My home was broken into last night. Did I do the right thing?

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Dave,
You are going to spend the next few days and night alternating between being mad as hell and jumping at every little noise in your house. It's normal, I just wanted you to be aware.

As to "did you do things right". Well I'm sitting here in a comfortable chair on a nice afternoon day with all the time in the world to review and critique your actions...it's unimaginably harder to make that sort of decision when you are standing in the situation, so no matter what you should give yourself a break. In the end you and yours were unharmed and aren't facing any legal actions. That's an ideal outcome. Don't get too wound up about any criticisms I may voice here, I'm trying to help not trying to beat you up in any way.

I grabbed my .45 and headed down the steps.
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I personally don't have an issue with you investigating but did you have a way to retreat back out if you got downstairs and there were 5+ badguys down there?

I made my way quickly toward the front door just in time to see two men grab my pool cue rack and run out the front door, I was about 50 feet from them at this point.
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Now I have no idea about the layout of your house but it seems to me that you were already outnumbered. You saw two, there might have been more. What if you had advanced and a third guy was suddenly behind you (even if he was just trying to get out the door)?

The point I'm making is that this was the time to secure your position and call for backup.

When I got to the door and brought my gun up, they were running down my driveway, and one of them had the red dot of my laser sight on his back, but I didn't pull the trigger. I let them get away. I figured shooting a man in the back would land me in a jail cell.
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This was a wise choice as they were already outside and fleeing and you'd have had a hell of a time making a self defense case at this point.

So in summary it seems like you took a couple of fairly serious risks. I'm not saying it was wrong to do so and maybe the actions fit the situation but I wanted to point out a couple of spots where it could have gone very badly for you so that you'll be aware next time.

Be safe
Ze
 
IN Delaware we still have theoretical discretionary issue. The most common reason is "protect life and property" - personally, I am getting a valid out of state non-discretionary permit and would not ever shoot to protect property,

You did just fine IMO. Stay safe and glad to hear you and yours are uninjured.

Sorry about those cues, never owned a good one myself but can imagine the loss. Hope they get caught.
 
Tell me if my timing is off here--

You heard the dog bark. You're on your way downstairs when you hear the alarm. When you get close to the front door, you see the guys running out with your rack of cues. I'm assuming you have a--what, 30 second delay once the alarm is tripped before it goes off? It sounds to me like the guys knew exactly where to go for an easy grab of expensive stuff to make a quick getaway, so they either had inside knowledge, or had somehow cased your layout previously. You choose which one sounds more reasonable.
 
Tell me if my timing is off here--

You heard the dog bark. You're on your way downstairs when you hear the alarm. When you get close to the front door, you see the guys running out with your rack of cues. I'm assuming you have a--what, 30 second delay once the alarm is tripped before it goes off? It sounds to me like the guys knew exactly where to go for an easy grab of expensive stuff to make a quick getaway, so they either had inside knowledge, or had somehow cased your layout previously. You choose which one sounds more reasonable.
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The alarm goes off immediately, no delay.
 
I would have probably done the same thing if I had been in your shoes. While you may have taken some uneccesary tactical risks in retrospect, you did what your instincts told you to do at 1 in the morning. I believe you did the right thing by excercising discipline and not firing.

Move your valubles further into your castle.:D
 
Excellent decision not to shoot.

I recently moved from Montgomery County, and I always thought that Berks County was a pretty nice place (some of the cities excluded). Crime happens everywhere though, unfortunately. :(
 
It's almost unanimous. It should be unanimous. You did absolutely the right thing.

I don't know what the law is in PA, but here in VA, you are not entitled to use deadly force if you are not reasonably in fear for your life or the lives of your family.
 
While there's always a part of us that desires an eye for an eye, you did good. I just wonder what the outcome would have been if yours was an unarmed and unalarmed household...
 
Not much to add to what everyone else has already stated.

Rest easy knowing you did the right thing. You're safe and you're not in jail. And that's what is truly important.
 
In Texas you would have been within your rights to protect and secure your property at night with lethal force on your property,even if they were retreating and you shot them in the back.

Morally and with principal, you did the right thing in not killing them on the spot. I too would not have shot them under the circumstances you described.

Your property, although expensive and probably not replaceable, insurance will still reimburse you. Now, if you had caught them inside your home at night, I personally would not have hesitated to pull the trigger as that is a whole different matter altogether.
 
Why didn't you chase them?

