ccw near calls or worse

Posted this one a bit ago on another site.
Real World Scenario...voices in the night.
Here's a real scenario (happened back in October)

Part I
I'll do my best to spell it out and then you can have at it for tactics and strategy. Later I'll let you all know what I did and how it turned out.
(Virginia State Law would apply in case it matters to anyone)

A one acre yard with a light duty 4ft fence (with gate at the far end) dividing my yard from a public golf course. Just after dark but heavy cloud cover and pitch black.

The workshop is a stand-alone building about halfway between the house and the golf course. Lights mounted on the workshop can illuminate 90% of the yard and a few feet past my property line but that's a lot of juice so I don't just leave them on.

I'm out in my workshop (reloading of all things) when my dog bays once and runs into the shop. I immediately know it's "people related" as he will bark and bark at animals but tends to "bark-and-run" where people are concerned. I'm already armed (concealed) and grab my magcharger out of the cradle and step outside the shop door to listen and observe.

Roughly 30-50 yards past my back fence I can hear male and female voices having a "heated discussion" (aka stream of profanity) out on the golf course but it's too dark for me to see anyone so I stay put in the shadow of my shed and continue to listen for a few minutes.

Golf course management has been BEGGING me to call the police anytime I note someone on the course after hours because they've been having a lot of vandalism and since the voices are staying put (not just "passing through") I step back into the shop and call it in.

At this point I've decided that the best course of action is to lock up the shop and go back to the house (30ft AWAY from the situation) so I shut off the inside shop lights and am outside having JUST locked the shop door when I hear the sounds of a scuffle and the distinctive THUD of a body hitting the ground followed by some pretty serious cursing. A figure approximately my size walks up to my fence (it's dark, I can just -barely- see the shape about 40 feet away) and puts a hand out, it is VERY apparent that this person plans to jump my fence and "shortcut" across my lawn and out to the main street.

I'm pretty concerned because I'm sure some sort of violence just happened however I have no details and the only suspect in sight is still 40+ feet away (though he's about to vault my fence and walk straight towards me).

Part II
The resolution
So here's the rest of what happened...

Sorry to keep you all waiting so long, I didn't feel well when I got home (think I'm fighting a cold) and I just went to bed.

It's been interesting to read the responses!

I quickly realized that I was in one of those awkward situations that we can so easily find ourselves in. I knew there was a strong possibility that someone was hurt out there in the dark BUT I also knew that I was out there alone with no quick backup and I simply did not know enough about the situation to go investigate. Also, I had just locked the shed and the back door to the house was locked so there was no quick way to re-access the phone or turn on the yard lights without both turning my attention away from the intruder and giving away my presence.

So I cleared my cover away from my sidearm (I was ready, but did not draw it) and then "spotlighted" the guy with my Magcharger (a powerful light, which is somewhat upgraded thanks to the wonderfully loony folks over at the Flashlight Forums) and in that strong "command" voice said...

"Mister, don't jump over that fence or my dog is gonna be REALLY upset".

He froze and just stared into the light for a few moments like he couldn't figure out what was going on, then he cussed at me and did an about face and headed off across the golf course. I did not pursue, but stayed put and I really thought he was going to get away but about then the cops arrived and detained him.

With me indicating where I'd heard the scuffle they also found a young woman laying dazed (and mostly stoned as it turned out) on the ground.

The whole thing had been an attempt to work out a drugs-for-hooking deal but both parties were stoned half out of their skulls and when they couldn't come to an agreement the guy slugged the girl. Both of them had drugs and paraphernalia on them so they all got some free bracelets and a place to stay for the next few days courtesy of local law enforcement.

The guy wasn't "officially" armed but did have needles and razor blades on him and, according to LE, had quite a history of getting violent over drugs so letting him close could have been a very bad idea.

when I expressed some concern about my property and person the cop chuckled a bit and said "he couldn't even tell us which park he's in right now so I doubt he'll even remember this in the morning".

Reviewing the whole situation in my mind I can only think of a few things I might have done differently.

1) Worry less about interrupting someone's innocent tryst and hit the yard lights sooner.

2) Have my cell phone in my pocket, or keep the cordless phone on my person when I investigate.

3) Go inside FIRST and alert my wife that I'm checking something out so she can "back me up" with the phone and observation.

Had he jumped the fence things would have become EXTREMELY complicated because I knew that somewhere in the dark behind him was another person (injured or not, I didn't know at the time) so rule #4 was right in the way.

However the mental plan was to draw and go into a "harries technique" hold with my light, advise him that I was armed, and order him to leave. If he did so I would have let him go, if he continued to advance then things might have gotten ugly fast.

As you can all imagine, I am OVERJOYED that he decided to turn around and walk away!
 
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