1sthand commentary from someone who defended himself in a home invasion attempt

[Gadfly]

I had my back door kicked in a few years back. Early in the day, I headed to work about 8:45 AM. I had left the house about 15 minutes before ADT called to report the alarm going off. Rushed home and the constables office was there at the house. The crooks stole a laptop and had unhooked my sons Xbox and TV and left them on the floor but did not take them. I assume the alarm scared them off after it's one minute delay time. But I found in one minute, they can go through a lot of your house!

The sides of my bed in the master bedroom had the sheets all messed up and pulled out, and both my nightstands had the drawers dumped out. My only conclusion, they were looking in the drawer and under the mattress for guns. Under my nightstand, I had an old wooden "jewelry" type box. I had a couple of old watches, nothing too expensive. But the box was actually full of all my old police patches, tie tacks and challenge coins. I guess they did not even open it, just grabbed it and ran.

About a year later, the house about 100 yards from mine was targeted, but that home owner forgot something, and was back home in a few minutes. He found a car running on the street, and his back door kicked in. He went to the open door, drew his pistol and announced he was armed. Three perps jumped out a window and hauled ass across the back fence. They hopped multiple back yards until they hunkered down about 100 yards in the opposite direction from me. In the back yard of.......wait for it......an off duty Houston Police officer.......with two large German shepherds (One of which bit me in a separate story). Needless to say, they were caught.

Turns out, the little shits were 15-17 years old, and one lived on my street in a rental house. They would skip school, and wait for people to go to work. Once they saw them leave, they would knock and the front door, and if no answer, would kick the back door. They did not directly confess to my house, but one admitted they had done "dozens" of homes in the are over the past year. But hey, they are juveniles, so nothing really happened to them.

I hope they don't continue down the path they are on, but chances are they will.

I reinforced the door jams, and a video security system was recently purchased, but yet to be installed.... I went 40 years without having my car or home burglarized. It is not a pleasant feeling.

To the OP, glad you are safe. Glad to hear no one lese will suffer from the crooks criminal conduct.

[Drang]

Turns out, the little shits were 15-17 years old, and one lived on my street in a rental house. They would skip school, and wait for people to go to work. ...

The local PD says residential burglaries spike during lunch hours at the local high schools.

[Irelander]

I ordered a Door Devil to harden my front door but I have a sliding glass door in the rear of my home. Any ideas how to reinforce a glass door? I see that 3M makes a film to go over your glass doors and does a pretty good job of stopping break ins. My guess is that installation of that system is uber expensive.

[Gadfly]

I ordered a Door Devil to harden my front door but I have a sliding glass door in the rear of my home. Any ideas how to reinforce a glass door? I see that 3M makes a film to go over your glass doors and does a pretty good job of stopping break ins. My guess is that installation of that system is uber expensive.

Short of burglar bars, I don't think there is anything that would stop someone from simply throwing a brick or lawn chair throw a sliding glas door or window. Evén if you have that film on the glass.

The door itself is just sitting in a track, and it's pretty easy to pop it off the track. In a past life, I was an apartment manager, and sliding glass doors are easy targets. We installed a regular door lock, a "Charlie bar" and a pin lock. If all three were used, the door was pretty sturdy. If only one was used, the door was pretty easy to pop. If they don't care about noise, windows are easy targets too...

French doors that have the dead bolt type throws on the top and bottom are relatively sturdy, but are an expensive replacement for a sliding door.

[Irelander]

Short of burglar bars, I don't think there is anything that would stop someone from simply throwing a brick or lawn chair throw a sliding glas door or window. Evén if you have that film on the glass.

Here is a video from the 3M site showing the effectiveness of their Ultra Prestige Film. I'm still researching the subject but this stuff seemed pretty cool. Not sure about installation price yet.

[Hambo]

I'm against doorknock locks after some years of thought on the subject, they lead to people getting locked out of their house accidentally while adding nothing to the security of the door.

Yes. We went to no lock knobs so we can't get locked out taking a dog out at 3am. Our deadbolts are not keyed on the inside, but have the lever so we can get out quick if there's a fire.

[Suvorov]

Amazing story and thanks to the OP and Admin for bringing it to our attention.

I've got a few questions/comments:

- For MikeP - Most of us are trained to aim center of mass when forced to take a shot. Many would not suggest a head shot as the initial shot due to the lower probability of making it. Do you recall specifically aiming for the head or did it just work out that way? If you prefer not to answer, I'm cool with that.

- For Chuck Haggard and others well versed in hardening a home, what are the basics I need to do (I recall you touching on it earlier in another thread). I just lost my Dog and in addition to the terrible pain of loosing such a good companion, I am now left with the fear of my Wife and Kids being alone while for days while I am working without 90lbs of dog to keep an eye on things. Another dog just isn't in the cards right now so how can I up armor my doors and entry ways? My current back door has a doggy door (no longer needed and a very easy access point) and a tempered glass window. My front door is solid hardwood, but there is a tempered glass window by it. How vulnerable do the windows make things. At this point if the mods want to split off my questions to another discussion that is cool as well.

Finally for the OP - Very happy things worked out for you and thanks for your willingness to share.

[Gadfly]

Here is a video from the 3M site showing the effectiveness of their Ultra Prestige Film. I'm still researching the subject but this stuff seemed pretty cool. Not sure about installation price yet.

I have see that type of film... But what is holding the glass into the frame. If the film only goes to the edge of the metal frame, then there is bare glass going into a notch in the frame. It is not protected. I think if the film was on the entirety of the glass before the door as assembled, it would be strong. But if it is applied like window tint after assembly, I can't see it being as strong due to the UN coated glass in the recess of the frame.

I would like to see an independent video test, done by someone other than the mfg or someone trying to sell the product.

I would think a plexiglass type replacement door would be stronger than an aftermarket attempt to reinforce tempered glass... But I have no real expertise on the matter.

[Mike_P]

Amazing story and thanks to the OP and Admin for bringing it to our attention.

I've got a few questions/comments:

- For MikeP - Most of us are trained to aim center of mass when forced to take a shot. Many would not suggest a head shot as the initial shot due to the lower probability of making it. Do you recall specifically aiming for the head or did it just work out that way? If you prefer not to answer, I'm cool with that.

Finally for the OP - Very happy things worked out for you and thanks for your willingness to share.

You're correct in your assessment that like you, I was not specifically trained for the head as the first option. COM is what you train for but, I've had PLENTY of trigger time to be confident in my abilities. Snap shooting, fast target aquisition, etc... They all come into play.

I did not sit and line up a shot if that's sort of what you're asking. I made a judgement call on the spot. The BG was approximately 7 feet from me and closing and at that distance and closing there's more of a risk of a bullet passing right through and it not slowing them down at all, either due to adrenalin, drugs, or whatever reason. I needed to use the least amount of force in the least amount of time in order to stop the target and transition to the next.

While there's many who would comment that I made the wrong decision, it worked as expected and I'm alive to tell about it. As with most situations like this, there will be a lot of SME's who haven't actually experienced it but make an opinion based on other factors. In this case, I can tell you what specifically worked in my situation. Adaptation is the key here. Each event could require a different response.

Thanks for the kind words. Sharing is important. If it can help a single person than it's more than worth talking about it, despite it being a horrible situation.

[Al T.]

As with most situations like this, there will be a lot of SME's who haven't actually experienced it but make an opinion based on other factors.

P-F isn't like most other forums. True SMEs here and most members have seen the elephant, or in one valued member, the Moose.

I just lost my Dog and in addition to the terrible pain of loosing such a good companion

My heartfelt condolences.