By James England (via concealednation.org)

A Macon, Georgia homeowner awoke at 4:30 a.m. to find an intruder in his home. Coming out of a deep sleep, the homeowner quickly grabbed for his GLOCK 22 and gave pursuit. Both the intruder and homeowner were alarmed to run into each other, but the homeowner was dead set on not becoming a victim.

“When you wake from a dead sleep like that it takes you a minute to figure out what’s going on,” he said. “When I leave my room, I’m not sure if my brother’s there and he’s hurt or shot or gone. … So I’m hollering for my brother as I’m running through the house.”

According to the news article, the man had a few “choice words” about what he would do if he caught up to the intruder. The gist: “Hope I don’t catch up to you.”

The intruder rushed out the front door. That’s where the homeowner discovered that the invader had managed to steal a few of his guns before he woke up.

“As I was coming out of my house and he ran around to the front of my house, I heard my gun that he stole go off. … I don’t know if he was shooting back at me or what,” the homeowner said. “He ran off through the night toward the Flash Foods.”

As it turns out, the intruder ended up ditching the guns in a bush and left $800 obtained in his burglary on the front lawn. A wise decision.

Police showed up and found no one hurt. The one realization the homeowner had made was that the thief must have observed his pattern-of-life movements prior to the home invasion.

“Whoever it was obviously knew my routine. They waited till my brother left before they came in the house, assuming it was me leaving,” he said. “I’d have shot him, there’s no doubt. If I’d have been coherent enough when he came in my bedroom, they’d be doing an identification instead of an investigation.”

Needless to say, it’s probably a good thing the thief ditched the goods and prioritized getting the heck out of dodge. Unfortunately, the thief wasn’t caught and police are still looking for clues. One thing is for certain: that thief knows there’s a homeowner that gets as angry as a bear if he’s woken up.

There’s a lesson in this. Some thieves randomly pick a house and take their chances. Those with any experience in the field will try to stake out a home to figure out when they’re going to make their move. Maintaining operational security and prepare accordingly (keeping a GLOCK by your bed) isn’t a bad way to go.

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43 COMMENTS

  1. I’m getting the impression the home owner isn’t following OPSEC when it comes to securing guns and cash

    • @The Pontificator. OPSEC or Operational Security generally deals with unclassified information used in conjugation with secured information. When it comes to securing guns and cash your actions should be based on physical security…. just say’in….

    • Could be, could also be that loose lips sink ships. People he knows might open their mouths to the wrong people. Its been my experience that your personal info ussually gets out via someone else who spills the beans.

      • You might be surprised just how much info about a random person you can pick up from listening to their friends talk in a bar.

        Experienced criminals know what things are worth and how to make logical connections about the habits of their marks. If your buddy is spouting off about your new .300 Win Mag with Leupold glass on it many criminals who overhear that are hearing the sound a cash register opening.

        Criminals, for all their faults, should not be thought of as stupid and they do understand basic statistics. They hear about that rifle and it’s optics and they know the person who bought it very likely has money. They hear the guy also handloads and they know he’s got a reloading bench, that probably means he has some mechanical understanding of the world which probably means he has tools. The fact that he slaps Leupold glass on his rifle suggests that his tools are probably high end. If your buddy keeps running his mouth about last weekend’s BBQ the criminal can get a hell of a lot more insight into your possessions. He says you like your movies at home. Probably someone with electronics. Your wife is mentioned. You have money and a wife, jewelry is likely present etc. etc..

        That five minute conversation your buddy Tom had with your other buddy Frank at the local bar can put a huge target on your back if the perp can figure out who you are. Unfortunately for you your buddies dropped your name so an enterprising criminal already knows your name and, if your buddy isn’t careful the BG now has a general idea of where you live. A few minutes with a digital phonebook and he’s got likely addresses to canvass. If you come into the bar he knows what you look like and, if you don’t pay a lot of attention, can probably follow you home with little trouble.

        If you’re the type to hang out at a local watering hole try it sometime. Listen to what the guys near you are talking about and just consider how much you can learn about them and their circle of friends based on what you’re hearing. Now, consider what you can do with that information once you start putting it into that phone in your pocket. You might be flat out shocked. You might think that this only applies to your friends when they’re lubricated. It works pretty well at Applebee’s on a Tuesday lunch crowd too.

