quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Would I be prepared to call the police? Yes. Would I be prepared to defend myself? Yes.

But before doing either of the above I'd probably crack my door and ask if I could help the guy. Looks like a decent car. He's dressed decently. His shirt has some sort of logo on it. He has a nice tool box with tools.

Common sense would tell me that it's a service man at the wrong address vs. some sort of criminal.

This

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:


Yes, should have gone to the front door, rang or knocked and waited.

however it is possible that if he is a garage door repairman, someone couldn't be home and told him to fix the door and to get it open.

Whether a real or fake repairman, everything could have been "nipped in the bud," to borrow a phrase, by the OP answering the door. A legit one could have then said, "so sorry, wrong house" and left, or a crook, now knowing someone was at home, would also have left (no doubt to find a softer target).

He did knock on the door first, but I ignored it figuring he’d leave. I grabbed my 590-A1, held it at the ready, cracked the door, and asked him why he was trying to break into my house. No need for a robe as I was dressed.

He said he was with some flooring company, he installed the floors here two days ago and had come back to take some pictures. He mentioned the address (not mine), the owner’s name (not me), and apologized profusely. He was supposed to be two houses down. He did call to verify he was at the right house and proceeded anyway. Not sure how he came to that conclusion because he wasn’t talking to me.

In his defense, my house and the house two houses down are the same model built by General Development Corporation 50 years ago. On the other hand, my house is blue with a silver metal roof and the neighbor’s house is white with barrel tile roof.

He left and did go two houses down. There were other people outside talking to him, so I believe he was legit.

I did not call 911. He kept his distance and was never a threat to me.

Years ago, there was an armed robbery 1/2 mile from my house. Guy bought a car, paid cash, and 20 minutes later, the car buyer’s buddies entered the house from the backyard, held the wife at gun point while the seller handed over the cash from the car sale.

Between my dad and myself, we have been burglars 4 times in 24 years for a loss of $75,000 total.

One thought…
Hit the open button while pointing grandpa’s double barrel at him from behind the car for cover and watch him shit himself!

He allegedly came to take some pictures, but was using a crowbar to try and open your garage door?

The whole thing stinks.

Yes now I realize that was the keypad cover and not a crowbar. Sorry for confusing people here.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PASig,

Guy was definitely casing your place so either he or a buddy could come grab some freebies.

I'm a glass half empty kinda guy and think everyone is a shitbag until proven otherwise and I act accordingly.

Not good picture. That’s an external opener he supposedly had the code for, not a crowbar. He hooked wires and a battery pack up to it because I had removed the battery before we left for the summer. That’s when I opened the door because that was a real WTF is this guy doing moment for me.

It wouldn’t be unusual for snow birds to have work done on their house while they are up North.

Answering the door before he tried breaking in was an option, but I rarely answer the door. My wife is getting deliveries all the time and I just figured that’s what it was in the first place. A lot of time WalMart and Sam’s Club will just have some person in a regular car making the delivery for the local store.

Knocking on a door to see if anyone is home before a burglar goes to work is pretty normal. My house got cased a few years ago, one of the few times I answered the door for unexpected visitors. It was absolutely a burglar casing the neighborhood. I went to the police the next day to describe HER, said she hadn't done anything, but was going to and I wanted a record of it. Never heard about it again.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
He allegedly came to take some pictures, but was using a crowbar to try and open your garage door?

The whole thing stinks.

Yup. Total bullshit. There was absolutely no justification for that. What kind of a homeowner would be so brain dead as to tell the guy, "Oh, I'm not home. Just go ahead and pry the garage door open"? Nope, doesn't compute. Even if he were successful in opening the garage door, how in the hell was he going to be able to get inside the to take pictures of the new floor? The owner told him to pry the door open to getinside? Lol. Nope, fake shit.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

He said he was with some flooring company, he installed the floors here two days ago and had come back to take some pictures.

In his defense,

Sorry for bad editing, I am on my phone.

Anyway, there is no excuse for a worker to break and enter a house they worked on to take pictures. If the homeowner isn’t there to let you in, come back later. Maybe sketchy, maybe stupid, but either way not legit. I probably would have taken a picture of his car and license plate, just in case I got robbed later.

I'm not seeing a crowbar...It looks like a door access keypad that he's trying to enter the code into.

On the uniform thing. Don’t assume.

