Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
The TruthAboutGuns has an interesting account of an attempted home invasion in Antioch, CA. An 18yr old approached a nice home in a top notch neighborhood next to the golf course at 8:20 p.m. and rang the doorbell. The homeowner didn't answer immediately as he was at home with his 7yr old son and trying to see who was out there and the 18yr old began attempting to kick the door in.
At that point, the homeowner apparently opened the door and jumped the 18yr. old. During their wrestling, he discovered the 18yr old had a semi-auto pistol on him and it becomes a fight for the gun. The homeowner gets the gun away from the teen and shoots him 3 times - at which point, the teens two as-yet unseen accomplices flee.
I thought there were some interesting discussion points to this that merited discussion.
1. From a Tactics and Training standpoint, the tactics were lacking. The homeowner gave up a protected position within the house to step outside into an environment where he didn't have a clear view of the surrounding area, didn't know the number of attackers, and didn't know the one attacker he could see was armed. It worked out well for him nonetheless; but I think there are a lot of areas where tactics could be improved.
2. A lot of times I see people talk about how they are safe because they live in a "good neighborhood." Here is a Google Maps link to the area where the shooting occured: http://g.co/maps/fsgsb
As you can see, this is a nice neighborhood by any standard, and in January the neighborhood was also the scene of a shooting at a sweet-16 party in which 6 people were wounded. Just being in a nice neighborhood isn't a magic shield against bad things happening.
3. Everybody also appears to have this expectation that their hypothetical scenario will be someone breaking in the middle of the night; but this one was an attempted forced entry at a time when most people are home and awake.
4. I can't count how many times now I've read accounts of self-defense shootings where there is more than one criminal present; but the home owner doesn't realize it. As a general rule, I think it is a good practice to assume there are always more people out there than you can immediately see.
At that point, the homeowner apparently opened the door and jumped the 18yr. old. During their wrestling, he discovered the 18yr old had a semi-auto pistol on him and it becomes a fight for the gun. The homeowner gets the gun away from the teen and shoots him 3 times - at which point, the teens two as-yet unseen accomplices flee.
I thought there were some interesting discussion points to this that merited discussion.
1. From a Tactics and Training standpoint, the tactics were lacking. The homeowner gave up a protected position within the house to step outside into an environment where he didn't have a clear view of the surrounding area, didn't know the number of attackers, and didn't know the one attacker he could see was armed. It worked out well for him nonetheless; but I think there are a lot of areas where tactics could be improved.
2. A lot of times I see people talk about how they are safe because they live in a "good neighborhood." Here is a Google Maps link to the area where the shooting occured: http://g.co/maps/fsgsb
As you can see, this is a nice neighborhood by any standard, and in January the neighborhood was also the scene of a shooting at a sweet-16 party in which 6 people were wounded. Just being in a nice neighborhood isn't a magic shield against bad things happening.
3. Everybody also appears to have this expectation that their hypothetical scenario will be someone breaking in the middle of the night; but this one was an attempted forced entry at a time when most people are home and awake.
4. I can't count how many times now I've read accounts of self-defense shootings where there is more than one criminal present; but the home owner doesn't realize it. As a general rule, I think it is a good practice to assume there are always more people out there than you can immediately see.