        • Freakin’ CELL PHONE conversations. “Bro! I just got a SICK new set of wheels for my WRX! I’m getting them installed tomorrow. Shar won’t let me keep them in the living room, can you believe it! They’re on the porch if you want to take a look. No, the new place off Grove and Archer, with the dead tree.”

          I heard that one, I swear to God, I HEARD that.

        • Button, as someone who current has a WRX and has owned other WRX’s in the past, I’m not surprised the guy would do that to himself.

          Anyone who drops $1000+ on wheels (what “sick” wheels generally cost) when they could make that thing a beast that puts out 300hp at the wheels for ~$2K is an idiot. 300hp at the wheels doesn’t sound like that much to serious muscle car guys but with that AWD a tuned out WRX becomes a NASTY rally and street car.

          Wheels don’t really upgrade that car unless you’re going for flash. Intakes, exhaust, a tune and tires will increase performance very significantly and do so on a budget. Spend a bit more and you can make that thing a truly serious sports car that sounds like Sasquatch’s wife on her period when the turbo spools up.

        • I’ve never understood folks who pimp out imports with wings, aero kits, wheels, ect.

          Money I spent on my Civic Si was for adjustable gas shocks, heavier-rate springs, thicker swaybars, urethane bushings, etc.

          I was pleasantly surprised when my smart nephew was down here in December and let me drive his WRX just how similar the handling was to my old ’89 Si. Pleasantly ‘toss-able’, tight feeling when diving into corners.

          (Except the Honda never had AWD. If I had a WRX I believe while driving I’d have a permanent engorged body part.)

          And as you mentioned, it doesn’t take a lot of cash to get some nice power out of that engine…

      • When my repair shop was burglarized, it seemed to me that the thief knew my shop, aqnd went for the high dollar items. Probably a customer.
        For my own stuff, I keep my important stuff, including some cash, in a gun safe. The only time people (and few of them) see my guns is when I take them out of the safe to show them. They then know they are kept in a safe, which, despite what you see in some videos, is difficult and time-consuming to get into. (Time is the enemy of any thief, usually.)
        This guy evidently didn’t have a safe. Many safes cost less than one good rifle; there’s really no good reason to not have one if you have several (more than 3) guns. In my opinion.

        • Safes are not necessary. Keep your guns behind the drywall in the walls of your house. Then you can take a nice smooth taut closed fist and bust through that drywall and rip out an AR ready to go.

    • I was thinking the same thing as I read the article. I keep my stuff locked up (Liberty safe) but keep certain items where I (and only I) can get them is needed. I also keep my mouth shut on what I have and where, etc….Plus I have my trusty attack dachshund; you really don’t want to know where he keeps his Walther….

  2. The article has a couple of bits of info I think are relevant.

    1) The intruder got in via ‘jimmying’ an old window. Maybe it was locked, maybe it wasn’t, but either way- it’s good to make sure if someone is going to get into your home, that they have to BREAK in (making noise and attracting attention). A nice idea is to pretend you locked yourself out of your house and see if you can get in through windows, etc using a screwdriver or something. If you can, you’ve got a security problem.

    2) Long guns were stolen. At first I wondered if the homeowner either left a bunch of handguns lying around (dumb) or maybe the burglar had cased the place (workman, etc). But since they’re long-guns I’ll assume they were probably in a display case or something, maybe unlocked. Maybe even easily visible from a window (I’ve seen this before, it makes me shake my head- sorta like leaving a few hundred-dollar bills on your car seat overnight). No sense making things easy for a thief… or lucrative.

    • Allot of people really are afraid of dogs too. I mean allot of people. Especially these new snowflakes comming up. I like it that way. That’s why I have 5.

      • I watched one of those late night news reports (in a similar vein to 60minutes or dateline ) a while ago where they had a number of ex-cons on who had done their time for burglary, and all of them almost universally agreed that they were far more afraid of getting bitten by a dog than they were of getting shot by the homeowner. Basically, they said if there was any evidence at all of a dog when casing a house it was an immediate “let’s keep moving to the next place” moment.

