It happened to me, so WWYD?

[OCR]

I lived on the 3rd floor of an appartment complex. My cell phone was dead and my wifes cell was in the living room. It was approx 3:00am. I don't have a gun. My knife was in the livingroom. My son was in his crib asleep in our room. My wife and I where asleep. I do have a small LED flashlight in the room. We woke up to hearing a noise and just laid there to listen for another noise, just incast it was actualy outside the appartment. We heard another noise so I quietly got up and sneeked to the door. My wife was freaking out and trying towispering to me from the bed when she should have been SHUTTING THE F**K UP. When she started wispering, I was at the time trying to unlock my door as quietly as I could. I quickly looked at her and wispered "SHUT THE F**K UP and get me my flashlight NOW!" She then became pissed at me and even more freaked out. I heard the noises stop and I Thought I could hear someone trying to sneek over to the bedroom door. I then cearfuly grabbed the door knod and slightly turned it so that if someone was to try to turn it even slightly, I would know b4 they knew I was holding it from the other side. I felt the knob trying to turn and force become applyed to the door. I just fermly held the door knob and stood my ground. I didn't say anything cus I didn't want whoever it was on the other side to know for a fact that I was standing right there incase they had a gun, didn't want a suprise bullet comming through my door at me. I then heard a watch beep from the other side. At that moment I knew this is the best moment to click my flashlight without the intruder hearing it since they are probibaly scrambeling to stop their beeping watch. I aimed the flashlight at approx eye lvl and held the button down so that the light didn't actualy come on untill I release it. I waited about 30 sec, wich seamed like 5 min, b4 opening the door since the turnning of the door knob and the force applyed to the door stopped. After approx 30 sec, I burst the door open and released the button on the flashlight to suprise the intruder if they where still there. When I oppened the door, no-one was there, rappidly scanned the whole appartment and no-one. And the front door and back sliding glass door where closed. The front door wasn't locked though. Opened the front door and looked at the parkinglot and saw someone getting in the pass side of a car that was stopped in the parking lot but not parked. As soon as they where in the car drove off. I closed the door, locked it and went back to bed after getting the phone and knife out of the living room. Didn't call the cops since I never saw anyone with any details that I could give the police, could barly see the car also. The one thing I quickly looked for was my BP MIL RIOT VEST (1" thick kevlar platting both front and back) that was sitting in the living room.

[jamoni]

This.
In other words, you did everything wrong. Though that probably applies to any story that starts "I told my wife to shut the fuck up".

[silversnake]

I'll let others post more constructive advice about what you could have done in the moment and confine myself to being glad that you and your family are OK and giving some advice going forward. Here's what I would recommend:

1. Sit down with your wife RIGHT NOW if you haven't already and have a calm but serious talk about planning for what to do and what not to do the next time there is a bump in the night like that. Unless and until you do that, this same scene will play out again next time as her whispered questions/statements were a stress reaction and was your "shut the fuck up" to her. I bet she doesn't know yet that you were concerned about bullets coming through the door at you.

2. Seems you learned the lesson already about keeping the phone charged and near you. My default for the cell phone is to connect it to the charger on the bedside table when settling in for the night. That way, it's close, charged, and on at all times. Of course, I work a job where I occasionally have to be on 24-hour on-call so it's an easy habit to form.

3. I'm amazed that you left your door unlocked. Maybe I'm just wired funny and compulsive this way, but I can tell you at any moment in time exactly which doors and windows of my home are open, closed, locked, or unlocked. Part of that is from the fact that all doors are always locked, even when we're home, except for short periods of time when I've got one propped open because I'm loading in groceries or something else requiring frequent trips in a short space of time. I also always take the 30 seconds needed each night after walking the dogs to double-check the ground floor doors and windows before going to bed. A valuable habit that takes almost no time to develop and use.

[kbilly84]

Now, I am by no means a expert on this, but I'll put out some opinions.

First, Jamoni and silversnake are exactly right.

My first comment while reading the OP was: As soon as they try to open the bedroom door and it doesn't, that's a dead give-away someone's up and alert (if you can feel them on the other side, they can feel you). Since this is WWYD, the second I feel someone trying to come through, I'm opening that door and going ape-shit on anything that's on the other side.

Since the OP mentioned a lack of gun, I won't get into "I'd have grabbed my bedside shotgun..." But for sure, I'd have something to use as a weapon. Lampstand, shoes, throw Gold Bond powder at 'em, something. If nothing else, I'd grab some laundry out of the hamper and throw it face-level to disorient the individual long enough to get a kitchen knife, reach the phone, GTFO, etc.