Going back to the early 1970’s working at car dealerships it wasn’t unusual for car jockeys to be hired, get uniforms and work a month or so then get fired. Just not show up for work, keep the uniforms and come back wearing one and either go through cars on the storage lot or just flat ass steal one out of the shop. With uniforms they just blended in especially when the dealership had a lot of personnel and high turnover rates, not uncommon.

I worked at one dealership and at that time most Chevy dealers in the Detroit area had similar uniforms. Our head new car prep guy caught one guy in our back lot in a new car. Guy insisted he was a new hire, first day and had uniforms already. Our prep man said “You don’t work here” and he turned and ran with our prep man chasing him. Police caught him. The tip-off that the guy wasn’t a new hire, first one our guy always had final say on new hires, never talked to him prior. Second one, his uniform had a Mr. Goodwrench patch on it, despite our dealer participating in the program and in fact being used for early P.R. photos and videos for the program our shop uniforms didn’t have the patches.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
He allegedly came to take some pictures, but was using a crowbar to try and open your garage door?

The whole thing stinks.

Yup. Total bullshit. There was absolutely no justification for that. What kind of a homeowner would be so brain dead as to tell the guy, "Oh, I'm not home. Just go ahead and pry the garage door open"? Nope, doesn't compute. Even if he were successful in opening the garage door, how in the hell was he going to be able to get inside the to take pictures of the new floor? The owner told him to pry the door open to getinside? Lol. Nope, fake shit.

Someone said "common sense". Once he starts prying on the garage door attempting entry, "common sense" should tell you to go into protection mode.

Don't open the door, call the police and be prepared to protect you and yours.

Whether we are home or not, we always have a 172 lbs behemoth that answers our doorbell verbally with the deepest, loudest bark most people have ever heard. When I answer the door, they have already stepped way back off the porch and onto the walkway.

I have a gun handy too, but the verbal alarm from my boy makes it unnecessary.


I am sure that one or two attempted casings have been among those doorbell ringings, but I am not concerned they will come back.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
He allegedly came to take some pictures, but was using a crowbar to try and open your garage door?

The whole thing stinks.

Yup. Total bullshit. There was absolutely no justification for that. What kind of a homeowner would be so brain dead as to tell the guy, "Oh, I'm not home. Just go ahead and pry the garage door open"? Nope, doesn't compute. Even if he were successful in opening the garage door, how in the hell was he going to be able to get inside the to take pictures of the new floor? The owner told him to pry the door open to getinside? Lol. Nope, fake shit.

Someone said "common sense". Once he starts prying on the garage door attempting entry, "common sense" should tell you to go into protection mode.

Don't open the door, call the police and be prepared to protect you and yours.

Guys read Trappers reply, he said the guy wasn't using a crowbar, that he was using the garage door key pad opener.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Not good picture. That’s an external opener he supposedly had the code for, not a crowbar. He hooked wires and a battery pack up to it because I had removed the battery before we left for the summer. That’s when I opened the door because that was a real WTF is this guy doing moment for me.

It wouldn’t be unusual for snow birds to have work done on their house while they are up North.

Answering the door before he tried breaking in was an option, but I rarely answer the door. My wife is getting deliveries all the time and I just figured that’s what it was in the first place. A lot of time WalMart and Sam’s Club will just have some person in a regular car making the delivery for the local store.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Not good picture. That’s an external opener he supposedly had the code for, not a crowbar. He hooked wires and a battery pack up to it because I had removed the battery before we left for the summer. That’s when I opened the door because that was a real WTF is this guy doing moment for me..

Maybe I’m naive, but what kind of a legit floor install guy carries around tools to hot wire a garage door? And then, when unsuccessful, he tried to "open your garage door imcluding pushing on it and trying to lift it". This idiot was lucky he didn't get shot.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Guys read Trappers reply, he said the guy wasn't using a crowbar, that he was using the garage door key pad opener.

I was working on my previous post, when he wrote that. Doesn't change how I feel about the situation. See my post above.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Guys read Trappers reply, he said the guy wasn't using a crowbar, that he was using the garage door key pad opener.

It can be difficult to keep up with a dynamic, evolving thread like this with replies coming in only a few minutes apart.

Yes now I realize that was the keypad cover and not a crowbar. Sorry for confusing people here.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by HRK:
Robe on but open……


Proud of what God gave you?
Or creating a distraction ?