    • Gun who has a gun? I have a number of gunS. We have a male Golden Retriever, real sweet but very territoral. Seems to think he owns the street in front of our house and owns the front porch and the walkway up to front door. Becker, the dog, is early warning system. I pocket carry or have loaded handgun with in reach. Grew up with 2 brothers close in age to me, and one 13 years younger than me. Used him to help gentle a filly, by putting him on her back.
      The older brothers, we knocked the stuffing out of each other. Gave as good as I got. I’m no sissy show flake.

  6. Exactly why if it’s not what I’m using it’s locked away especially if tradesmen or others are coming.

    Plus alarm, good locks etc

  9. For crying out loud! Don’t talk to the local newspaper about it and don’t let them take your picture for publication. Damn it. There’s your OPSEC violation.

    • Exactly! This guy is a class A idiot because unless he changes his name or ditches his guns, every crook in America with a web browser can find his address and knows what he looks like, and knows he has guns.

      Don’t talk to the press or have your photos in public, unless it’s your job.

  12. And don’t tell people when you go out-of-town.

    Or better yet, tell EVERYONE you are going out-of-town, and wait in your comfy chair with some Cheetos and a 12 gauge.

      • “Prosecutors said Kaarma and his live-in girlfriend, Janelle Pflager, had left the garage door open with a purse inside to catch the next intruder.”

        When you set a trap, and guard it with a shotgun, yeah, I would say you’re looking to kill someone.
        It’s one thing to awake and find an intruder; it’s another to invite the intruder in. Leaving the garage door open with a bait purse in plain sight is hard to justify as anything other than a trap.

        I’m not saying you don’t have a right to defend your self, loved ones, and possessions. I’m saying hunting people over a baited trap is illegal and immoral.

        • Well, I thought it was obviously a joke. I agree with your moral assessment. It is good that you clarified that for everyone.

  13. Lot of victim blaming in here. Not saying he shouldnt have had said guns locked up but in all honesty he shouldnt have HAD to have had those guns locked up. But by all means its his fault for not locking them up. Not the perp who broke into the home.

    • Yeah, he’s a dummy. He left loaded guns lying around for the guy that broke into his house to arm himself with.

    • “It’s not my fault I got mugged. Of course, I was intoxicated and flashing a wad of bills while I walked outside the bus station at 3 in the morning. But really, it was the fault of the mugger. That’s why the mugger will go to prison.

      Of course, I now have a traumatic brain injury from the brick the mugger hit me with, need to learn to walk again, but there was really nothing I could have done to prevent the mugging, so I’m happy with my lot in life. Soon as I learn to walk, in fact, I’m going to get drunk and hang out all night by the bus station with a stack of Benjamins!”

      Yes: It’s the fault of no-one but the burglar that the burglary occurred. But FFS, you need to ASSUME that there are bad men out there, and you need to (as a matter of self defense) make life hard on them. Don’t leave loaded rifles around for a burglar to shoot you with. Is it that difficult?

  14. I guess if a home owner is paranoid enough. Im not him. You could set up some motion sensors in the house that at the least turn on lights.
    To any potential thief out there reading this.
    Im too cheap to revamp my 35 year old alarm system. Plus I dont have anything of great value in my possession anymore. Gave it all away. In other words nothing worth stealing. If you can lift up and take my 60 inch TV. Its yours. You would be doing me a favor since Im not in good enough shape to move it to the curb myself to toss out. But please go out the way you came in and dont let my cats out.
    Thanks.
    PS: I do however wake up at the drop of a pin. Fully coherent. Have a 19 round Canik within reach and not afraid to use it.
    So come on in………………….please as they say make my day or in this case early morning.

  15. Guy was really dumb to not secure his other guns. That said if a gun is more or less hidden on the first floor should one not be asleep during a home invasion that could make some sense. But “multiple” unsecured guns? No excuse

  16. Wonder if they’ll get prints off the gats. Probably this thief is experienced (prints on file from the last fail).

  17. This is why I highly recommend home alarm systems, get a dog because rover is all over, keep your exterior of your home well lit. All this gives early warning instead of awakening to a burglar standing on top of you possibly getting the upper hand. Burglars don’t want to get shot or have the home owner wake up from a barking dog or alarm going off they will generally pick an easier target in my experience.

    Next store your firearms in a gun safe, they have come way down in price and well worth the investment.

    This homeowner did well by having a firearm at the ready.

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