Bottom line, I'm taking the initiative and putting control of the situation in MY hands. No intruder in my home will dictate my actions.

And yeah, the whole wife thing? Even this single guy can say with confidence, bad move. There should be a set protocol to follow in such an event. I.e. You "clear" she secures your son and calls 911. Even better if you have hand signals or some other silent communication method.

[OCR]

My wife and I have a routien of locking all doors and charging our phones. It was just that one time we forgot to. Keep in mind, this happend about 5 months ago and I have moved since then. I talked things over with my wife after and she was ok. I don't ever tell her to shut up, unless its actualy nessary. Also, she was ignoring my silence/shhh jester. Any who, I am mainly looking to find out what you would have done in the same senareo. Btw, when I got up, my wife got up and grabbed our son outa the crib and took got back in bed up aganced the wall.

[Visionz]

This.
In other words, you did everything wrong. Though that probably applies to any story that starts "I told my wife to shut the fuck up".

Don't mind jamoni, he is just an ultra patient and loving husband who would never say something prickish to his wife. Even in the direst of circumstances. He reserves all his prickishness for the newbies on this forum in the least direst of circumstances.

[squinty]

WWID?
This will sound harsh and know it all, I don't mean for it too sound that way but you did ask us to second guess your actions, so try and take it constructively.

I would have made sure my doors were locked and my phones were charged and accessible. That was your biggest fail by far! Was your front door forced or picked, or did you just forget to lock it?

I would call the police, file a report, have an officer come out and look at the scene - there may be forensic evidence or signs of B&E that you overlooked.

I would have tried to be as good a witness as possible when I poked my head outside and saw a car - license plate if visible, description of car - make, model, color, clean/dirty, any distinctive dents dings or scrapes on it? Any details at all visible about the driver and passenger?
The police need to know that as well - even if all they do is file a report, the report may be useful down the road. If you'd been on a cell to 911 as you looked around, maybe you'd have had time to snap a photo.

I understand the need for stealth, but I think I would have called the cavalry the minute I became sure someone was in the house. The wife could have been on the phone while you manned the door.

Is there a lock on the bedroom door? Why not? If so, was it locked? Why not?

Bursting out of the room was probably unwise. You'd have been better off locking or barricading the door from inside and letting him fuck around in the rest of the apartment - watch the door and cold cock him if he tries to come through it. Tactical advantage.
Standing right against the door made you somewhat vulnerable - you worried about a bullet finding it's way through the door, then through you. Locking it or sticking a door wedge under it would have done a better job of keeping it closed, while leaving you in a better position to defend against anyone who forced their way in.

Is there an escape route other than the bedroom door from your bedroom? Rope ladder or fire escape or something that the wife could have used to escape while you stood guard at the BR door?

How does your 3rd story front door overlook the parking lot, and where does the sliding glass door face? A balcony or external stairwell?

When you left the room to clear your house, think about all the places you didn't look before you put your back to them. How many places could sumdude have leapt out from and stabbed or shot you in the back as you walked quickly through the apartment looking for him?

Work on your relationship, and being able to trust one another and cooperate in an emergency. I'm not being a dick, I've been there. Had a loved one who, if I saw her wander in front of traffic, would have stood in the street scolding me for telling her what to do when I yelled "look out!" or "move!" Preplan and work on trust and cooperation. Lack of plan/trust/cooperation kills relationships, and in a disaster it gets the people in the relationship killed. You and your SO/family are supposed to be a team. I know it rarely works out that way most of the time IRL, but it's worth striving for. So, strive.

I personally own guns. I'd have had a weapon of some sort at low ready, standing off to one side or another of my locked bedroom door, and if the door went splinter crunch I'd have used it. If the door stayed shut and instead he turned his attention to disconnecting the cable from the flat screen, good, at least I didn't get killed or have to kill anybody. Wish I weren't too lazy to reinforce the frame and put an exterior door in, instead of the fragile indoor frame. There is a deadbolt with a turnlatch on the bedroom door though.

I also have a burglar alarm, motion sensor lights around the outside of the house and in hallways and foyers inside, some discreet wireless IP security cameras (Foscam, cheap IR cams - an absolute pain to set up, but they fit my budget.) and until recently, a fierce and yappy little dog that took his territorial duties very seriously. Consider if any of these steps are worth your while.

