House got burglarized, guns didn't matter!

[Addicted]

So, I have owned several guns for several years and used to be a police officer. My house was burglarized 2 weeks ago. Myself, my 3 kids and my wife were all home and asleep at the time (middle of the night). Must of left a door unlocked on accident.

They went into our backyard and stole my $1000 mountain bike and into our office and stole several computer items, the keys to my truck, credit cards, etc.

I sleep with our bedroom door open and a small fan going, for background noise (need it to fall asleep). We never woke up and never heard a thing.

Several days later I worked overtime and got home at 3am. I walked into the front door and shut it as I would during the day. I threw my keys on the counter, flipped on the lights and took off my work clothes. My small dog even barked a few times.

The next morning, I asked the family if they heard me come home last night and they told me no. My wife didn't even realize I had gotten into bed.

Just ironic, that I have a bedroom full of guns, but slept right through my house getting invaded. Luckily they only took items and didn't do anything to my family.

Moral of the story is to make sure you always lock and dead bolt every door in your house at night......I didn't think it would happen to me either!

Just food for thought!

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[M67]

Wow, that is scary. I'm glad that you are all ok.

 

[RW-Ore]

Sorry to hear this happened tpendley I have always heard that it can happen anytime like you I don't think it will happen at my house but your story shows me it can your story made me stop and think

Thank you.

 

[DOA]

My grandpa was a Korean War Vet and locking up at night is and was a understatement. My wife will NEVER let me sleep unless everything is on lock down. You just described my worst fear with my family. Thankfully no loss of life to your loved ones!
In another city,state and time I lived in a bad area. I was robbed at gun point by 5 males, all covered faces. In the evening while everyone was awake. I was not married, but had a bunch of friends over. It was a case of mistaken robbery. It would take more to explain, but they were looking for drugs and "where is the B**** at!?!" Crazy days.

Thank God everyone is safe!!!

 

[DinhRose]

I feel for you. Hope everything is going better for you. Add an extra lock or even a door to be safe

 

[sheepdip]

glad everybody is ok, that is some scary stuff. i count on the wife and the dog as my burgler alarms. i swear my wife can hear rabbits walking around outside. she has woke me up several times with, what was that. i go look and there are deer between the house and shop. the dog isnt as sensitive but he does NOT like strangers in the house. if it werent for those two i would be an easy target when asleep.

 

[Sun195]

Glad that no harm came to you or your family. I always lock my car.... except, apparently, for one night when some thieves were prowling the neighborhood. It can happen.

Dogs.... we used to live in a house where the next house over was probably ten feet away. One night, some guy was drunk/high and trying to break into our neighbors' house next door - pounding on their door, yelling, etc. He had a load in his pants and they were down around his ankles - not pretty. We - including my doberman - slept through the whole thing. We learned not to rely on the dog to wake us up after that.

 

[RVTECH]

Wow - scary stuff!! Probably a common question but do you have any idea who may have done this? I mean did it appear as they might have known exactly where to go and what to look for or completely random and they got lucky? Sheep mentioned hearing animals and I too deal with that often and usually discount sounds I hear outside at night as just that - given I live in a relatively crime free area - although we did have a fairly high-profile incident a while back - within a few miles of me - but it appears the victim was an obvious target due to the nature of the attack.

 

[Addicted]

We actually heard a bang outside our window around 10pm. We have a few cats and all of my wife "go see what that was" false alarms apparently dulled my senses. The next morning I notice our crawl space was moved about 6 inches away from the outside wall. I would guess they were peeking in the window and slipped. They also must have been spooked when they came into the house because they missed several expensive items. My wifes purse with $80 was in the room as well as a Garmen Nuvi. Might have been the dogs few barks that spooked them. It took us about half the morning to realize we had even been burged. We just slowly noticed things missing as the day went on. We also tore the house apart 3 times looking for these missing items, before we called the police, because we didn't want to look like idiots when we found the under the couch.....so no finger prints were found. I actually didn't notice my bike gone until 3 days ago when I went out to the shed looking for something else.

So to answer your quetion, I don't think they targeted any particular item, the external hardrive they stole had our social security numbers, bank account info, etc. They started buying xbox games and gift cards on Amazon, before we closed all of our accounts.....Very pissed off right now and unsettled, but no one to shoot!

 

[redmud]

Sorry that happened to you. I am glad everyone is ok at your house.

 

[Benny503]

It happen a lot here in Grants Pass recently. My client and her husband sleep in the bed room, yes they do have dogs and guns. Some how someone got into the house at night time and stole all the cash in her purse, no credit card or ID car were taken. They broke into the gargage and stole some tools. They also got into her husband car and stole a camera. They reported to the sherrifs and found out 4 of their neightbor were in the same situations. These people live in the county, at least 5 acres away from the neightbors. Criminals are not afraid of being shot at anymore. Sad society :-((((((((

 

[Kevatc]

I need to have my wife read this thread. My work day starts a lot later than hers so I am usually still in bed when she leaves. More often than not the front door is left unlocked. When she is home the doors are unlocked. When we leave to go do whatever she often teases me for going around and locking all the doors. I have flat out told her that she might not care about "her" stuff but I can't afford to replace "my, hers, our" stuff. And the fact that there are guns (despite the fact they are in a gunsafe) that are in the house ... well let's just say I'm not to thrilled about my wifes lack of security motivation.

The thing that slays me is that the motivation for her getting her CHL was having a guy show up at one of her open houses (she is a realtor) and he scared the ever living bull-bubblecrap out of her. Fortunately she listened to that inner voice and made wise decisions by giving herself lots of escape routes and had 9-1- already dialed. Personally, I am happy she pursued buying her handgun all on her own and did what she had to do to get her CHL but she never carries and I have no confidence that she would be able to employ it effectively even if she did. On top of all this my son-in-law is a LEO and tells us stories once in awhile. I take those stories as a chance to have a cheap "lessons learned" experience but to my wife they are just stories. UGH!

In case she ever reads this: Sorry sweetheart. You need to wake up. If you've read this far at least I know you are reading the same things I've been saying for a long time.

 

[borrowedsig]

Glad you and your family are safe. Thats the most important thing.

Matt

 

[A.I.P.]

Motion dectors, motion sensitive lights, locked doors all the stuff the police recomend

 

[ericb]

Thanks for telling your story, good reminder to be vigilant!

 

[Redcap]

Sounds like someone needs to invest in a couple large dogs and some training.

 

[kev1]

Really glad you guys are all ok. May be best you didnt catch them. Could have been messy, not to mention all the lawyer fees.

 

[Dunerunner]

I always set the house perimeter alarm at night.

 

[cowboygraphics]

Sorry about your experience. Glad your family is ok. THANK YOU for sharing for our learning.
I sweep the house and check all the doors before going to bed. Also know I am a sound sleeper - difficult to go out, but when out, I am out ... the dog and I are getting old. Making some home improvements this weekend.

 

[bnz43]

The world is a ghetto.