Random People Who Have Had To Defend Themselves Against Home Intruders Explain How They Did It (19 items)

• (#3) They Pointed An Unloaded Rifle At The Burglar

  From Redditor /u/DoTheCollapse:

  When I was 17 I had a black powder rifle (I actually still have it). I was cleaning it in the basement, put it together, and took it upstairs for storage. While I was upstairs I heard someone come in through the basement garage door. I thought it was my brother or mom coming home, but when I opened the door to the basement I saw some random old guy coming up the steps (Edit: "Old" in the context of how he looked to me at the age of 17. In hindsight he was probably in his mid to late forties or early fifties).

  I asked him what he wanted and he asked if I was home alone. I grabbed my rifle (empty) and pointed it at him, telling him he needs to leave the way he came in. When he got back to the bottom of the stairs he unlocked the door he came in through. It didn't register with me until later that he had locked the door behind him when he entered the house.
• (#18) Her Mom Grabbed A Butcher Knife

  From Redditor /u/Cacec04:

  My mom was outside mowing in the middle of the day, and I heard the phone ring. I ran downstairs to try to answer it, missed it, but then saw a tall man stand up in the backroom out of the corner of my eye. I was a little kid so don't ask me what I was thinking, but I went to guide him to the front door to get out of our house.

  My mom walks in from the back door, the guy runs up the stairs, and she immediately can tell from the look on my face that someone is inside. She grabbed a butcher knife and began chasing him around the house (the guy must have been high). He was so scared he was begging her not to hurt him.

  He ended up getting away, but not before my mom cut him because she was trying to hold onto him until the police arrived.
• (#5) His Dad Held The Intruder Down - The Kid Held The Gun

  From Redditor /u/Nickldd92:

  I was 12 years old and hanging out with my dad, watching a movie around one AM. All of a sudden, there was a pounding on the door. My dad got up and twisted the knob. As soon as he did, a mountain of a man threw the door open. My dad is pretty big himself, but got knocked to the floor, grabbing the guy’s shirt on the way down. They started wrestling and fist fighting in the entrance of our doorway.

  I’m standing at the top of the steps looking down and watching all of this in slow-motion. My dad started screaming to get his shotgun out of his closet. I ran upstairs, grabbed the shotgun, ran back to the top of the steps and pumped a round into the chamber. Immediately after hearing the sound, the guy tries to run away, but my dad holds him down on the ground.

  At that time my neighbors had heard the yelling and scuffle and ran over. They called the police while my dad is holding this guy against the ground, and me, a 12-year-old kid, aiming a shotgun at the back of this dude's head. The police end up coming with their guns drawn and I put the shotgun on the sidewalk. The guy ends up getting arrested and supposedly had just gotten out of jail for a strong-arm robbery and battery.

  I can’t even imagine what would have happened if I had been alone, considering my dad has worked third shift my entire life, but it just happened on one of his nights off. My dad was literally a superhero to me after that day.
• (#8) Her Dog Tore This Guy's Leg Apart

  From Redditor /u/womaninradio:

  I was home alone on a Saturday night and my roommate had left for the weekend. We often left the side door unlocked for friends who would go downstairs and crash on the couch. I would frequently hear "IT’S _____" as they would come in.

  So I'm laying in bed in my birthday suit reading a book at 2 AM and I hear the screen door open. My dog perks up at the noise. He's a 110-pound shepherd Newfie mix that looks like a wolf. He lets out a little "boof." Leaning forward in bed I can see the doorway. I look and see the doorknob turning. "Hello!" I shout. Thinking it was a friend.

  It was not a friend. A strange man's head poked through the door. We make eye contact. He has this weird look on his face as he proceeds into the landing."UH WRONG HOUSE." I screamed, thinking he was just in the wrong home. When I screamed, my dog got up and went to my bedroom doorway. The guy stopped in his tracks. My dog’s hackles raised and he started snarling. I was even scared by him a bit.

  The guy stopped when he saw my dog, and started backing up. "GET THE F*CK OUT OF MY HOUSE!" I screamed. My dog jumped. The guy fell backwards into the door and my dog grabbed him by the leg and shook him like a rag doll. I stopped caring about being naked at this point. I jumped out of bed and threw on my housecoat while this guy was screaming bloody murder. There was blood all over the floor.

  I grabbed my dogs back leg and sat down on the floor trying to hold onto him. The guy stumbled to his feet and grabbed the doorknob before looking back. He took a glance at me with my robe hanging open and my dog still snarling at him. "I WILL LET HIM GO." I screamed again. My dog jumped and I did my best to hold on, but one leg got out of my grasp and he lunged at the guy. The guy finally turned and fell out of the door. I immediately got up and locked it. There's blood all over my floor. My dog’s fur is still raised as he stands at the door growling.

  I called the police, they came, took a statement and left. I never found out what happened to the guy. I took my dog to the vet and he was fine. I never left the side door unlocked again. I've never been so thankful for my dog.
• (#10) This Mama Bear Protected Her Young

  From Redditor /u/Rogueantics:

  My mother heard someone walking about upstairs and immediately she takes me and my brother out and puts us in the car. I was like three years old, if that. Then she goes back in upstairs and finds the neighbor filling her pockets and generally browsing through her stuff like you would do at a mall.

  My mother then beats the sh*t out of her so badly that [she] went to the police herself out of fear. No damage, no broken windows or doors and nothing taken obviously. Just a lesson learned. Don't break into the home of an angry mother.
• (#17) He Had To Make A Hard Choice

  From Redditor /u/SoSayWeAlll:

  Three years ago, my son was born and we had just gotten home from the hospital. We had only been back to our house for a few days. I was up around two AM with my son and could hear someone opening the storm door down in my basement. Before checking downstairs, I laid my son in his bed next to my wife and grabbed my gun out of my nightstand.

  It was very dark in the house, and as I got back into the living room, I saw a man entering the other end of the room from our basement steps. I shot once and hit the man in the chest. I heard him say “you f*cking shot me” and went to the ground.

  Still to this day I don’t know what got into me. I was so mad at the guy for putting my family in danger. I turned on the light and he was bleeding very badly. He kept moaning and mumbling then finally said “Am I dying?” For some reason I responded “yup, you f*cked up.” By this point, my wife is freaking out and I tell her not to come out into the room. I called 911 but the guy died before they got there.

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