If you don't like guns, consider a small red metal chemical foam fire extinguisher for the bedroom, along with a third story window escape technology if you don't already have it (rope ladder, fire escape, jet pack, self erecting trampoline you can pitch out the window and jump down to, etc.)

It works really well for small fires, of course, but it's also a hard steel cylinder that can crack a noggin, and a squirt gun that puts blinding nasty foam in the face of an attacker. A can of bear strength OC or a taser might be nice bedside accessories, if you aren't gun inclined.

Who has a key to your apartment other than you? Roomate? Maid? Dogwalker? Friend who watches the joint while you're away on business? Guy you sublet to last summer while you were on vacation? Building super? Maybe it's time to change the locks. Did you check to see if the windows were all locked? Any look like they'd been forced open? How hard would it be to force one of them open?

This happen to any of your neighbors? Anybody else notice anything suspicious that night? Any security cameras or traffic light cameras in the near vicinity that might have caught a face shot, or an arm tattoo, or car license plate, of the night visitor? A license plate and a time stamp can tell you a lot.

Glad you are both OK, that story is scary as hell and I'd have been shaken all sorts of up if it happened to me. Not sure how that would have affected my judgment, decision making processes, or ability to get along harmoniously with another equally stressed person. I'm guessing "badly," and possibly "worse than you" so in that light I have no room to judge, so I'm not judging. Just a little Monday morning QB, per your request.

[ETA: personal requests, sorry: pay a wee bit more attention to spelling, and try to provide a more descriptive caption to threads in "WWYD." A thread titled WWYD in a subforum called WWYD is a turnoff to some people. You'll get more, and better responses if you do those two things. ]

edited for...spelling.

[jamoni]

This.
In other words, you did everything wrong. Though that probably applies to any story that starts "I told my wife to shut the fuck up".

Don't mind jamoni, he is just an ultra patient and loving husband who would never say something prickish to his wife. Even in the direst of circumstances. He reserves all his prickishness for the newbies on this forum in the least direst of circumstances.

Oh, man. Burn. Good one. I'm crushed. For real. Devastated. Your wit is like a rapier. I am verklempt. Your invective is harsh, and affects my emotions. I am losing my temper and screaming at the screen. I can't believe you would say that. I am outraged. Gosh darn, golly gee willikers, my ears are burning with shame and humiliation. You are truly a master of the gentle art of verbal self defense. If only I had known how formidable you were, I never would have crossed you. Please spare me. I cannot take it. Words fail me. I have been driven to distraction. Your clever words induce rage in me. Your verbal rescue of the poor original poster is an act of courage and defiance that I cannot possibly match. My brain seethes with torment at your effective communication.

In other news, the OP did just about everything wrong. No call to police. No plan in place. No weapon or light available. "Clearing" the house instead of bunkering in place. Focusing on cussing his wife instead of dealing with a perceived threat, etc etc etc. Since he seemed blissfully unaware of this, it seemed to me that a wakeup call was in order. Hence the pic.
May have been the wrong decision. Quite possibly I could be convinced of that, and even be moved to admit my error and apologize. It's happened before.

[squinty]

As for not letting him know you're home, I'm of two minds. 90% of the time the guy breaking in at night won't stick around if he thinks you're awake and on to him. The guy that only wants you stuff doesn't want to get seen/caught, and even the guy that wants to hurt you prefers to catch you napping or unawares. OTOH I understand not wanting to give away your position not wanting to forewarn him if you do have to use any kind of force to keep him from hurting you. I think I, if I were armed, would call out a warning. Even just letting him hear you talk to a 911 operator might discourage him from sticking around.

If you meant what would we do in the exact situation described, ie if if we'd made all the same decisions you did up 'til the incident you describe happened?

First I'm mentally curse myself for being unprepared.
I would refrain from exiting the bedroom or looking for the guy.
I WOULD take up a defensive position about 45 dgrees away from the wall on one side or other of the doorway, with whatever improvised weapon (your knife + flashlight is good) I had at hand, and if sumdude came into the room I'd have used them against him as vigorously and effectively as I could.
I might encourage the wife to bail via window if that was a possibility, and to go for help ("What's that. Lassie? Squinty's had a home invasion?!" All I have is my dog ) or find a phone once she made it out. No sense both of us taking it up the 'chute from whoever invaded our home.
I might bluff, ie "The police are on their way!" and let him know he couldn't ambush me. Maybe not. Maybe yell out the window or pound on the wall if it butted up against the neighbor's bedroom, and yell out what was going on, to increase the likelihood of witnesses or someone else calling the cops. Scream out a description as he tries to kill me, if it comes to that.
I WOULD have been on the phone to the po-po so dang fast, and bitched and bitched as hard as I could for them to get the sniffin' dogs or a crime scene van, etc. I'd want them to take it seriously, talk to neighbors, look at where the car was, etc.
I would take stock and figure out how to be better prepared next time. He might be back.
I would let all my neighbors know what went down, and try to find out if my experience was an isolated event or the latest in a series of disturbing vignettes.

