Excaliber wrote:You did exactly the right thing. Even though I have cleared many hundreds of buildings during my law enforcement career, I would never do it alone unless I had reason to believe that innocent life was in immediate danger. Doing so unnecessarily gives away far too many tactical advantages to the guy(s) already inside.pedalman wrote:I'm not so brave. Years ago, my wife and I went to San Antonio for the evening. When we came home, the front door was wide open. We just got out of the car, went across the street and called 911 from our neighbor's house.
The police searched the house and found nobody. It turned out that my wife inadvertantly left the front door ajar, and a breeze opened it the rest of the way.
Armed or not, I would not take on the task of clearing a house by myself. I'm too old for that.
It might be worthwhile to review the "Coming Home to Find a Burglar in Your House" thread, which has additional info you may be interested in.
About 9 years ago when I was living in Louisiana I came home late from the gym one night to find the house I shared with a remote broken into. I grabbbed my 229 and Maglight, called my girlfriend at the time and told her to call 911 on her home phone, but left her connected on speakerphone and left the phone on my car seat. I proceeded to clear the house during which time the police arrived, I had made sure to have my girlfriend make the 911 dipatcher aware that the owner was armed and going into the home. I was younger and still in the military when this happend, and I still think about how bad it could have gone. I had a loaded 870 in my closet which the thieves took with them. They had broken open the sliding glass door in the breakfast nook and then opened the side door and proceeded to ransack the place loading everything into a waiting van. Had I caught them after they found the shotgun I might not be here typing this. it's defintely not worth the danger over material possesions. If there is someone inside then it's a no-brainer.