Shots fired within range of my house!

[JC5123]

I feel I live in a VERY safe neighborhood. All of the houses in my subdivision are 3-4 years old. So it's certainly not south central. Unfortunately our neighborhood, and particularly my house backs up to low income townhouses.

Last night about 11:45 I awoke to what sounded like a gunshot. I laid in bed and listened for another few seconds. 5 more pops. Then 6 in rapid succession this time from a different gun. (slight pitch change) I knew from the sound that it was indeed gunshots and not firecrackers, so I decided that I better do something.

I grabbed my carry gun out of the nightstand, a flashlight and my cell phone and raced across the house to my daughters room, the dog right behind me. I never turned on a light. I closed and locked my daughters bedroom door behind me, and looked out her window where I had heard the shots from. I was just in time to see two cars screaming away from the townhouses, and never heard anymore shots. My daughter never woke up.

There were lights coming on from the townhouses so I figured that some one was up and calling the police. So I never placed a call. I know I'm not a good witness because I never really SAW anything. I post this as basically a briefing, so that everyone can look at the situation and help me to review and improve upon my response.

I open the floor to discussion. Any critique, suggestions are most welcome.

[ericire12]

1) What was the approx distance from the town houses to your house?

2) What seperates the two (Woods, Parking lot, etc)?

3) Did the police ever show up at the town houses?

4) Did you just go right back to bed or did you stay up to see if anything further was going to develop?

[Solus]

From what you posted, you seem to have taken the correct steps.

From your post I got the impression your daughters bed room was in the rear of the house and the townhouses are in the rear of the house.

This might not be a good arrangement, particularly if her bedroom is on the first floor.

The rear of a house is generally less well lit than the front and first floor windows in shadows would be the first entry point considered for a break in.

Don't know what security arrangements you have or if a re-ordering the sleeping rooms is feasible, but it would be worth evaluating this situation if you have not already done so.

Let us know if you find out what went down over there.

Take care.

[JC5123]

1) What was the approx distance from the town houses to your house?

2) What seperates the two (Woods, Parking lot, etc)?

3) Did the police ever show up at the town houses?

4) Did you just go right back to bed or did you stay up to see if anything further was going to develop?

Distance is my backyard, which for right now is unfenced. So no barrier of any kind exists between the back of the townhouses and my house. It's about 25-30 yds.

I don't know if the police ever did show up. I gave up and went back to bed after an hour of watching for anymore activity. There was a police car parked in front of the townhouses this morning. There was tape up, and several officers wandering around. Because of the way the neighborhoods are set up there is no street access to the front of the townhouses from my subdivision.  

[Texas_Bryan]

Distance is my backyard, which for right now is unfenced. So no barrier of any kind exists between the back of the townhouses and my house. It's about 25-30 yds.

I don't know if the police ever did show up. I gave up and went back to bed after an hour of watching for anymore activity. There was a police car parked in front of the townhouses this morning. There was tape up, and several officers wandering around. Because of the way the neighborhoods are set up there is no street access to the front of the townhouses from my subdivision.  

The potential is there for the BG to use your subdivision as foot access to the bad neighborhood, to beat any road obstructions, so keep an eye out on the ground.  What's the deal with the townhouses?  Drugs, neighbor feud, gangs?  Get your carbine out for the next few nights, stupid people escalate stupid violence quickly.  Good job on the lights, don't throw away your night vision and betray your awareness.

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

A few points. 1st, and not to be condescending, but if you live 50 yards away from those town houses, they ARE your neighborhood. Don't think a sign and new houses changes that. I'd make sure my wife and kid got that too. Second, What's your house made of of? I mean you don't want to turn it into Ft. JC or make your child sleep in the basement, but if its a recurrent thing, it is an issue. I'd defer to TAB or someone on structural issues, but it is something to think about. One last point. If you don't already have them, I would make putting in some motion sensor lights, front, back and sides, my weekend project. Again I wouldn't go overboard, but a couple of these can be a good detterent. Likewise if the kid wants a noisy dog, it might be a good time to say yes. A loud, if friendly dog along with the outside lights will make your yard a lot less attractive a refuge than your neighbors if someone is fleeing the scene. In your case I'd have kicked Old Useless outside to bark its fool head off and light up the outside. To heck with neighbors trying to sleep. Just my .02. Good luck and don't stress. I have had a couple of wake up calls this past year. Its useful to vent here. You tend to get some useful advice, or at least a sympathetic audience. Both are good things.
FQ13

[JC5123]

I agree that they are my neighbors. I am however wary of them. It is low income housing and there have been problems in the past. Granted few and very far between. But they do exist. As far as making my house safer, those projects are starting to happen now. I just purchased the house at the end of October, and winter here is not exactly user friendly. Finishing my back fence is priority on my list, however after last night I am considering decorative block for the back side. As opposed to the white vinyl that is already existing on the sides.

However I guess I should have posed the question differently. I am well aware of the vulnerabilities of my location. I am working to compensate for them. My question was whether or not my tactics were sound, considering the situation. What others might have done differently, should I have called the police? My only concern was the protection of my daughter and myself should the violence spill over into my backyard. Everything ended well on my end, but all things considered, did I provide my "best defense?"

+1 on the motion lights, however there is a drawback to them where I live. We consistently have strong winds that blow everything around. The trouble with motion lights is that they will  pick up motion from blown objects and be on constantly. If you turn the sensitivity down low enough to compensate for this, they don't always pick up the motion that you want to catch.

[fightingquaker13]

I agree that they are my neighbors. I am however wary of them. It is low income housing and there have been problems in the past. Granted few and very far between. But they do exist. As far as making my house safer, those projects are starting to happen now. I just purchased the house at the end of October, and winter here is not exactly user friendly. Finishing my back fence is priority on my list, however after last night I am considering decorative block for the back side. As opposed to the white vinyl that is already existing on the sides.

However I guess I should have posed the question differently. I am well aware of the vulnerabilities of my location. I am working to compensate for them. My question was whether or not my tactics were sound, considering the situation. What others might have done differently, should I have called the police? My only concern was the protection of my daughter and myself should the violence spill over into my backyard. Everything ended well on my end, but all things considered, did I provide my "best defense?"

+1 on the motion lights, however there is a drawback to them where I live. We consistently have strong winds that blow everything around. The trouble with motion lights is that they will  pick up motion from blown objects and be on constantly. If you turn the sensitivity down low enough to compensate for this, they don't always pick up the motion that you want to catch.

Bummer about the motion lights and plus 1 on the block back fence. It will help with your two biggest problems, stray shots and someone making a getaway through your yard. You could always take a page out the Palm Beach playbook and slap a litlle mortar on top to nstall some "decorative glass" eg broken multi-colored beer bottles. I would think about the big sounding dog (mine weighs 45 and barks like she weighs twice that). As far as the night in question, yeah you could have called 911, but would have had little useful to say except "shots fired that'away", so that seems ok. As far as your own tactics, other than maybe turning on outside lights (and there are cons to that) they seem great.
FQ13

[ericire12]

Perhaps an annunciator (sp?) for the backyard would be good also.

[JC5123]

Perhaps an annunciator (sp?) for the backyard would be good also.

Forgive my ignorance.....A What?