Home Invasion That Just Happened To Us

[tropicalwaste]

Lee good job in getting the mental case under control. I do have an odd thing about mental patients and being off medication problem though as "Outpatients" in UK is full of crazies who are dangerous and often murderers. 76 The toll in 10 years of innocent people killed at random by mental patients who are living in the community.West midlands (Birmingham area UK) Statistics from hundredfamilies.orghttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1210923/Brain-eating-convicted-killer-freed-murder-social-worker-bungles.html'One murder a week' by psychiatric patients (One in six were blamed on the failure to ensure patients took their medication properly.)If I was in the same situation I have no doubt I would have probably shot him and if he got up shot him again. Home is a sanctuary and you have the right to protect your family. We all handle and see things differently but I don't only look at the case he would have entered my home but the risk he is to others in the future as the systems to keep "US" safe generally fail. Most mental patient murders in the UK are not first offence (violent act). I don't expect most people to agree with my view and if it was in the general street I would try to contain the person not just because hopefully others would help but the fact is my family wouldn't be at risk.

[Mr Lee]

We live in a gated subdivision and we live right next to our gate entrance guard house! We own our home, it's small, but an 800 lb sumo wrestler won't be able to knock down our windows or doors if he tried, because all of our windows and doors all have 5/8" wrought iron grills with double meshed aluminum screens, steel door frames with double dead bolt locks! Yes, we sleep good at night and or anytime of the day! Even our garage is enclosed all around with wrought iron grills and sliding 1/4" glass windows!We've lived in the Philippines a total of 24 years and 10 of those years living in our present home.This is our way of keeping our home intruder proof giving us peace of mind. Some may think our way is over kill, but being safe is better than being sorry of an unexpected invasion of one's home and privacy where a loved one may be injured or possibly killed! So, each to their own in figuring out a way to be safe here in the Philippines or any other country one may be living in or just visiting! Crime knows no boundaries, it happens everywhere!

Art bars and gates are great but please make sure they are the type you can open from the inside and keep the keys handy. I have seen people roast to death in fires and no one could help them, do not let it God forbid happen to you my friend.

Lee, you did the right thing showing restraint with your firearm. Your years of law enforcement experience no doubt guided your instincts in the right way. Another person would likely have panicked and blasted away. .

Thank you Mik, it turned out to be the correct thing to do so far, I just hope it is over now and when this guy gets out, that he does not hurt someone else or make me sorry in some other way that I did not end it for good.

Glad to hear that both of you are OK!

Thank you Steve!   :hystery:

Lee good job in getting the mental case under control. I do have an odd thing about mental patients and being off medication problem though as "Outpatients" in UK is full of crazies who are dangerous and often murderers.

Thank you Matt, I just pray he does not hurt someone else in the future because I am aware of what mental disturbed people can do but I had no way of know who he was or what I was dealing with until it was over and the police arrived. 

[parksb2]

OK I feel I owe everyone an explanation since I posted what I did in the 13a section. To start off with, we live in a nice gated community in Florida, so no place is totally safe. My wife and I were awake but barely this morning and myself because of some meds I have to take at night for my bad back. My wife and I were startled by someone pounding on our front door like a mad man and it turns out that was exactly what the guy was. When he could not get the front door open as I retrieved my gun from my nightstand, he went to our back screen enclosed patio and broke his way in and then started pounding on the sliding doors so hard that I was sure they would shatter. I opened the blinds of our dinette sliding doors to find no one there but now the pounding started on our bedroom sliding doors and again so hard the glass was going to shatter if I did not stop him. I then opened the dinette sliding door and yelled some not so nice words at him while watching his hands and observing his body to see if he was armed and all he had in his hands were keys which can be used as a weapon and he was holding them in a threatening manner but I felt that I am good enough with my hands to deal with them without having to shoot and maybe kill him. He then proceeded to attack my wife and myself and while I blocked his keys and put him into a head lock and tried to slam him to the ground, he proceeded to toss my wife around like a toy on his arm and luckily she was not injured except some scrapes and bruises . This guy was insanely strong and was larger than me and I am almost 6 foot tall and was 6 foot before shrinking as I got older. I wrestled with him for about 5 minutes while telling my wife to let loose and call the police but she was screaming at the top of her lungs for help and as I finally slammed the guy to the floor but now inside our dinette and a short time later my neighbor came over to help. My neighbor is a coach and is 6 foot 5 inches and pretty strong and at this point the two of us were having a hard time holding this nut case down while my wife called the police. I told my wife to go get me some handcuffs from my draw and she did and my neighbor and I tried to get his arms behind his back. I managed to get the one I had control of behind his back and cuffed but the two of us could not get his right arm behind his back and which my neighbor was trying to kneel down on and which must be his stronger arm and was the one with the keys in his hand and we were doing our best to avoid getting cut from them. The police arrived in mass numbers, I think there must have been at least ten of them in total by the time the last one arrived and one big strong officer was now able to get his other arm behind his back as my neighbor and I controlled this guys body. Well it turns out to be a good thing I did not shoot him even when I had every right to because Florida has a castle law which says a mans home or vehicle is their castle and they have a right to use deadly force to protect themselves while in it and also to use deadly force whenever a person feels their life is in danger, but with the use of deadly force comes personal conflicts that anyone who has had to do it full well knows about and I sure did not wish to kill anyone if I did not have to but had we not been able to control him and he got up then he I would have not had any choice. The day may come that this guy will have to meet his maker but today was not the day because we luckily kept him face down on the floor. Anyway, it turns out that this guy is a nut case and off his medicines and and lives down the block and maybe thought our home was his home since he lives in a similar home. The police took him away and said they will send him for mental evaluation and I am just happy I was home and that my wife was not alone.The point to my post is that no place is totally safe and people should decide what weapon would be best to deal with an issue and have them around for the just in case. I should have had a bat in one hand and my gun in my back pocket with my hand on it, which is where it was as soon as I found out the guy did not appear to be armed and I should have then switched to the bat if only I had one. Life takes funny turns and now might be a good time for my wife and I to buy a heavy baseball bat because an electric stun gun would have done no good with a nut case such as this guy, I know I used one on a person such as him once before and it did no good at all. I posted this in off topic because it did not happen in the Philippines, but could have just as easy of happened anywhere since there are nuts everywhere. So people be prepared because things can happen and now you know someone that it did happen to, and last, all that ends well is a good day. BTW, this guy weighed in at what I estimate to be at least 250 pounds.