[squinty]

Oh, man. Burn. Good one. I'm crushed. For real. Devastated. Your wit is like a rapier. I am verklempt. Your invective is harsh, and affects my emotions. I am losing my temper and screaming at the screen. I can't believe you would say that. I am outraged. Gosh darn, golly gee willikers, my ears are burning with shame and humiliation. You are truly a master of the gentle art of verbal self defense. If only I had known how formidable you were, I never would have crossed you. Please spare me. I cannot take it. Words fail me. I have been driven to distraction. Your clever words induce rage in me. Your verbal rescue of the poor original poster is an act of courage and defiance that I cannot possibly match. My brain seethes with torment at your effective communication.

^Best read in the voice of Dieter from "Sprockets" or the gentle Austrian lilt of Hanz and Frranz.
I agree with Jamoni but I also feel like we shouldn't harsh too badly on the OP. For all my planning and forethought, I still can't guarantee I won't degenerate into some unholy hybrid of Leeroy Jenkins and Daffy Duck in such a crisis. I've done it before. OP did everything "wrong," but the scary part is he could still have done much worse.

I would definitely not have done this:

I was at the time trying to unlock my door as quietly as I could.

Why on this sad blue earth would you ever unlock a door with a scary home invader on the other side of it?
That's it. I've piled on enough. Hope any lessons the OP learns from this are purely academic, and need never be applied.

[Dawgboy]

OK, I am never a grammar Nazi around here, but OP? That was unreadable. Spell check and paragraphs are your friends, use them.

[Vicarious_Lee]

My vote is that Jamoni, as a mod, is being a little too dickish right now. Notice I say "a little too", because you the OP did a lot of shit wrong/dangerous, and it's far better for Jamoni to shame you to get a point across than for it ever to happen again and you get hurt.

Here's the thing about sheltering in place: You've got a kid. So do I. Enviably (on this night only, not on any of the other nights for damn sure) it's a newborn that is sleeping in the room with you. There is no life you're responsible for outside that door. Wife got the kid and got low behind the bed? Perfect. Well done.

You going to the door was fail. With, or without a gun, a weapon light, or Doc Torr and his Marine buddies at your back, it was fail. Everything worth your life was behind that locked door, which you need to take away how good and proper that was to soothe you for what your did with/at the door.

From there, you call 911 and get all quiet like a child hiding from a velociraptor. You, the protector, may want to take up a position near the door with what you can scrounge as a weapon in case Bad Guy makes it through. Had you had a gun, I'd suggest you get good and behind cover and just point it at the door. With a non-projectile weapon, you need to get closer.

But DO NOT breach that door. Squinty mentioned how clearing a house is terrifying once you realize how damn dangerous it is. My kid is in a separate bedroom. Hell, so is my wife (LifeHack if you ask me, it's awesome. We're never going back). That makes my job in your situation VERY much more difficult and dangerous. I have to secure the house and clear rooms. I have people on the other side of that door I have to protect.

So, take your lumps with this thread and take some lessons. Jamoni's just being helpful.

[MacAttack]

OP, it sounds like you both panicked.

More than likely out of not having a plan in the first place.


I'm sure your wife is taking care of the STFU mistake. Just remember to not do it again.

[squinty]

Back when I first moved out into the sticks, we had a separate building/enclosure where the big outside dogs lived, and it wasn't uncommon for me to go outside in the middle of the night to investigate them barking at something. I learned pretty quick that they had distinctive barks for different occasions, and there was a very different tone to their "Oboy, I saw a bunny/snake/deer/other dog!" bark and their "There are two men fighting each other in the front yard and we'd like to bite them very much please" bark*.

