3:15 AM last night

I live in a rural area of Texas with my German Shepherd Mica, last night at 3:15am she went ballastic, my doorbell rang. I got up and with light and Glock pistol went out the back door to come aroung the side of the house with my GS, my light was an Olight M20 on the hi setting, there was a apparently drunk male about 25 in my yard, he kept saying get that out of my eyes its blinding me, I did not! I asked him what he wanted and he said he got the wrong house, I told him yes you really did. I had called 911 already and the Sheriff Deputy was coming down our road, all said and done he was a neighbor's kid just drunk. The deputy asked about my light as it made his look dim!
All went well and the boy and his parents came over today to apologise and saw Mica and said glad you did not let that thing go!

Glad no one got hurt.

They say that a having a handgun can make a violent encounter never happen - I'm glad the flashlight gave you control so that the Glock never came into play!

You dont know your neighbor's kid and went armed to answer the door. Glad I don't live their.

I think it is wise not answering the the door without positive ID but what if the kid was an angry drunk and you shot him.

I am horrified by this story.

At that time of night, in a rural area...............................dog barking............................it ain't aunt Sally with a birthday cake!!!!!!!!!

I'm with th OP on this one.

PS nice use of light vs firearm.

pblanch said:

You dont know your neighbor's kid and went armed to answer the door. Glad I don't live their.

I think it is wise not answering the the door without positive ID but what if the kid was an angry drunk and you shot him.

I am horrified by this story.

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I want to respectfully give a differing opinion: Varmint was ready to use force and had the tools required to see if it was needed. If he hadn't had the flashlight and just saw someone approaching in the dark, who knows? A tragedy could have happened. He (or she?) had the handgun, which turned out to be un-needed.

I can't disagree with being prepared for the worst and then examining the situation. I'm glad he used a bright bright light to keep that situation from escalating.

My neighbors are not close by as in a urban local, most people around here would have acted the same as I did, we have very low crime here and do not tolerate it at all. That time of night no good is going to happen to someone prowling around someone' house, I dont think he ever knew I was armed, its a way of life here. I refuse to be a statistic. We have a bad illegal ailen problem in Texas and we are constantly on guard for it. We all raise cattle around here for a living and with the drought we have we cant stand to lose anymore. My Olight was a winner lastnight. The deputy was surprised as bright as my light was compared to his, I would highly recommend one.. The boy could do nothing but cover his eyes. I did NOT file charges against him. If there was a next time that will be different.

Thank goodness little came of this. Good on you, sir, for maintaining control of the situation. It would have been awful to have to shoot anyone, let alone your neighbor's kid.

To pblanch: not sure where you're from, buddy, but down here it's a good idea to carry a "big stick" when someone knocks at 3 o'clock in the AM. Don't get me wrong -- I am horrified at the thought of having to shoot someone, but one must consider the alternative, ESPECIALLY if an intoxicated, unpredictable, angry person arrives at your door.

Sad world we live in? Unfortunately so. We'd all do well to be prepared for instances such as this.

You have to protect yourself. If he had shot you, the deputy could do nothing but take a report. Good outcome! Good light!

I say well handled. I always tell any gun owner that they should also own at least one quality flashlight for target identification. Most have never thought about it before. Glad everything turned out okay!

im glad it was just a case of mistaken drunken home identity.

if that kid had his own flashlight, all this could of been avoided, and you wouldnt have been disturbed at 3 in the morning.

Good on you varmint for handling the situation the way you did. Glad it did not escalate into a use of deadly force encounter. One thing I'm always interested in is the tactics people use in this type of encounter the reasons behind it. Were you alone at the time? Do you have a "tactical response" to a threat thought out?

pblanch said:

You dont know your neighbor's kid and went armed to answer the door. Glad I don't live their.

I think it is wise not answering the the door without positive ID but what if the kid was an angry drunk and you shot him.

I am horrified by this story.

