had this happen to me too, here is what
My roomate at the time spotted two young black adults trying to break into his car with a shirt hanger, they where after his new CD player and the CD's that where laying in the front seat. We turned on the front porch light, they started to run, my friend busts out the door with his shotgun, I follow him, and the thugs ran like hell. They had a head start and I was gaining on them but gave up the chase when my buddy said, to let em go from our driveway, they will be back, trust me. He was from the #2 murder capital of the US at that time so I knew that he knew about gangs. I preceded to my closet and got out my assualt rifle and shotgun and loaded them and set them in the living room.
Sure enough about an hour later four thugs pull up outside the house in an old buick, we flicked the lights on, and readied our guns from behind the couch, when they saw the AK, and 2 shotguns they got scared and fled as fast that crappy buick would go. We laughed for about 5 minutes, and then called the cops who busted them about 4 streets down robbing another car. No thug was ever seen on our street again.
That's how we prevent crime here in the south!! That smallish chapter of a gang is gone from our town now, all the southern hill folk ran em out.
In another note my old roomate lost his best friend in high school to some Blood's that decided they would do a drive by shooting on some Crips at a school dance, of course a bullet hit an unintended person, so I think he wanted to stop this activity before it got worse.