Erik M
Member
A few of you might remember my multi-page thread in Legal about my neighbors complaining about my brothers and I firing weapons on my property. well today another outlandish encounter happened. This story is a legal matter and is gun related, just bear with me.
It was just after 2pm and I was getting ready to go to work. I notice a man driving up and down the one lane road out in front of my house several times on a fourwheeler. I live in the middle of no where and I'm the only person that owns an ATV in my small neighborhood so I start watching this guy from my living room window to see if I know him. Im immediately alarmed to see that he has left his ATV in the driveway of my neighbors home, and then takes out a notepad and paper, walks to her mailbox, copy’s down her address and then walks to her car and leans towards it apparently copying down her license plate. I don’t know why he doesn't go to her door unless he did before I started watching him. It turned out the elderly woman across the road wasn't home when this happened so I filled her in later.
He then walks across the road to my house and starts beating on the house. I say this because he doesn’t knock on the door, I live in a log cabin and it was like he was hitting the door frame or the actual logs with a hammer. I arm myself, and ask him through the door if i can help him. I notice he is OC a large frame revolver. He says that he owns some rental property about a mile up the road and that someone was just shooting at him. He said that the bullets were landing all around him and he could hear them ripping through the trees at the small house he is renovating. He said he counted close to 40 rounds in a near full auto burst. He said he got on his atv and rode to the small grouping of houses in my community as fast as possible to see if he could catch the guilty party 'in the act' of firing at him. I tell him I haven't heard any shots fired, but I will call the police for him. He tells me not to that he is going to speak to my other neighbors first. He asked me if i owned any guns, and I told him I wasn’t answering that. He asked which of my neighbors own firearms, I told him I had no idea. he stared for a few seconds and didn't ask anymore questions and left. The ‘rental’ in question is more than a mile away on the other side of a heavily wooded ridge. I don’t own anything that would shoot that far accurately, I don’t know of anyone that could get the correct trajectory it would take to arc over a mountain and drop down quick enough to hit the target area described even with a capable weapon. The guy must be crazy.
He goes back across the road and gets on his atv, pulls down to my driveway and looks at my mailbox which has nothing written on it. he walks back onto my property towards my car and I decide I’ve had enough and call the sheriffs department and reported the incident. I tell the operator all the things he said and the questions he asked, and explained his behavior. When he went to my neighbors that I have had 'issues' with in the past I’m not sure what he said to them but it spooked them enough to call me and ask what the hell the guy was up to. I told them what happened to me and that the police had been called. My neighbor said he was doing yard work the past couple hours and he heard no gunfire. The guy rode up, basically said the same things then left like a bat out of hell. I saw him leave and I had to go to work at that time.
The sheriff's department called me on my cell phone about 2 hours later when I was at work and told me that they could not find hide nor hair of the guy, not in my neck of the woods or at the 'rental' the guy claimed to be renovating. The deputy said obviously there wasn’t anything they could do about someone copying down a tag number or an address, although he did agree it was highly suspicious. He also agreed that there was no way that someone could have fired a weapon from any area in my community and have them ‘rain down’ in the manner described by the suspect . Said to be sure to report anything else related.
I called law enforcement and reported the incident, this whole situation has me baffled. What are you supposed to say if someone implies that you shot at them? I didn’t ask his name, I really regret that. i don’t know if he would have answered...his demeanor was questionable to say the least.
Do you think i should have called the police sooner? Should I have confronted him? Should I have even answered the door? Does it sound like possible casing for a home invasion or armed intrusion? Couple people at work suggested that.
I’m going to ratchet the security level up a couple notches for a while. Hopefully I never see him again. I will be glad to provide any other details I’ve left out.
It was just after 2pm and I was getting ready to go to work. I notice a man driving up and down the one lane road out in front of my house several times on a fourwheeler. I live in the middle of no where and I'm the only person that owns an ATV in my small neighborhood so I start watching this guy from my living room window to see if I know him. Im immediately alarmed to see that he has left his ATV in the driveway of my neighbors home, and then takes out a notepad and paper, walks to her mailbox, copy’s down her address and then walks to her car and leans towards it apparently copying down her license plate. I don’t know why he doesn't go to her door unless he did before I started watching him. It turned out the elderly woman across the road wasn't home when this happened so I filled her in later.
He then walks across the road to my house and starts beating on the house. I say this because he doesn’t knock on the door, I live in a log cabin and it was like he was hitting the door frame or the actual logs with a hammer. I arm myself, and ask him through the door if i can help him. I notice he is OC a large frame revolver. He says that he owns some rental property about a mile up the road and that someone was just shooting at him. He said that the bullets were landing all around him and he could hear them ripping through the trees at the small house he is renovating. He said he counted close to 40 rounds in a near full auto burst. He said he got on his atv and rode to the small grouping of houses in my community as fast as possible to see if he could catch the guilty party 'in the act' of firing at him. I tell him I haven't heard any shots fired, but I will call the police for him. He tells me not to that he is going to speak to my other neighbors first. He asked me if i owned any guns, and I told him I wasn’t answering that. He asked which of my neighbors own firearms, I told him I had no idea. he stared for a few seconds and didn't ask anymore questions and left. The ‘rental’ in question is more than a mile away on the other side of a heavily wooded ridge. I don’t own anything that would shoot that far accurately, I don’t know of anyone that could get the correct trajectory it would take to arc over a mountain and drop down quick enough to hit the target area described even with a capable weapon. The guy must be crazy.
He goes back across the road and gets on his atv, pulls down to my driveway and looks at my mailbox which has nothing written on it. he walks back onto my property towards my car and I decide I’ve had enough and call the sheriffs department and reported the incident. I tell the operator all the things he said and the questions he asked, and explained his behavior. When he went to my neighbors that I have had 'issues' with in the past I’m not sure what he said to them but it spooked them enough to call me and ask what the hell the guy was up to. I told them what happened to me and that the police had been called. My neighbor said he was doing yard work the past couple hours and he heard no gunfire. The guy rode up, basically said the same things then left like a bat out of hell. I saw him leave and I had to go to work at that time.
The sheriff's department called me on my cell phone about 2 hours later when I was at work and told me that they could not find hide nor hair of the guy, not in my neck of the woods or at the 'rental' the guy claimed to be renovating. The deputy said obviously there wasn’t anything they could do about someone copying down a tag number or an address, although he did agree it was highly suspicious. He also agreed that there was no way that someone could have fired a weapon from any area in my community and have them ‘rain down’ in the manner described by the suspect . Said to be sure to report anything else related.
I called law enforcement and reported the incident, this whole situation has me baffled. What are you supposed to say if someone implies that you shot at them? I didn’t ask his name, I really regret that. i don’t know if he would have answered...his demeanor was questionable to say the least.
Do you think i should have called the police sooner? Should I have confronted him? Should I have even answered the door? Does it sound like possible casing for a home invasion or armed intrusion? Couple people at work suggested that.
I’m going to ratchet the security level up a couple notches for a while. Hopefully I never see him again. I will be glad to provide any other details I’ve left out.
