The local Sheriff's Deputy asked why I didn't shoot. Well, I had full control over the situation and it was enough that the red dot from my .45cal sitting right in the middle of the perp's chest was enough to send him to the ground, arms spread out screaming "don't shoot! don't shoot! oh my God don't shoot!"
It was almost 1:30 in the morning, my oldest son was not even a month old yet. He and his mother (my soon to be EX wife, thank God!) were sleeping soundly upstairs. This stupid DRUNK idiot tried getting in my front door, side door and my patio door as I sit in my family room watching TV.
I heard the front door rattle, grabbed my .45 and went to the front door. No one was there. I heard the side door rattle and went there, no one there. Then the patio door rattled. That's when I grabbed my cordless phone and went outside, phone dialing 911 in one hand, .45 laser sighted in the other.
Found the idiot on my driveway and lit him up. 911 was already on the phone. I told dispatch to send a car to my home, I stopped a burglary in progress. Their response: We're busy right now sir, we'll be there in 30 minutes.
I yelled at the dumbass dispatcher and said "30 minutes? Send the fucking morgue, I'm shooting the asshole and going back inside."
That's when he started screaming "don't shoot! don't shoot! Oh my God don't shoot!" and pissed himself.
Literally two minutes later, two Will County (IL) Sheriff's Deputies came at high speed to my house from different ends of the road.
They took the idiot off in handcuffs.
If that drunk asshole made any move towards me or in any way tried getting his dumb, drunk ass up off my driveway I'd have shot him no questions asked. Period. I suspect he knew that which is why he pissed himself.
On a side note, one of the Sheriff's Deputies (now a good friend and has been for years) heard what the dispatcher said to me on the phone over the radio. That dispatcher didn't last but another six months on the job and she was gone.
Now THERE's someone I would've liked to shoot that night!
BTW, this was about 21 years in the middle of January here in the Chicagoland area. It was ten degrees outside and I had on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. No shoes, socks or coat. The area I live in had about two sheriff's deputies covering 36 square miles at any point during the day/evening. It wouldn't have been questioned had I shot the dumbass drunk perp that I did it in self defense. I saw shooting him as unnecessary as long as he obeyed my commands, which he did. We have to use our best judgement at the end of the day. That's what I did and I stand by my actions that evening.
Bottom line as always is: don't draw your weapon unless you're prepared to shoot. I was prepared to do so if it was necessary.
I politely disagree with your actions. The reason why is things have changed in 21 years. 7 years ago in Dupage County IL (which is next to Will County IL) my mother who was 72 years old at the time talked to the Dupage County Sheriffs after a similar crime was committed against her.
Her story is not much different then yours except for the ending. There was knock on her front door in the middle of the day. She looked out the peep hole to see a person with a bandana covering their face. They opened the screen door and took a couple of kicks at the front door. She went for her 686 .357 magnum and then called 911. Looking out the peep hole the guy was standing on her lawn facing the house. With the Sherriff on their way and now armed she opened the front door with the .357 in plain sight. The guy came towards her and she told him to stop or she would shoot as she now had the .357 raised and aimed. He did and laid down on the grass. The Sheriffs deputies showed up in force.
She explained the exact same thing over and over, this guy tried to break into her house. She never said the magic words “She feared for her life.” Which is what an attorney would have said if she had kept her mouth shut. The Sheriff never asked if she was in fear of her life, which she was. She was charged with brandishing a weapon even though on average it takes more then 25 minutes for the DCS to respond to anything. The reason she was charged? Because the guy AFTER taking a couple of kicks at her door was just standing on her lawn and she had called 911. She didn’t want the guy to get away.
They made her out to be a criminal even though this guy tried to break into her house. Remember we are talking about a 72 year old woman alone in her house, minding her own business. The guy was charged with a bunch of stuff and had quite the extensive rap sheet. In a Dupage County Court a judge threw the charge out against my mother immediately and she later testified against the attempted home invader.
End of story?
NO. After jumping through hoops to get her gun back from Dupage County she got a letter from the Illinois State Police. They wanted to talk to her about her FOID card status. A hearing was scheduled, if she didn’t appear her right to own a gun would be taken away because she was charged with a firearm related offense. Never mind that it was immediately thrown out. She hired a attorney and went to the hearing. This was a 1 hour hearing and in the end her FOID card wasn’t revoked.
My point of all of this is if she would have just said “I feared for my life, this masked man tried to break into my house and now I need to exercise my right to speak with an attorney” and stuck to that, she wouldn’t have been charged with brandishing a weapon. She told the truth, she got in trouble with the Sheriffs and the State because she didn’t state that. The assumption is that castle doctrine applies but really the police are not your friends. They are the police. Sometimes common sense isn’t common sense.
The Sheriffs charged her because she went outside, just like you hence in the eyes of the law escalating the situation. Forget that the guy was 3 strike loser who had all sorts of B&Es and a rap sheet pages long. She was supposed to wait for him to actually break into the house. Basically what I’m saying is maybe it flies in Will County 21 years ago but it didn’t fly in Dupage County 7 years ago.
BTW she now lives in Will County in Naperville, she has a .40 cal w/ a laser and a large German Shepherd. She will be 80 later this year and if the ISP revoked her FOID card she was moving to Indiana. After her dealings with the ISP she wanted to sue Dupage County six ways to Sunday but after cooling off she moved to Naperville. It had to be somewhere where they had a PD and not Sheriffs.