Suspicious Character Last Night

[CodeJockey]

So last night about 10pm, my wife and I were watching TV, and the kids were asleep in bed. The doorbell rings. That was really odd because there is nobody that should be calling at that hour. I look outside there is no vehicle, so I head downstairs. Before I get to the door, whoever it is starts knocking very agressively (way too agressively to be just knocking). So I lift up my shirt and put my hand on my G30. I look out the peephole, and it is a punk kid with a hooded sweatshirt (hood pulled all the way up) standing there. I didn't know him. This is where the never again comes in. I figure there were two choices. Answer the door, or don't answer it but call police. I tell my wife to take her gun and go in the kids room with the phone. I then answer the door partially, keeping my gun, hand, and hip hidden behind the door. The kid immediately starts rambling on about some fundraiser he's doing (he has no paperwork whatsoever). He tells me he needs to interview me, and proceeds to ask what I do for a living. The whole time he's looking nervously to the side of my house.

Now, I know he's obviously not doing a fundraiser as he has no paper work, in my opinion he's 19-20 so probably not in high school, and it's way too late for door-to-door fundraising anyway. I told him to get out of there, and he took off at a run.

The event was non-violent, but I think I made a tactical decision in opening the door. In retrospect I probably should have kept it shut, called police, and waited (armed) until they got there. I figure it was 1 of 2 things. He was either looking for a female home alone or a home where nobody was home so they could rob it. I'm also fairly confident that there was at least one other person around the side b/c there was absolutely nothing else to look at as he was doing. As for why he asked me what I did for a living. I have no idea. I think he was hoping I'd give him some clue as to what hours I work so he'd know when we weren't home. Any thoughts?

[Keith B]

He was definitely looking to 'interview' you and gather any information he could to use to steal from you in whatever form he could.

Hopefully you called the police and had them checked out. No matter what, these types need to be 'interviewed' themselves so they know that someone in the neighborhood is on to them. If they feel threatened that they might get caught, they will move on to some other location.

[joe817]

CodeJockey, I'll tell you what I think you did right:
1. had your gun in hand
2. had the wife get her gun and phone and go to the kids room
3. stayed inside your home. you didn't go outside
4. kept the door mostly shut while talking to the guy who was up to absolutely no good what so ever.

IMO, you properly assessed the situation and were on red alert.

If there was anything you did wrong it was NOT call the cops at first opportunity, and opened the door at all.

I would have done exactly the same thing as you did though, given a similar scenario. You showed great situational awareness.

[USA1]

No doubt about it. He was up to no good.

You should inform your neighbors of this incident.

Whenever something fishy like this happens on my
street, all the neighbors tell each other so we can be
aware of what's going on and keep a lookout for
strange people up to no good.

Glad you're OK. You were prepared.

[PeteCamp]

As others have said, I think you did pretty well. I would echo what Keith mentioned. Please go ahead and call police and let them follow up. We had a couple of kids (well they're not really kids) here who were doing "serial home invasions." They would run up and kick the door in and run off. Sales of 12ga buckshot soared while this was happening. Somebody dropped a nickel on them through CrimeStoppers and they got caught. They said they thought it was great fun. Right.

All that is just to say, when anybody comes to the door that raises that inner alarm bell, somebody should call 911. I live near an Interstate highway and we have all sorts of characters wandering around at night. The wife works through the night so it is usually just me at home. When someone knocks after 9pm, I answer the door with an underfolder AK47 plainly visible. I got tired of being intimidated by these idiots. I get some interesting responses!

[Oldgringo]

In addition to an alarm system that is pretty much paid for by reduced homeowner's insurance premium, our front porch light is a flourescent photocell thinghy that comes on at dusk and stays on until daylight. It pretty much lights up the front yard. Just sayin'...

[CodeJockey]

I did call the police and filed a report. Hopefully that will help if / when they try this again. We'll see.

[USA1]

our front porch light is a flourescent photocell thinghy that comes on at dusk and stays on until daylight. It pretty much lights up the front yard. Just sayin'...

That's a great point.

I can't believe how many houses on my street are dark.
I believe in good lighting...All Night.

[shortysboy09]

our front porch light is a flourescent photocell thinghy that comes on at dusk and stays on until daylight. It pretty much lights up the front yard. Just sayin'...

That's a great point.

I can't believe how many houses on my street are dark.
I believe in good lighting...All Night.

I second that. Just having your house lit can deter some criminals. Plus, it makes it much easier to see whats going on outside.

CodeJockey I think you handled the situation great. I don't know of anything I would have done differently.

[joe817]

I did call the police and filed a report. Hopefully that will help if / when they try this again. We'll see.

I hope it does help. I'm in north Arlington. Did that happen in my part of town? In any event, I'm on double alert thanks to you CodeJockey.

[CodeJockey....as in CW by any chance? ]

[CodeJockey]

CodeJockey....as in CW by any chance?

Well, no I'm a programmer by trade, so that's where it comes from, but I'm also KF5CKB.

73! :-)

EDIT: I modified my profile I used to work in Keller, and live in Arlington. After my house was broken into a couple of years ago we decided to move to Keller so it was closer to my work. I just had forgotten to update my location. Of course, the irony here is that now I live in Keller and work in Arlington. Heh, what are you going to do.

[joe817]

Well, no I'm a programmer by trade, so that's where it comes from, but I'm also KF5CKB. 73! :-)

EDIT: I modified my profile I used to work in Keller, and live in Arlington. After my house was broken into a couple of years ago we decided to move to Keller so it was closer to my work. I just had forgotten to update my location. Of course, the irony here is that now I live in Keller and work in Arlington. Heh, what are you going to do.

Funny how things work out like that! 73! :)

[btw, I'm AA5LD]

[A-R]

I think OP handled this very well. Calling the police just because of a knock on the door at an odd hour (without knowing who or why the person is knocking) is not likely to garner a good response from the local cops, especially if you do so often. There is such thing as being TOO CAUTIOUS. But each person has to decide that for him/herself.

If you really don't want to open the door, then just shout through the door "who is it?" really loud and see what happens. If you don't like the response, answer with this sound ... http://www.sounddogs.com/sound-effects/ ... GS__sh.mp3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PUCKER]

Codejockey - what part of Keller? Reason I ask is that my parents live in Keller (Bear Creek Park area, up on the hill).

[CodeJockey]

Basically I'm near Golden Triangle (1709) and Alta Vista.