Motel Door Knock - Close Encounter?

Why Would You Open the Door?

NO way I open the door to anyone for any reason when I am in a hotel/motel room, especially with the family. Especially in that situation. Maybe I'm the only one too cold or too honest to admit I don't carry guns to be a hero in this kind of situation but my baby needs a daddy and my wife needs a husband. I'm not dying for that woman out there. Who cares if you answer with a gun in your hand. Most of us here who have not experienced combat or had specific training can be overhwhelmed pretty quickly by a guy or guys looking to rush in to a motel room if that was a ruse to get the door opened. If that was a set up the bad guys had the initiative and are coming in on the offensive. Chances are you wouldn't know what hit you.

I would have gotten my family down prone on the floor, hit the lights and called/waited for authorities. That door flies open and I shoot. Until then I stay out of it.
 
To The OP I think you handled the situation well, along with being lucky too that nothing more escalated......

If it were me, I would not answer the door at all, I would black out the lights, lock all the locks and have my pistol locked and loaded with my laser sights pointed at the door.....
 
I wasn't there. So, hate to play Monday night quarterback.
My first concern is that once the door is open, I have lost the element of time. The only barrier between me and the gremlin is that door. And I sure as " * " am not going to open it for any reason!
The second thing is that it might not have been the gun which caused her to get out of there. Your wife was in plain sight and dialing the police. I wonder if she didn't expect to find you by yourself and then claim some sort of "duress". Where you either pay up or else!
It's sad to say, but in today's world, if I even heard the neighbor screaming for help, would probably turn up the Televsion and claim, if needed that I didn't hear "nuthin".
 
I get it about not opening the door. That was an option I weighed against "what if they catch her right here and start a beating, or drag her off screaming." Not a good thing to have lurking in the brain.

Then the wife said something like "We need to help her if we can", that was probably when she first picked up the phone. I was concentrating on the doorway, and listening for all I was worth for any background noise outside. Her slapping hands on the door was all I heard. along with her voice, sounding genuinely scared.

My intent in pointing the weapon at the floor was to let her go by, then resume my bead on the doorway. Unfortunately, she just stood right where the door opened and didn't move further into the room. And she did look scared. If she had a weapon, it had to be something very small.

I had a look at her back when I looked by the drapery earlier, nothing going on out of the ordinary there. She was lightly clothed, it was warm weather. Yep, I looked her over when she came in too.

No purse, a sleeveless knit top and shorts. Still got the picture in my mind.

The wife had less of a conscience about her I think. One of her comments after things calmed down was, "Cute top! Wonder where she got it." We had a laugh.

I can better isolate the approximate time when this happened, because I now remember just having bought a G20, they had only been out a few months at the time, to me it's cannon. Later the G20 got sold to a friend and I got a 30, then went to the G36, my favorite of all of them. Finally added the 21SF so I have the big and the little .45.

I am only now taking handgun carrying seriously, since Kansas went CC. I was a walking disaster at shooting back then, but with fair survival instincts. Rarely went to the range, had no pistol instruction from anyone that knew what he was talking about.

Had breakfast a day or so ago with the friend, he still has the gun and he remembered me teilling him about this experience.

So my question would be when did the G20 come out? I estimated the 20 years.
 
I'm not trying to bash you, but when you say,
"I was a walking disaster at shooting back then, but with fair survival instincts,"
Click to expand...
your words don't match your actions. Opening the door like that with your wife in the room because you were already thinking that you would feel guilty if something happened to that woman demonstrates poor survival instincts. IMHO it's the ability to turn off that voice in your head (which most criminals know will be present in most victims) that is part of one's survival instinct. Sometimes you have to choose between survival and being a good samaritan. People tend to be predictable precisely because they do not have fair or better survival skills.
 
Whatever. Presence of the gun was good. 20 years ago in Santa Cruz all kinds of drug nuts, sane and insane, were wandering around. Girl could just have been crazy, on cocaine, that would explain the paranoia. In those times, we only had one guy wandering around killing lots of people. Turned Santa Cruz into the murder capital of the US for a year. There are a lot of psychotics wandering around, unfit for work, yet appearing somewhat normal. Government supports them.

Her comment about are you going to kill me? Supports the paranoid nut theory.

I had a similar experience in Barbados, without a gun, the badguys having machettes, and, all the employees being gone, with the front door open, and OUR room being searched. Ended up somehow calling the United States Embassy. They said, "Yes, you are in danger. We'll be right there."
And, a half hour later they arrived, packed us up, and moved us, no questions asked.