There was a nasty stretch of time during which the GF's ex husband found out where we lived and started a campaign of threats and harassment against us, and we were seriously afraid that he'd decide to hurt us in our home. She was afraid to file a restraining order at first because she felt it would provoke him further, until I pointed out that he was already making hints about killing us - how much more "provoked" could he get? He eventually did us the favor of getting himself locked up, both for the threatening and stalking crimes he'd committed against us and more serious, violent crimes he committed against other people. One night, during that stretch of time when I wondered if Michael would try to set the house on fire while we slept or jimmy open the back door, I heard the dogs go nuts and it was the frantic angry bark. I didn't see anything so I went out the back door, cellphone spotlight and pistola at hand, to look around. I still don't know if it was my imagination or not that I saw someone dart around to the side of the house, out of the corner of my eye. Dogs were still insisting via barks and growls that ragnarok was upon us, I still couldn't find anything amiss. Walked around to the side, swept the light, nope nothing. Circled the whole house, investigated the woods off to one side, checked out the front, the other side, came around to the back yard again. Nothing. Started to go back in the back door - that I had left standing open when I went outside. Got an icy feeling when I realized how easy it would have been for someone to circle the house 180 degrees away from me and step right into the back door while I played outside. Now I had to search the house, but the inside dog would have told me if there was anyone else in the house. Changed my mind about clearing homes and such by myself.

Whereas, had I castled up by the door, I could have cold cocked anyone who came in from a predetermined position. After that I picked out choke points and fatal funnels in the house, that someone would have to pass through to get to me and where it would be advantageous to make a stand against anyone who came in.










(*That actually happened. Next door neighbor's had a barbecue that turned into a late night beer session on nis back porch, someone at the barbecue pissed off next door neighbor, neighbor chased him through my back yard and caught up to him about 30 yards into my property and tackled him, they rolled around, dogs went apeshit, I went outside with a holstered gun and a spotlight and lit them up with the spotlight. They stopped fighting each other and started yelling threats and curses at me for not minding my own business, but sulked and walked away when I kept the light on them.)

[jamoni]

Well, if Lee thinks I'm being too dickish, I probably am. Takes one to know one, and all that.
Original poster, I apologize for posting the insulting cartoon. In the future, I will try to be more clinical and constructive with my criticism.

[OCR]

Well, if Lee thinks I'm being too dickish, I probably am. Takes one to know one, and all that.
Original poster, I apologize for posting the insulting cartoon. In the future, I will try to be more clinical and constructive with my criticism.

Its all good. I thought it was kinda funny. Also I don't care if y'all act like dicks, assholes or doushbags. Myself, I can be a real asshole the way I say things and act face to face and not even reolise it. My feelings don't get hurt verry easly. Mainly cus I grew up just not giving a shit what others said.

[Mr. E. Monkey]

Also I don't care if y'all act like dicks, assholes or doushbags. Myself, I can be a real asshole the way I say things and act face to face and not even reolise it.

I think you'll do just fine around here.

First, welcome (hey, better late than never, right?)!

Second, I am in the same boat as Lee inasmuch as "That makes my job in your situation VERY much more difficult and dangerous. I have to secure the house and clear rooms. I have people on the other side of that door I have to protect," so my course of action would necessarily be different than what could be a best practice in your situation. So, grain of salt, and all that. I'm not going to rehash what you did wrong, I think it's been covered, but if you haven't yet, I will join the chorus suggesting that you sit down with your wife and work out a plan for what to do next time, as well as explain why you wanted her to be quiet, and apologize for telling her to STFU. Diplomacy--it's a good thing.

Finally, I'm glad you and yours were able to walk away from this intact.

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Diplomacy--it's a good thing.

Charisma is not a dump stat.

[Mr. E. Monkey]

Diplomacy--it's a good thing.

Charisma is not a dump stat.

For sure.

[OCR]

Ill admit it, I did panic. That sort of thing has nevet happened to me be for, and I have 0% actual fighting exp. No I don't own a gun, but I do plan on getting one once I can afford to buy one. Part of the reason I paniced was do to being used to having a gun close by at all times while in the NAVY. That was due to my rate (my job) though. I was a GunnersMate.

"What does GunnersMate mean" you ask?

Well to sum things up, my job was to maintain all small arms weapons and there ammunition, train our ships security forces in the safty and handeling of firearms and ammunition and lastly, to protect our ships armory from intruders at all costs.

You say "So what does this have to do with anything"?

Well, being used to having a ready M16, 9mm and 12G shotgun close by for so long... My first thought was to get one of them. Quickly realising, I'm not in my Armory in the NAVY anymore, I realised I wasn't prepared for this at all. Then I thought of my knife, its not small at all, but it was in the living room. So then I realised just how unprepared I rilly was.

I couldn't use my flashlight as a weapon even if I wanted to. Its about the size of a med sized bouncy ball.

