Two shady dudes at my house today

[Roland of Gilead]

Come home for lunch yesterday afternoon. Opened the garage door with remote, pull in and shut off car and leave the overhead door up. I'm setting in the car listening to the book "A Wilderness of Error" and I look up a guy in the book on my phone. In the car reading on my phone for maybe 5 minutes. Look in the rear view mirror and I see a car right behind me, almost in the garage with me. I also see a glimpse of one person and see a man going toward my front door.

Side note; We recently moved out of Mars Hill proper to a nice quiet neighborhood a couple miles away.
I can not carry a gun at work.

I throw myself out of the car, palm my Ultratech knife and say can I help you to the man standing almost inside my garage. This guy is about 25 5'8" and very heavily muscled. Young guy calls to the other guy and he comes almost in the garage and asks me if I know his friend Joe Owens. This guy is around 60 and skinny. No I don't who you are looking for this is my house I say. Young guy says god damn you really jumped out of that car, I give him a ha ha JOE don't live here. Old guy is going on how Joe has lived around here for 20 years and such. The conversation is not friendly and going on much longer than I would like. Finally the old man says alright I guess we will leave since you don't know Joe. I hit the button to close the garage door as soon as they are out of the way, go in the house and watch them leave.


I don't like it, these guys are going to go rob or steal from someone else, I get in the car and go look for them. I see the vehicle at another house and the young guy walking through people's front yards up by the front doors,not the street. I pull off on a side street and call IMPD. The young one jumps a fence and goes in someone's back yard.

He comes out of the yard ( he didn't have time to go in the house) and is picked up by the old guy at Mann and Mooresville.

I follow them and tell dispatch as much and other pertinent information. I follow these *******s for 10 minutes using all the tricks I've seen in movies to remain undetected. They might have caught on to me and pulled into another house. Dispatch told me to go on down the road and an officer will meet up with me soon.

Officers pull up to me about 15 min. later after I got off the phone with dispatch. The cop said he was sorry but he was not able to arrest them and he had no doubt they were up to no good. I told them my little story of why I called, the officers thanked me for calling and I thanked them for their efforts to help.



I was disappointed with myself for letting them catch me unaware. I freaked out a bit cause the car was right behind me and guys out of the vehicle was my first observation.

Leaving my garage door open for anyone driving down the road to see a dirt bike, tools and equipment is a bad idea.

The old guy going to front door was meant to be a distraction as the young guy stole my stuff out of the garage. As they didn't know I was in the car looking at my phone like a teenage girl. That is why he parked so close to the garage. From the front door it would be difficult to see someone loading my tools into their car. -opinion-

While confronting them I did not activate the blade on my Microtech, I was standing at an angle to them to hide it and give me a good base for a fight.

I have little doubt as we were in my garage talking, I was sizing them up for a fight and they were doing the same to me.

 

[nakinate]

Bad situation for sure. You may look into getting a lockbox for your car so you can at least keep your gun there when you're working.

 

[jd4320t]

Yes I agree.

I do not know your situation. Are you unable to have a firearm in your car and then carry it when outside of work?

 

[Roland of Gilead]

I was in my work vehicle, not my vehicle.

 

[nakinate]

I was in my work vehicle, not my vehicle.

That makes a big difference. I've seriously considered getting a small gun for ankle carry so I can always have something.

 

[MDave]

Sounds like you did what you could for sure. Lots of things come up in hind sight. Use them for after action improvements instead of kicking yourself. You confronted them and they left. W for your side.

Just a couple random thoughts
Maybe get in the habit of backing into the garage so you face out when you sit in your vehicle?
Hang a big very evident cctv camera over you garage door. Even I'd you hang a dumby camera it will be cause for concern. (For them)
Be ready with your car kefob and panic button if you have one. Maybe a useful distraction?

 

[seagullplayer]

I am sure your actions saved someone from a bad day.

These guys where opportunists and thought your garage door open was just low hanging fruit.
A well placed sign about video camera presence and a barking dog might keep these types looking elsewhere
when you are at work.

We are rural, I have a sign and keep a radio playing in the garage. And we have a barking dog...

 

[wtburnette]

Sorry to hear about your experience, but thanks for sharing. I live a few miles away and will be on the lookout for these guys in my neighborhood.

 

[KittySlayer]

Thanks for sharing, these reminders are good for all of us to always be aware, even in the relative perceived safety of our home/car.

. Opened the garage door with remote, pull in and shut off car and leave the overhead door up. I'm setting in the car listening to the book..

You could be dead if you had closed the garage and left the car running.

 

[ajeandy]

LCP pocket carry

/thread

 

[Lee11b]

sounds like they were casing your neighborhood / I hope you got a vehicle description and license plate

 

[firefighterjohn]

Exactly. Discrete, comfortable, always there and ready...with spare mag in other pocket.

LCP pocket carry

/thread

 

[poppy]

Roland, good job in recovering to situational awareness mode. I would take most of the suggestions offered here and put them into practice. Another offering-go out and buy two LARGE dog bowls. Write names on the side of the bowls. Put one in the garage in plain sight but out of the way of your vehicle. Put the other near your back door. I have done this for years before and after I put up a privacy fence. I have watched from inside, through a window, as strangers approached the house. They see the bowl and head another way away from my house. Spike and Pete live on.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Honestly, it doesn't appear based on your story that these guys were up to no good. They honestly may have been trying to find a "Joe Owens." I say this because you obviously saw their faces, the hung around to talk to you, stayed in the neighborhood (within sight of your home) and we're eventually identified by police. If they were casing houses, they are even dumber than your average criminal.
You however, handled the situation as appropriately as you could, so no faults there. It better to get your mindset right, and be wrong, than dead in your garage.

