Thursday, September 10, 2009

Seriously Scary Shedoobe

I found out today that at 4:30am on Tues, there was a massive attempted home invasion on a duplex house catty-corner to mine, across the street and down about three doors. A guy was getting ready for work, and as he pulled out of the garage, which was behind the house (we all have alleys behind our houses where the garages lead to, and we drive down the alleys to the main roads), and out to the street, he saw several things: two guys in front of his house, two just down the street, and FIVE on his front porch. They had his window screen off and were getting ready to enter his home, where his wife and two young kids were still asleep. He swung around in the car and dashed back into the back of his house for his gun, and the men ran away.

My friend, who lives another three doors past them, lives in the other house the guys were standing in front of. She said she woke up because she heard noises, and looked outside to see the guys standing there and up the street, but she couldn't see the ones on the porch of the other house, since they're on the same side of the road. She said it was pretty obvious to her that they were lookouts for something.

Police came and went, but there has been no news coverage, nothing in the paper, nada.

This is not That Kind of Neighborhood. Like any neighborhood, you can tell based on how people look and how they act whether they actually live here; we're all pretty much middle-class people with nice houses and cars, and we're not usually outside past 9 or 10pm because we all have kids. People don't randomly wander the neighborhood; they are either going to or from somewhere, or watching kids. We have nice yards, and leave our windows and front doors open when it's nice outside.

There are a lot of questions here, like why did they pick a half-house to swarm rather than one of the larger, nicer homes surrounding it? For that matter, why this neighborhood over the swankier one a few streets over? Was it gang-related? We're a pretty small town - we don't have 'gang' activity to speak of. Was it a retaliation for some perceived wrong? Nine guys is a lot for a continued road rage problem. If it was personal, why did they run away when confronted with the owner? Did they know he was leaving, and that a woman would be inside asleep, or did they plan just to rob the place? That particular house is even right under a streetlight. Was it mistaken identity? If so, who were they *really* after? The owner said the guys looked to be in their late 20's-early 30's. WTF?

One of their kids is in 1st grade with Patrick. She must be scared shitless, if she even knows it happened. I can't imagine being them, the wife in particular. How can she EVER sleep again, knowing the last time she slept, a mob was coming in to her and her babies?

I am scared. The only reason I will sleep tonight, if I do, is because we have 150lbs of Dog to scare intruders away. I hate that, because emotionally, it's like sending two of my kids to scare away monsters. I'm here alone all day, from 5am on, and we are asleep after DH leaves, too. It could have been us. It could have been my friends a few doors down. It could have been anyone.

It could have been a lot worse. But I am still scared.

10 comments:

Deleted said...

Sweet honorable Jesus, this whole story scared the hell out of me. I don't know what to say, I'm baffled! Why..
...just why would someone do that while people are home..
I am so scared here, let alone how you guys must feel living on a street that had that happened or even how the family felt being the house it happened to. He is really lucky that he saw it.. I will keep you all in my prayers tonight. Frightening, horribly scary.

creative kerfuffle said...

Holy hell that's scary. Really scary. I feel like we also live in a good neighborhood and I think perhaps we get too comfortable or complacent thinking things like that won't happen to us or in our backyard. Yesterday morning there were 5 sheriff's cars and one town cop car at the end of our road. The hubs called me when he left to tell me about it. I walked out on the porch but obviously couldn't tell what was going on. Still don't know. Domestic violence? That's the only thing I could think of, but 6 cars is a bit much for that.

Fiona Picklebottom said...

Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine. I'd probably never sleep again. I'm glad the husband saw it happening and was able to stop it.

Southern jezeBelle said...

Geesh! That scares me shitless! I'm a bit over cautious on the verge of paranoid about things happening, especially when my husband is away. My dog is SUPER protective of me and will for sure bite a stranger but at the same time he's not huge and can easily be taken care of I suppose (he too is MY baby! My only baby for now).

Anyway, I'm getting a gun! I take my class this month and I'll be permitted to carry a gun with me. Hubs already has one (or twenty!) and carries everywhere. I don't think it's a bad idea for people to take their class and be licensed to protect themselves.

At the very least I think people (who are afraid or don't agree with or whatever) should take a gun class. In the event that one is pointed at you and you can get it...you want to be safe!

Keep us posted on the situation.

Nowheymama said...

That is so scary. I think I'd be finding money in the budget for alarm systems, etc. Seriously.

d e v a n said...

That is very scary!! I hope they have an alarm and a big dog!!

Anonymous said...

Good grief. Good luck sleeping for awhile. Stay safe!

Stimey said...

That is absolutely terrifying. I can't imagine. Horrible.

Sherendipity said...

That would scare the shit out of me, too. So much so, I think, that I would wander over and ask the man if he had any answers.
Then I think I might organize a block (street) meeting for residents in the area. You need to know what the hell is going on, and what you can do about it. This doesn't sound like a random act of breaking and entering to me.

Not Your Aunt B said...

This sounds a lot like what my neighborhood went through over a year ago now. It ended up being a string of robberies (real and attempted) on our block and a few other blocks in the neighborhood. Mostly done by 4 young guys, but others were involved too. One of them had worked in the neighborhood with a service company and noticed that it was a pretty calm bedroom community (ie a neighborhood surrounded by neighborhoods). They just wanted quick money off of jewelry, electronics, etc. as it is a nicer neighborhood. They were trying to get into the houses that they had thought had the nicer goods and were empty at the time of the robberies. The biggest help to the police were stay at home moms, retirees, and early morning workers who saw suspicious activity and reported it. It took awhile before they caught them, even then they didn't catch all of them. It was scary for a long time and even now, we lock doors, windows, etc. when we're out (we didn't before) and we try to have signs that the house is occupied. Hope they catch them and everyone is safe!