Since then, I always keep my BP Riot vest in my bedroom. I have several good sized LED flashlights that are hella bright and have a nasty looking front. Just point it at their face day or night and they will be disorented and then bash em in the head with it and it'll leave some nasty gashes.

But all in all, Ill be a little better prepared next time. Although I don't rilly want next time to actualy happen. I am aslo still improving my just in-case supplys. My phone is now almost always with me and 90% of the time goes on the charger at night even if its fully charged.

[Yrkoon9]

I check the doors myself before bed.
I have a handgun next to the bed.
I have a flashlight next to the gun.
I have 3 dogs that will instantly alert me to anything even near my house.


So I guess what happened to you couldn't happen to me.

Or could it....

Flashback to about 10 years ago. Drove across the country to wife's grandmothers house. She was out of town for Christmas and we were staying at her place. We were staying in one of the spare bedrooms in the back of the house. About 3AM I woke up to the sound of breaking glass. Instantly got up - and ran right into a wall face first. Was confused as to where I was. Took about 3 seconds for me to figure out what was happening and make the decision. There was no phone in the room and I had no weapon. Not even an improvised one.

I went straight at the front door screaming at the top of my lungs " IM GOING TO KILL ALL YOUR MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!! ". All I saw was a flashlight beam and people hauling ass out the door. I kept screaming and went right for them. Made it to the driveway and stopped. Wife was still frozen in terror. Police came. Family came over. Hours went by as we slowly figured out that grandma had some roofers over fixing the house and told them she would be out of town for xmas. They tried to pry the window open but couldn't. They then took a brick and smashed through the plate glass on the front door and made it into the living room.

...my wife until then was such an optomist. Nothing bad could ever happen to us. Rainbows and sunshine...

Many lessons learned that night. But the most important one was a subtle shift in attitude from my wife. She doesn't smirk at me and roll her eyes when I put a pistol on the nightstand. There is no catty little remark to her friends about how paranoid I am. Nope. Because just after the terror wore off and she finally calmed down we got to talking and spoke to her in a very reasonable but serious voice, "You know how differently that could have gone, right?" She didn't even say anything. I got a nod. I think the rainbows and sunshine might have gotten a little dimmer for her as she realized there is actually evil in this world that night.



So something tells me things are going to be a bit different in your house from now on.

[olaf_yahoo]

I live in a not so bad but also not so good area, our apartment's door is decently constructed but the frame not quite so much. So, I built a simple two piece barricade for the front and only door. It looks like a big H when viewed from above as you can see. The black lines represent 2" x 6" boards connected with 3 L brackets at each joint. The red lines are smaller 2" x 6" 's bolted to the piece on the left. The piece on the right fits between them and this makes an easy to set barricade that is very strong. The piece on the left rests up against the wall directly opposite my front door about 8' away, the one on the right obviously rests up against the door. I cut and re-cut the long 2" x 6" on the right so when set it is firmly wedged against the door. You would physically have to tear apart the door to get inside and it'd take a lot of work, time and noise. Maybe you could do something similar to physically secure your place at night. Setting this up takes about ten seconds and less than that to remove, don't trust dead bolts, chains or simple doorknob locks, they aren't secure.

As an additional measure to wake me if someone were to somehow get in I installed a cheap alarm device. This is just three of the pull string party popper things, I used the existing chain lock and tied the poppers to the little round knob that you place in the hole on the opposite side. There is just enough play to open the door about an inch before they go off and they go off regardless of how slowly you pull them. I've tested this and they are plenty loud enough to wake me at the back of the apartment where the master bedroom is and would surely scare the shit out of anyone opening the door.

This is just and example of some things you could do to provide you an early warning in case someone were to try/come in and a physical means to prevent them. I would also suggest having a land line you can call the police on in the bedroom and some sort of firearm like a short barreled shotgun. You could even reinforce your bedroom to help protect against an intruder firing their own weapon at you as you mentioned being afraid of. Brackets on the back of the door where you can attach multiple layers of sheet metal, if you use 1/8" stock you can easily transport and carry them but could layer them so you had a half inch or more of protection. This would likely be more than sufficient to defeat most small arms, they aren't designed to be armor piercing afterall. Maybe this sounds extreme but could be worth consideration. I'm glad you guys are alright.

[OCR]

I can't belive I never thought about the pull string popers, I have a ton of thoes. The baracade is also a good idea. I have an easy to build one in mind that can be perminantly mounted to the opposing wall, then be folded down into position to stop the door.