People Coming To Our Front Doors To Shoot Us: Sick and Tired, Not Going To Take It!
So Eric was lamenting the scavengers in his ‘hood, and while I totally sympathize, I’m sick and tired of the crooks in our ‘hood who come to the door and try and shoot women at home during the day. When I first heard this story I thought, oh, another scary urban legend, ’till I noted a friend’s name buried in the scroll and called her: yup, true story. Happened in Preston Hollow last Monday morning, 11:00 a.m. (Read entire event after jump.) My friend says the victim had all these wild thoughts going through her mind but she remembered an Oprah episode telling women not to let a perpetrator get you in a second place. So frightened as she was, and too far away from her alarm keypad to hit the “panic” button, she ran away from him and ran outside, and hid behind one of her columns. (Love those columns!) This poor woman is understandably scared to death but doing OK; meantime her neighbor, my friend, is going to slip a gun into a drawer in her own foyer. I think I need one of those bumper stickers that says “Protected By Smith & Wesson” for my front door. But seriously, this is awful: I’ll bet these folks pay no less than $20K in property taxes and where is our police protection? Why are we not safe in our homes at 11:00 a.m. in the morning? Please be careful — get a peephole and if you do not recognize the person at the front door, DO NOT ANSWER!!!
I opened my front door Monday, May 5 around 11 am to a man I thought was connected to the landscape people I had working in my yard all morning. At first I was not going to answer the door and thought they would just leave the bill, but they rang the bell and knocked repeatedly so I figured they needed to ask me a question. I opened the door to a casual but clean cut neatly dressed [white collarless shirt/ white jeans] 5’ 10” , medium build 22ish yr old Hispanic man who asked me “If Jules was still here?” He then had a gun pointed at me, followed me back into my front hall, and said “he needed things from me”. The front door was still open so I decided to take the chance of being shot in the front yard instead of inside my house plus be robbed etc. He ended up aiming and shooting at me from the street in broad daylight as I was screaming bloody murder for help and trying to hide behind a porch column. The bullet from his 38 handgun either grazed my neck or something ricocheted from the impact and nicked my neck only - -so I am very lucky. He then took off in a black, brand new medium sized SUV and no license plate and w/a short black girl w/straight chin length hair in the psg seat who never turned her head [age 15-25]. The police said I was brave and did the right thing but I still feel shook up and worry about what could have happened!
I am new to this area and I have been so pleased w/all my good neighbors that I have met. I am changing my lifetime habits of answering the door in the daytime and I want everyone to be aware and remind all members of the family of unexpected dangers. I look forward to the upcoming BROOKSHIRE BLOCK PARTY on Saturday May 31 and the camaraderie that leads to a safer neighborhood!
20 Comments to “People Coming To Our Front Doors To Shoot Us: Sick and Tired, Not Going To Take It!”
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This happens all over Dallas, everyday. In Jan. my husband and I awoke early one morning to the sound of his truck being broken into. The thieves (also a couple) walked away on foot. My husband followed them in my car for about three miles, roughly 40 minutes. The whole time we were both calling the police who finally showed up after about 50 minutes. At that time the couple disappeared into an apartment complex and were lost. The officers blamed their lack of response on the dispatchers and the dispatchers blamed it on the officers.
Either way, it’s still frustrating. We are a young couple living in Lakewood, in what we consider to be a fairly nice neighborhood. For the most part, it’s quiet. We pay our taxes, in fact, our recent tax bill jumped up the full 10% allowed by law. We don’t have children in DISD (and never will!) but we continue to pay for others to attend.
I grew up in Southlake and maybe I am just too used to the suburbs but this is ridiculous. People aren’t even safe in their own homes anymore and unfortunately, as the economy declines, I think we will see more and more stories like this.
Candy — This is a sickening, troubling incident; Horrific. The Police are part of the *problem*, not the answer. Why do we suppose people hire private security guards for neighborhoods? The Police, in the meantime, are off ticketing people for speeding; monitoring private business parking lots, for private $; visiting the donut shop; and the like. It’s a lot easier to give a peaceful old lady, or guy, a speeding or red light ticket somewhere on Hillcrest, than it is to patrol neighborhoods, and actually root out, find and apprehend a criminal, and, thus, to effectively fight crime.
Shocking is an understatement.
How was this not in the newspaper or on the news? People need to be aware of this. I doubt it’s a one-time, isolated thing.
Thanks, Candy, for getting the issue out there.
There are some simple things you can do to reduce the risk, such as answering the front door only when you have been notified of a friend, family member, etc. coming by. If my doorbell rings when I’m not expecting anyone, I grab one of my handguns and check the peephole to check who is there. Unless your door and the walls around the door are bullet-resistant, make sure you own a handgun with enough stopping power to shoot thru the door.
I also stash potentially lethal weapons around the house that are everyday items. Cooking knives are on a magnetic holder in the kitchen. Baseball bat and golf clubs are nearby in a hallway. A spare A/V cord or network cable can be used like a whip in a pinch. Even insect spray or chemicals in aerosol cans can work by blinding the person enough to escape or take him/her down.
Incapacitating a burglar or attacker for 3-5 seconds with a can of Raid can be the difference in staying alive. But your best defense is the strongest offense: keeping a hangun or shotgun nearby. We have the Castle Doctrine for a reason. Use it.
I thought ther were off duty Dallas Police working Preston Hollow. Hire more of them, have a larger presence? I have a good friend that is a licensed hand gun instructor and can certify concealed hand gun. He went to HP and offers classes. And practice on gun range. Scarey for all you PH peeps packing heat!!!
