An odd thing happened yesterday

[amboy49]

Yesterday my wife and I were working in our garage and because the temps were so mild we had the overhead door up. I had my back to the overhead door and when I turned around there was a young man standing in front of my garage door about 25 or 30 feet away. His first words were "I've been out running and gotten turned around. Can you give me directions to . . . . . It just seemed odd but I gave him directions to where he'd asked and he walked away ( didn't jog or run).

Fast forward 30 minutes and my wife and I both received an email "special news" message from our local paper thru the app on our phones. The news alert told about an attempted home burglary in the last hour not all that far from where we live and how the local grade school in the area had been locked down. The alert indicated a woman had been apprehended but a man was loose and on foot. Upon seeing the news alert my wife and I both concluded the stranger in the driveway might very well be connected to the burglary.

The next day the local paper published a picture of the man and woman who had been arrested for the burglary and my wife and I both concluded with 90+% certainty the accused was the guy who had been our driveway. I wasn't armed when this unfolded since I had been up in our attic cleaning. (I told my wife I didn't want to do that job !)

This seems to support the argument that being armed and vigilant is not a part time job. The accused burglar could very well have been armed, wanted a vehicle to distance himself from the area, and/or perhaps even desperate to continue to attempt burglary/robbery.

As they said on the cop show Hill Street Blues "Let's be careful out there. "

 

[Vigilant]

Sounds like you may have been lucky this time. Always carry your gun!

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I get a second hand recount of some of the craziness that unfolds in Randolph county, and it concerns me deeply, as much of it seems to be RANDOM craziness. Add to this that I know that Randolph County is a very quiet corner of the state, and yeah, stay ready all the time.

 

[jgressley2003]

Wow that's creepy! He could've been trying to sneak a peak to break into your house later or passing on what he saw to his buddies. Can't be too careful these days, everything has to be locked up and bolted down.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Probably saw an open garage and figured may get lucky

never have garage sales with an open garage

 

[Expat]

Well that is odd.

 

[Hkindiana]

Always carry your gun!

But it is so hard to clean the bath water out of them

 

[tsm]

But it is so hard to clean the bath water out of them

Stainless, and just let it drip dry.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

That is weird...and kind of eerie.

 

[sugarcreekbrass]

This past summer my brother and sister in law came over to borrow my trailer. We were out of town. They saw a man walking along the road and didn't seem right. They almost stopped to check on him but didn't. The next day they found out it was the guy who shot his brother in Brownsburg and fled to Crawfordsville. Cops found the stolen get away car not too far from my house so they were canvassing the area. We had cops all over looking around our place. Freaked us out to have someone call us and let us know about all of the excitement we missed. Even worse thinking what could have happened if my in laws stopped to help the guy. Glad nothing happened to you and your wife.

 

[Doug]

​Semper Paratus

 

[LtScott14]

You should keep alert when things like the "creepy walking guys", the "magazine sales guy", and the Sunday "Religious Book Sales" persons just happen by. They could be casing your house. I don't have any problem with school promos, (my sons sold stuff too), and the Girl Scout selling cookies! All acceptable.
Many threads back, people wrote in about answering the door being armed. I agree. Kept low and on the side, may save your life.

I was a LEO before retirement. Checked out a lot of the above, and would rather have a call before that guy walks away to another area. Maybe stop your house being broke into, or you carjacked, or kidnapped. We have some elderly neighbors, and we look out for "strange" cars and people daily.

Call the Police. Let them hejp curb the problems.

 

[WebSnyper]

Call the Police. Let them help curbstomp the problems.

FTFY. just kidding

 

[gregr]

We had an incident a few years back where some dude shows up at the front door claiming he was from our home security company. No uniform, no name tag, nothing to identify him as an employee of that company, and no vehicle in the driveway. He said he just wanted to go around and do some quick work to upgrade the system, and gave some bogus explanation about some new thing the "bad guys" were doing. I told him, no thanks, I didn`t call him, and I don`t deal with anyone just showing up at the front door. He was insistent, and quite pushy, and I finally told him with an edge in my voice that we were finished. He turned around, walked down the driveway, and about a half block down the street to a small compact vehicle with the engine running and someone behind the wheel. He got in and they drove away. I had walked outside and stood on the porch because I wanted them so see me and know I was on to them.