 

[churchmouse]

Come home for lunch yesterday afternoon. Opened the garage door with remote, pull in and shut off car and leave the overhead door up. I'm setting in the car listening to the book "A Wilderness of Error" and I look up a guy in the book on my phone. In the car reading on my phone for maybe 5 minutes. Look in the rear view mirror and I see a car right behind me, almost in the garage with me. I also see a glimpse of one person and see a man going toward my front door.

Side note; We recently moved out of Mars Hill proper to a nice quiet neighborhood a couple miles away.
I can not carry a gun at work.

I throw myself out of the car, palm my Ultratech knife and say can I help you to the man standing almost inside my garage. This guy is about 25 5'8" and very heavily muscled. Young guy calls to the other guy and he comes almost in the garage and asks me if I know his friend Joe Owens. This guy is around 60 and skinny. No I don't who you are looking for this is my house I say. Young guy says god damn you really jumped out of that car, I give him a ha ha JOE don't live here. Old guy is going on how Joe has lived around here for 20 years and such. The conversation is not friendly and going on much longer than I would like. Finally the old man says alright I guess we will leave since you don't know Joe. I hit the button to close the garage door as soon as they are out of the way, go in the house and watch them leave.


I don't like it, these guys are going to go rob or steal from someone else, I get in the car and go look for them. I see the vehicle at another house and the young guy walking through people's front yards up by the front doors,not the street. I pull off on a side street and call IMPD. The young one jumps a fence and goes in someone's back yard.

He comes out of the yard ( he didn't have time to go in the house) and is picked up by the old guy at Mann and Mooresville.

I follow them and tell dispatch as much and other pertinent information. I follow these *******s for 10 minutes using all the tricks I've seen in movies to remain undetected. They might have caught on to me and pulled into another house. Dispatch told me to go on down the road and an officer will meet up with me soon.

Officers pull up to me about 15 min. later after I got off the phone with dispatch. The cop said he was sorry but he was not able to arrest them and he had no doubt they were up to no good. I told them my little story of why I called, the officers thanked me for calling and I thanked them for their efforts to help.



I was disappointed with myself for letting them catch me unaware. I freaked out a bit cause the car was right behind me and guys out of the vehicle was my first observation.

Leaving my garage door open for anyone driving down the road to see a dirt bike, tools and equipment is a bad idea.

The old guy going to front door was meant to be a distraction as the young guy stole my stuff out of the garage. As they didn't know I was in the car looking at my phone like a teenage girl. That is why he parked so close to the garage. From the front door it would be difficult to see someone loading my tools into their car. -opinion-

While confronting them I did not activate the blade on my Microtech, I was standing at an angle to them to hide it and give me a good base for a fight.

I have little doubt as we were in my garage talking, I was sizing them up for a fight and they were doing the same to me.

You presented a hard target. Not a soccer mom or a dweeb. (no knocks on dweebs just a reference) Harder targets have to be assessed. They did and decided you were not going to give up with out a serious struggle.
How you stand/present yourself is all part of this.

Just because you moved does not make you safe. In some ways it makes you a target. Thieves look for more lucrative targets in better areas.

 

[churchmouse]

Honestly, it doesn't appear based on your story that these guys were up to no good. They honestly may have been trying to find a "Joe Owens." I say this because you obviously saw their faces, the hung around to talk to you, stayed in the neighborhood (within sight of your home) and we're eventually identified by police. If they were casing houses, they are even dumber than your average criminal.
You however, handled the situation as appropriately as you could, so no faults there. It better to get your mindset right, and be wrong, than dead in your garage.

Kut........walking in back yards and strolling puts their actions a step or 2 above looking for "Joe" in my mind.

And yes, there are some seriously stupid thieves rolling around these days. Not that thieves were ever at the top of the food chain.

 

[jamil]

Honestly, it doesn't appear based on your story that these guys were up to no good. They honestly may have been trying to find a "Joe Owens." I say this because you obviously saw their faces, the hung around to talk to you, stayed in the neighborhood (within sight of your home) and we're eventually identified by police. If they were casing houses, they are even dumber than your average criminal.
You however, handled the situation as appropriately as you could, so no faults there. It better to get your mindset right, and be wrong, than dead in your garage.

Huh? I don't buy that. That's just not how you find "Joe". That's the astonishingly unbelievable story really stupid criminals use when they get surprised trying to steal **** from your open garage.

 

[nakinate]

OP, next time just pull a move out of RemAuto1187's book. Grab your Glock and stick it in their faces just for talking to you...

 

[Tactically Fat]

For the sake of other readers, would you be willing to give the nearest "largish" intersection to your home? Or perhaps even the neighborhood name?

 

[Titanium_Frost]

So there I was with my dad trying to find an old war buddy when this jerk comes outta his car like a missile with a freaking switchblade in his hand like he's some kind of Rambo...



Wait, do you have to start a new thread for that?