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I was roused by a string of gunshots a little after midnight last night. I thought some idiot celebrating
Then Mommachatter screamed "Gunshots!" and "There's a man at the back door!".
In less than 2 seconds I was out of bed and had my .45 pointing at a young man that had kicked
in my door and was standing in the doorway. He immediately surrendered and begged for help.
He said someone was shooting at him.He had returned fire, but had dropped his gun after the
second shot. After a brief investigation, the police were confident that someone had indeed
tried to murder him, possibly because he had reported them for robbing him 3 weeks ago.


If he will bring his gun over after Christmas I will take him to the range and help him learn how
to use it. Or at least hang on to it!

Thank God I did not panic! Thank God he followed my instructions so well!

The decisions Mommachatter and I made in those first seconds were informed by discussions
we had read and talked about while lurking on this forum. Your thoughtful posts helped me
to avoid shooting and maybe killing a very frightened young man. Who knows, I might
have even saved his life by getting him out of sight be fore his attackers found him.

Thank you all for helping think about what could happen and what I might do
before I had to make that decision!

Glade it worked out,for all involved.

What town was this in?

Oh and Merry Christmas

Grand Prairie

not the merriest Christmas I've had

Think I would have knocked (loudly) before kicking the door in. But what do I know, to my knowledge no one has ever tried to murder me.
Glad everything turned out well. Is the guy your neighbor? How did he wind up in your back yard?

BLG wrote:Grand Prairie

not the merriest Christmas I've had

You didn't shoot someone who didn't needing shooting; that seems pretty merry to me.

What happened to the other guy? Did the cops catch him?

He did knock loudly and saw my wife running to the bedroom. The door frame had been damaged before, he may have simply leaned on it or fell against it.
He lives in the house directly behind me and jumped an 8 foot fence, as he said, in one hop. That put him in my back yard, and since the lights were on he ran to my house for help.

I get sick every time I think about haveein him in my sights

They recovered some shell casings but were unable to find the shooters. My neighbors father met him here and took him to his house to spend the rest of the night

BLG wrote:He did knock loudly and saw my wife running to the bedroom. The door frame had been damaged before, he may have simply leaned on it or fell against it.
He lives in the house directly behind me and jumped an 8 foot fence, as he said, in one hop. That put him in my back yard, and since the lights were on he ran to my house for help.

It's always good to get to know your neighbors. I prefer a barbecue but that works too.

Hope you guys have a less eventful Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas.

I hadn't thought about a barbeque maybe I should try that.

I really hope that that's the only awful thing that happens today. My father is in critical condition at the hospital and we don't expect him to live very long.

Now that it is now all over with and I am beginning to settle down I am getting very tired. I think it is safe to go take a nap now before I go out to the hospital.

Correct "no-shoot" decision in the dark of night.
I'd say you and your neighbor both got a Christmas gift this morning.

All my best to your dad.

My heart skipped a beat reading this story. Man, Congrats on making a great, in-the-heat-of-the-moment decision and not pulling the trigger. I praise God he restrained you at that time, for your neighbors sake.

Merry Christmas.

Hair raising experience ended well. Do not judge quickly comes to my mind:
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BLG,

Congratulations! You handled the situation in the best possible way. No one got hurt and everyone went home safe and sound. Knowing that you could have shot and killed the young man is a sobering experience. I admire your great presence of mind and control in such a volatile situation. I am not sure I would have done so well.

Like you, I credit the knowledge I gained from Texas CHL Forum for some of my positive reactions in an attempted carjacking two weeks ago. Without necessarily realizing it, people can acquire a wonderful education from reading and pondering the threads here on Texas CHL Forum. IMO, this is one of the finest websites in the Internet.

When the adrenaline wears off, exhaustion is a normal thing. I found that I was exhausted and had to take a nap just after my encounter. I think sleeping gives the mind an opportunity to catch up and process the bad encounter. You may also find yourself dreaming about or mentally reliving the experience for the next several weeks. For these past two weeks, I have had nightmares and very irregular sleep patterns but gradually things are returning to normal.

I commend you for a job very well done. Thanks for sharing your story.

BLG, I'm so glad it worked out OK and that you're safe! Merry Christmas.