I told the wife about the incident, and in no time, I had her blessing to pick up the 870 Tactical from Bradis. And by the way, I`m always armed, even inside the house, or going to get the mail. Always.

 

[amboy49]

You should keep alert when things like the "creepy walking guys", the "magazine sales guy", and the Sunday "Religious Book Sales" persons just happen by. They could be casing your house. I don't have any problem with school promos, (my sons sold stuff too), and the Girl Scout selling cookies! All acceptable.
Many threads back, people wrote in about answering the door being armed. I agree. Kept low and on the side, may save your life.

I was a LEO before retirement. Checked out a lot of the above, and would rather have a call before that guy walks away to another area. Maybe stop your house being broke into, or you carjacked, or kidnapped. We have some elderly neighbors, and we look out for "strange" cars and people daily.

Call the Police. Let them hejp curb the problems.

Funny you should suggest i call I call law enforcement. The part I left out of the story is that I did call law enforcement. Not 911 - but the administrative number, which in our county is the sheriff's department even though I live on the fringe of a municipality. All law enforcement and emergency services in our county are centrally dispatched by the sheriff's department.

I went through my story with a sheriff's deputy and he said he would notify the local p.d. and if they would choose to do so, he felt they would send an officer to my residence. Guess what - no law enforcement personnel ever showed up. I can't be certain the alleged burglar hadn't already been caught by the time I phoned and that was the reason no one showed up to talk with me - and at this point I don't plan on pressing the issue.

However, the adage about "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away" comes to mind.

 

[funeralweb]

I get a second hand recount of some of the craziness that unfolds in Randolph county, and it concerns me deeply, as much of it seems to be RANDOM craziness. Add to this that I know that Randolph County is a very quiet corner of the state, and yeah, stay ready all the time.

Random but with a common denominator: Drugs
We've been the target of 2 theft attempts and 1 use of a driveway to shoot heroin in rural Wayne County that were thwarted because the dumbasses didn't realize the property owner is 1.) ever vigilant and B.) unsympathetic to the long-term consequences of making a bad choice.

 

[ghuns]

Where I live, pedestrian traffic is rare. The experiences I have had with random strangers walking up to my house have been overwhelmingly negative. I don't mow my grass unarmed. I don't work in my garage unarmed. I don't do chores in the barn unarmed.

Some years ago, I was all dressed up to go deer hunting. I walked out to the garage and hit the button to raise the door at 0-dark thirty. Right as the door started up, I saw a figure in one of the garage door's windows. He froze at the sound of the door going up. I dropped everything I was carrying, except my shotgun and grabbed a slug from my pocket. The dude was looking right at me all big eyed as I fumbled to load a single slug and chamber it, a 3 gun pro I am NOT. I didn't point it at him, didn't have to. As I was asking, can I help you? He was all arsehole and elbows across my yard, yelling about running out of gas or something.

I felt kinda bad for a second. But then I noticed his footprints in fresh snow that went to each of the side doors around my garage and around my outbuildings. The footprints where he entered my property didn't come from the road, but from across a field. I don't know what level of no-good he was up to, but I didn't feel good about leaving the wife and kids home alone. I called the county police, they didn't seem to excited about sending anybody out to the boonies. So I spent the morning sitting in my lazy boy snuggling with my Browning.

 

[2A_Tom]

.

 

[speedracer302]

I carry a lot, but definitely not all the time. Probably should think about it more. Stories like this one and the other garage entry home invasion stories concern me. I have been talking to the wife a lot about keeping the garage closed. During the summer, while the kids are playing, its can be hard to keep it closed.

 

[RandyMarlar]

I only carry when I am wearing pants. I've been thinking about a shoulder holster so I can carry all the time.
R