Where did they run to? I would have chased those sob's have way around the world before I'd let them get away with 7,500 dollars worth of my stuff. I would have been very tempted to shoot, but I'm not sure I would have in that situation. They would've had to have had a vehicle some where close by, I don't understand why you didn't chase them and try to get a license number. I may have fired a warning shot, but probably wouldn't shoot a guy in the back. It just doesn't look good in court.
 
You did the right thing. $7500 loss hurts, but call your insurance company. Part of it may be covered.

In most states, you can only use deadly force if you or another innocent is in immediate danger of death or grave bodily injury. Once they were out the door and running off, you were no longer in any danger, let alone danger of death or grave bodily injury.

If you think $7500 hurts, have a chat with a defense attorney. If you had shot, you probably would have to cough up $10,000 to a defense attorney just to get the wheels rolling. You'd be paying more than $250 per hour after that. And that's just the financial end of things. If you had shot, there is a good chance you would have wound up in jail for a long time.

Your pool cues can be replaced.
 
Pool cues ? what pool cues costs 7500 ?

anyway, I had my pool cue stolen before, it was a muecci, base model.

I saw it happen, it was stolen from the trunk of my car as I was watching from the 6th floor window.

I know how you feel, to be victimized, to be taken advantage of, to lose your posessions.. it really hurts, it does. I know you felt like beating the thief with your bare fists till the sun comes up...

a part of me, as you probably think right now, that it would be worthwhile to shoot the scum who stole your pool cue. that if every gunowner just keep letting these scum live, they just go and break in somewhere else and no benefit was made to society if you let these scums go.. Case in point, Peter Parker allowed a thief to go, and soon this same thief was the one who later killed his uncle Ben. Peter was troubled for a long long time, thinking what if he didnt let him go, his uncle would be alive and yada yada...

Anyway, I know how you feel, the hatred in your heart right now.. even though all the posters say you did the right thing, I know you dont feel like it. I know you feel that shooting the buzzards would have been GREAT !

but give it time, in a few days, you'll feel better, and then you can rationally think to yourself and then you will know that NOT pulling the trigger at the time WAS the right thing to do.

You never know what was happening, or why he needed to steal your pool cues, sometimes, these scum DO have a very good reason to have to do what they do. you might have killed a generally GOOD person that was in a bad happenstance for that one time...

you never know... nope.,

so anyway, figure out HOw he broke in, and up your security. better doors, locks, windows, motion control lights and etc... etc.. etc....

so what pool cues did they take ?
 
hhhmmm....the right thing legally, but the wrong thing in my own personal opinion as to how the law should be in regards to thieves like that - imho you should be allowed to shoot low lives like that. having said that, i would never do that with the current law the way it is, as it's not worth going to jail for the rest of my life over. :mad:
 
you did good

You did good !! I know what it feels like to have your place broken into, in my case it was kids getting pain killers my daughter was taking for knee surgery. I guess the biggest red flag I am worried about is you do not seem to know your state's laws about using lethal force when you can and can not.
I do not know a darn thing about PA but here in Mich and some other states property can be replaced (yes I know they were near and dear to ya) but lives can not. If you or family here were in immediate danger then you could have used lethal force however...as you said, they were running away, no weapons you cite that would have made you the aggressor and you would probably have gotten a go to jail card.

You showed excellent restraint. I would check and find out about your states laws though.
 
Creature, please do tell, what in the hell is stupid about it? Watching theives run off with your stuff is stupid. If I watch some m-fer run off with 7,500 worth of my stuff they better hope they are world athletes because I will run all over their ass, or die trying., end of story. I'm not a keyboard commando either, so don't even go there.;)
 
I own nice cues and they are much more than their monetary replacement value. The one you used to win some tournament...the one you won in a bet...the one you saved so hard to get...the one a pool celebrity personally recommend to you...you don't replace this by buying a new cue...not to mention the possible historical value some cues have. You'd be surprised how much value they can have.

But you did the right thing. I don't think the penalty for robbery is the gas chamber so "spine through their belly" (jeez if that isn't KC I don't know what is) is going to get you nothing but grief, lawsuits, lawyer fees, and depending on the state, jail time.
 
You did the right thing from a legal standpoint. You do not live in a place where deadly force is authorized to protect property. But as to those who say you would somehow feel scarred because you killed someone. Well, I don't think they can know that. That's a personal issue. Speaking for me, I would care about as much as stepping on a bug, IF the perp was rotten to the core. Some theft isn't enough to know if someone is rotten to the core or not however.
 
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