Glad you're OK !!!!!!!

[Mr Lee]

Glad you're OK !!!!!!!

Thank you sir and please be sure to send our love to your wife.  :hystery:

[Art2ro]

We live in a gated subdivision and we live right next to our gate entrance guard house! We own our home, it's small, but an 800 lb sumo wrestler won't be able to knock down our windows or doors if he tried, because all of our windows and doors all have 5/8" wrought iron grills with double meshed aluminum screens, steel door frames with double dead bolt locks! Yes, we sleep good at night and or anytime of the day! Even our garage is enclosed all around with wrought iron grills and sliding 1/4" glass windows!We've lived in the Philippines a total of 24 years and 10 of those years living in our present home.This is our way of keeping our home intruder proof giving us peace of mind. Some may think our way is over kill, but being safe is better than being sorry of an unexpected invasion of one's home and privacy where a loved one may be injured or possibly killed! So, each to their own in figuring out a way to be safe here in the Philippines or any other country one may be living in or just visiting! Crime knows no boundaries, it happens everywhere!

There is a quick escape grill on hinges upstairs with an escape rope ladder and downstairs has 3 exits, front, back and laundry room leading to the garage.

[Mr Lee]

We live in a gated subdivision and we live right next to our gate entrance guard house! We own our home, it's small, but an 800 lb sumo wrestler won't be able to knock down our windows or doors if he tried, because all of our windows and doors all have 5/8" wrought iron grills with double meshed aluminum screens, steel door frames with double dead bolt locks! Yes, we sleep good at night and or anytime of the day! Even our garage is enclosed all around with wrought iron grills and sliding 1/4" glass windows!We've lived in the Philippines a total of 24 years and 10 of those years living in our present home.This is our way of keeping our home intruder proof giving us peace of mind. Some may think our way is over kill, but being safe is better than being sorry of an unexpected invasion of one's home and privacy where a loved one may be injured or possibly killed! So, each to their own in figuring out a way to be safe here in the Philippines or any other country one may be living in or just visiting! Crime knows no boundaries, it happens everywhere!

There is a quick escape grill on hinges upstairs with an escape rope ladder and downstairs has 3 exits, front, back and laundry room leading to the garage.

Good, glad to hear that Art. In parts of South Florida we see people killed all the time with bars on their windows and I have read about some who died in fires in the Philippines because they could not get out. I am glad you thought ahead.   :thumbs-up-smile:

[Mr Lee]

To start off with, we live in a nice gated community in Florida CEBU,I guess we would be seeing things like:"See, this is what I mean about the danger of living here.""Yeah, where were the security guards?""I bet the guards were in on it""The guards would have been useless, there just kids"Etc etc etc.I would say that if it happened on a sub division here you would have got less neighbor help than if in the province. Interested to see what others think though if they read the story as in Cebu rather than Florida.Again, great to hear you are both ok.Uzi.

OK so let us take what Uzi suggested and think about it. What would have happened had this happened in Cebu or anywhere in the Philippines?  First of all we would have been in our condo so it may never have happened but lets say we had a house instead of a condo and I am not saying that it cannot happen in a condo building but lets say it happened in a house since we live in a house in Florida.IMO we would most likely not have had the police respond within 10 minutes and might have had to deal with it totally on our own.If and when the police got there then they may not have been as supportive of me a non Filipino home owner and may have thought I instigated the encounter? Would they?Could the average guard have handled something such as this? and might they have just shot the guy if he was a huge Kano? Would a neighbor have come to my aid?What do you all think may have been the outcome and possibly based on your own experiences or how you perceive life to be in the Philippines? 

[United Army]

I'm glad both of you are ok. I think of this allot here in the RP what would I do in your situation, I hope I never have to find out. Lee, I'm glad you and your wife are ok!!

[tom_shor]

I'm not sure what the consequinces would be in a case like that but if I felt my family or myself were in danger I would do what I had to do then sort it out later.

[oldutot]

Hi Mr. Lee and Nila, I'm glad all is well with the both of you.