I sure couldn’t find this in DMN. What street was it on? Is this going to be reported in the next PH People?
This is an epidemic along with kicking in front doors and burglarizing homes during the day. Look at the daily crime reports–in my DPD beat alone there were three front doors kicked in yesterday.
On the door security itself, first have a professional check out the door and frame itself. Make sure it is in good condition with no rotten wood or any compromised material in the structure. Heavy steel doors are a great defense, as are wood doors with steel reinforced inside the wood. Replace your door if needed.
Then take a look at your lock system itself. Does the door handle jiggle any? Does it feel like it does not “lock” well? A simple trip to Home Depot or Lowe’s can show you what you’re missing. Get the most security you can for a new door handle and deadbolt lock system. It will cost some money, but it’s worth the expense. (For renters, this isn’t something you are allowed to do, per most leases. But you can at least check the hardware yourself.) Are the screws holding the strike plates longer than 2 inches? Or are they a standard 1 inch screw? Replacing them with at least 2 inch galvanized steel screws provides a little more resistance to a kick-in. Adding a second deadbolt, even a third, cannot hurt. But make sure one is not accessible via key, just for another layer of precaution from an intruder using a bump key. Look for lock sets that are bump-proof too. Most companies now make bump-proof locks.
You can take a step higher: biometric door locks, electronic passcode locks, etc. These are bump-proof as well as being very difficult to get past.
But the key thing is to use whatever level of security at your home’s entrances you feel necessary. Even adding motion detector lights may be enough to deter a burglar.
Oh, and if you have a monitored security system but don’t use it, well, use it. Why pay for a service but don’t use it?
According to your repeat blogger Typical White Person, this women in Preston Hollow is way too successful for her own good and the man who tried to rob her was just trying to redistribute her wealth.
Cool, now the burglars know that most of the neighborhood will be their block party on the 31st, so it should be no problem breaking a back window and getting some loot.
Stories like these are the reason we keep a shotgun under the bed. We NEVER answer the door if we don’t know the person. We also have a “NO SOLICITING” sign on the door and if someone we don’t know comes to the door, we tell them through the door to look at the sign and scram. Our ‘hood is wonderful in that everyone calls the cops on anyone remotely suspicious. GB living in a neighborhood with many elderly residents who have nothing better to do than look out their windows all day. =)
One more thing to add—our neighborhood is very involved with the Northeast Division of the police department. They have been wonderful as far as patrolling and responding to our calls. It has been my my experience that the more you work with your local police dept. as a neighborhood, the more benefits you will reap. We also have a strong VIP patrol team made up of neighbors who drive up and down our streets. This trained team has actually caught robbers in the act and acting on their tips, the cops have apprehended the thugs…ahem…I mean suspects.
The Police are part of the problem?????????????????????????? Where were the Police and you pay tons of property taxes?????????????????????
Your ignorance is extreme. Police departments, generally speaking, perform a reactive function. It sounds to me like you and your loud mouth friend are upset that the police were not on your street, in front of your house , at the exact time and date that this offense occurred. You have absolutely no basis for your criticism of the police. They cannot be at every offense location just prior to the offense being committed - THEY DO NOT HAVE A CRYSTAL BALL. Perhaps you should criticize your husband instead - where was he???? Isn’t it his job to protect you at home?
I am glad you are OK, but ashamed of your blame game. You need to grow up and learn reality - perhaps getting a real job and leaving home during normal business hours will prevent future offenses.
Here’s the report:
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/1626.....d=10101601
There’s a way to get the police there quickly. Just tell the dispatcher that you’re armed and you’re about to blow the bastards away. Oh, and tell the dispatcher that when the police come they should bring an ambulance with them. Then make certain you have your weapon safely locked away, or you’re liable to get shot for your trouble.
First of all the CommonSense Guy needs to learn reality. Get a life! First of all, the husband was probably at work, like normal people.
And did it ever dawn on you that some of us have a day off, work different hours or maybe she was ill that day. How dare you judge someone or something without knowing.
First of all the CommonSense Guy needs to learn reality. Get a life! First of all, the husband was probably at work, like normal people.
And did it ever dawn on you that some of us have a day off, work different hours or maybe she was ill that day. How dare you judge someone or something without knowing. And to the person that said he was there to distribute her wealth……..does that make it right?
Jeeze, this is like the Jerry Springer Show. The woman does work she is a flight attendant. Issue is house do we make our city safer?
Gees people. When are you going to realize the police are not out to protect “YOU”. They respond to crimes. Put yourself in Joe Officers shoes. Call comes in. Man with a gun. Well your human. You can’t go confront the person yourself, but you want another stranger (the police officer) to drop everything and come rescue you. Sure your life is more precious than his so he should sacrifice himself for you and your property.
Of course when he asks for a raise, so he can put his kids in a private school, because like you, he knows DISD sucks. You will ***** and moan and vote against giving a pay raise.
If you want crime to drop. Vote in Judges and legislators who recognize that self defense is just that. You are responsible for your own self defense. There is not enough police to continuously patrol all neighborhoods. Our jails release repeat offenders because Judges allow it.
Look people. Get a CHL. (Concealed Handgun Liscense). The State of Texas realizes that it can not protect you so it has given you the right to arm and protect yourself. You also have the Castle Doctrine which protects you from civil liability in a self defense shooting. If you are not willing to protect yourself first with these simple legal blessings, you deserve to be victimized. Its like driving a car without a spare.
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