Almost ran into this the other night and didn't have a "tape loop" for how to handle it. How would you?
Got home around 8:30PM a few nights ago. It was dark outside. Went inside, got something to eat, and my phone buzzed. Turns out it was my home camera system picking up some guy in probably his 20's or 30's walking around my backyard with a backpack on. For context, my backyard is fenced off with one side of the fence being a bit lower than the others. But, you would not wind up in my backyard unless you made the conscious decision to be there. My street dead ends and my backyard has not historically been a cut through to get to anywhere else in the neighborhood. So, I'm not exactly sure what this guy was doing but I guess he had climbed over the shorter side of the fence to get to somewhere else? He was not a neighbor and I definitely didn't recognize him.
I ran upstairs, got my pistol, called the police, and stayed inside. Two officers came out and I explained what had happened. They took a look around, didn't find him or anything else and thought it was probably just some knucklehead trying to take an ill-planned shortcut. Nothing else seemed to be amiss but this got me thinking. I could have easily run into this guy, who I don't know, if I was taking out the trash, on my deck or whatever. Like I said, no one else should be back there and it's not like you'd accidentally find yourself in my backyard.
So what the heck should I do if I were to encounter someone back there? Hold them at gunpoint? I never contemplated a scenario like this before. How would determine if it's just some guy lost (possible but unlikely) or someone up to actual no good?