S
 
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I think you handled it well. Sounds like a definite setup. Strange that the police didn't come by to get a description and file an incident report of some kind. I wonder if the security officer really called them at all. It's quite possible that he was on the other side of the property because he was in on the scam.


It's also strange that the front desk assigned you to a isolated corner room in a near empty motel. Maybe the good folks at the front desk also had something to do with the scam and the fact that you couldn't dial out to 911.:eek:
 
It's also strange that the front desk assigned you to a isolated corner room in a near empty motel. Maybe the good folks at the front desk also had something to do with the scam and the fact that you couldn't dial out to 911.
Click to expand...
Interesting and unsettling thought.
 
Point 1. In all likelihood, your Glock saved you form a robbery or possibly worse. Enough was said of the reasons for this conclusion, no use in repeating them all. Let me just say that if there was a danger for the lady outside, she would've been in a hurry to shut the door, and she would have been glad you had a weapon, not otherwise.
Point 2. I actually give you props for opening the door even though it does demonstrate poor survival skills. Sometimes good men have to go against their own survival instinct for the benefit of others and for the benefit of their karma ;)
Point 3. When I read you story, I also felt that this was a setup. Could you easily tell from the outside whether or not your room was occupied? where blinds up or down? where lights on or off? Too coincidental that she was knocking on your door in otherwise unoccupied motel. You may consider checking if there is a history of robberies at that motel - just continue being a good citizen that you've shown yourself to be.

[edited]As others said - checking whether or not a report was actually filed is another good idea.
 
Never open the door to strangers. You are supposed to start learning that at about 5 years of age. Never open the door to strangers at a motel. Never open the door to strangers at night. Most importantly, never open the door to strangers at a motel at night.
 
Since most folks wont open the door for the surly biker boyfriend with the buck knife...they send the girlfriend with a sob story to get folks to open the door(so to speak)...you probly would have had to shoot what was waiting around the corner for her signal word.(thats why she didnt close the door, even though the story was "somebody is after me") That Glock saved you and the wife from being on the wrong end of the stick that night.
 
BillCA & others - Duly noted. My fugetaboutit button doesn't seem to work well where something like this is concerned.

Only thing different now, is when I travel with a companion, she has a 9mm (G19) and is a better shot than me. I think the never open the door advice is appropriate for most people. The reason I posted here was to get some input regarding whether I may have scared her off. I realize now that's a ("Ya had to be there") sort of question. All these years later, I figure it's about 90 percent sure it was some kind of setup. My wife at the time thought so too. Now, I'm less likely to open the door, I think.

But that gal at the door did have acting skills. If I scared her off, it was because she WAS trouble I guess.

I checked the OKC news while I was there and nothing was mentioned that seemed related.
 
HMMMM.

I remember during a black out in 82, I went to the door of a restaurant I managed, and we were guarding. About Jan 1-3.
3 day blackout, late at night.
Knock on the door, after hearing local gunshots. I'm elected to answer. I go to the door. I have a 120 pound jet black rottweiller, attack trained off lead, on my right hip. All you can see in the officer's flashlight was fangs and eyes. Mainly fangs. NO leash. As I open the door, he's panting, checking things out, ready, and, on his own decision making powers. His owner would also have yelled attack in German if we'd been in real trouble.

I'm covered from one side with a selective fire AR-15 shorty, handled by a navy trained armourer, now working at Lockheed. On the other flank, another shorty AR this one not on selective fire, but semi-auto, ex-vietnam green beret on the trigger.
Officer could not see either person. I'm carrying my Seville in a holster, and hand on my Detonics Mark VI 451 Detonics level 45.

Conversation went something like:

"HI. We heard gun shots. Are you ok?"
Officer could not identify me, but, his focus was totally on the rotts white teeth.

"We are fine. Shots came from across Soquel Creek."
Officer could not identify me, but, his focus was totally on the rotts white teeth.

"Everything alright here?"
Officer could not identify me, but, his focus was totally on the rotts white teeth.

"We're fine. Have a great night."
Officer could not identify me, but, his focus was totally on the rotts white teeth.

That dog would have ripped his throat out if he'd made the wrong move, and, at the same time, he thought he was a 120 pound lapdog, one of the most loving, kind animals I'd ever met. I think the scariest part was the rott didn't make a sound, just stood there, at alert, ready and waiting...
THAT'S HOW TO OPEN A DOOR, LATE AT NIGHT.;)
 
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