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even if I knew every kid on the block though, I would have no reason to expect a visit at 3AM. The op armed himself expecting the worst, and shown at minimum produced good trigger discipline. Many of us own guns but it is only there as a last option. The good part about behind the only source of light in the vincinity gets you the advantage of distance. The suspect won't have any idea how far away you are from him. Legally speaking [in Florida] anyway, even for a licensed CCW any distance beyond 7 yards I have no authority to discharge my weapon because it leaves "ample" room to take precautions to de-escalate the conflict. Now how Texas does this I don't know:nana:

Reading this though, makes me feel inadequate. Because I would have opened the front door a smedge, just enough to point my shotgun/light out. Had the suspect decide to kick in my door I would have had very little leverage to resist. :shrug:

I'm glad to hear that varmint didn't get hurt and that a bright flashlight and its owner was able to discourage or give some pause to that stupid drunk kid. Speaking for myself only, I would have stayed in my house and did what I could without having to get any closer to that possible home invader (home invasion attempt). If some guy wants to attack me or come into my home at least there's a door or window in his way to at the very least slow him down. I wouldn't want to leave the safety of my home to confront him. When and if he comes into my home, then I'll let him have it. Everyone will handle this same situation differently. Everyone has their own comfort level. That was mine. Regardless of how you choose to handle it, all that matters is that you and your family is safe in the end.

Well done. Besides obvious safety considerations, the first rule in an engagement where a firearm could be used is "identify the threat". Everything else flows from there; if you don't properly identify, you can't act responsibly. Your light let you identify (much better than a porch light, I would imagine), and as a result you were able to take the correct course of action. To the response concerning him being an angry drunk: by identifying him, you would have been able to adjust your level of force. Unknown angry drunk - might have to use the firearm. Known angry drunk - sounds like time for a lower level of force.

The OP happened to mention that he took a Glock pistol with him when he went to investigate. He did not use it, and in fact he said he didn't think the intruder was even aware at the time that he was armed.

From that mere mention has sprung a wholly unnecessary off-topic debate on the use of firearms, which is well outside the scope of this forum. I don't want to have to close this thread, as the OP seems to have acted sensibly, and his principal point was to do with the effect of his light on the drunken intruder. He merely mentioned the firearm in passing.

However, the next mention of anything to do with firearm(s) will lead to the thread being closed, probably with corrective action taken against anyone who fails to heed this warning.

Illum said:

Reading this though, makes me feel inadequate. Because I would have opened the front door a smedge, just enough to point my shotgun/light out. Had the suspect decide to kick in my door I would have had very little leverage to resist. :shrug:

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After my missus had a visit from a persistent drunk at 2am when I was out of town we reviewed our security arrangements. Previously we had only a solid wooden door with a peep hole. We now have a locking security screen door in front of that wooden door so we can open the wooden door but still keep control of the situation. My missus is much happier with this arrangement. We keep the key handy to the door so we can exit quickly in an emergency. We also have 3 dogs which go into loud guard-dog mode if they think there may be a stranger around somewhere.

i think the drunk might of gotten the clue that he is in wrong house as the dog started to bark.. and i never met an german shep that sounds like a lapdog when barking. they always sound like "business". glad it went ok. and the fool maybe learns something in process.

Yes I sure do so have a plan if needed, help is not close to us, the deputy just happened to be close by, I have had another instance yrs ago with 5 illegals at 1 time. I went out the back door rather than the front using darkness as cover and came around the house, I even ley my eyes get acustome to the darkness before I went around the corner before I turned my light on, the boy covered his eyes instantly.... My German Shepherd is a level 4 trained dog, at 87 lbs she can be a handful.

Good on you, Varmint...it brings to mind a time when my dogs went nuts early one night. I live just a few miles outside of DC (10 miles actually) in a suburban area right on the beltway. Our bedroom is on the second floor of our home and I woke up to the dogs barking and my wife looking out the window in the wee hours. At the time I was an early flashaholic and my brightest light was an Eagletac MX2C4 (I think that's the correct model designation.) I was 'prepared'...and I opened the door and the 3 males were walking house to house (close proximity of houses) pulling the door handles. In spite of my wife's protests, I "lit 'em up" with the big Eagletac and they began to beat a hasty retreat. Incidentally, prior to doing this I had called Fairfax County police and they came QUICKLY. By the time they got here the intruders were in their car and tearing out of here. Again, I was 'prepared' - I'll say no more than that - and the cops commended me for calling them and handling it as I did.

Upon hearing the story they wanted to see the light - I lit it up and they were blown away! They both had Streamlights (I believe) on their belts and they were kinda sad compared to the Eagletac.

The point of my long, rambling story? Some say that lights only make it easier for the bad guys to identify you, but in an open situation like the one varmint was in and I was in, I believe light makes bad guys run - turn on the lights, roaches run for cover.

Great story, varmint! thanks for sharing.