for a bat'leth or replica lightsaber or bokken on the next retelling.
It was a José Canseco bat.
Its why I sleep with one next to my bed.