A gunfight in your fron yard. What do you do?

[uspJ]

There was a shooting earlier this week in my town. It happened just up the road from where I live. Apparently a group of guys were walking down the road and got into a gunfight with several individuals who were driving by in a car. The guys ran to a yard and exchanged gunfire with the guys in the car. Bullets from both sides hit houses that were occupied at the time and one home had small children sleeping.This happened in a neighborhood that has very little crime, the area is near a busy part of town and gets a lot of foot traffic through it. Sorry about the vague link to the story, they provide very little information on their website and choose to try and sell papers instead.

http://unionrecorder.com/local/x1019710398/One-arrested-another-wanted-in-Elbert-Street-shootings

My question is how would you guys handle this situation if you were one of the occupants in the homes that were being hit by stray gunfire? It's 11:00 p.m. and all of the sudden gunfire erupts in your front yard and bullets are coming through your walls and windows. You have sleeping children in your home. Do you grab your children and take cover hoping none of you are shot by a stray round while calling 911? Do you take a defensive position call 911 and try to be a good witness? Do you fire back at the gunmen to stop the threat or at least cause them to retreat?

 

[76shuvlinoff]

At that moment I doubt I would understand that it is STRAY gunfire piercing my home. As far as I'm concerned my family is under attack and I need to handle it as such.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

My wife and I would secure the daughters and grandbabies then as she called the sheriff(E911) I would arm both of us. We would be safe inside as long as we stay away from doors or windows. I would likely not return fire as I would be shooting toward a heavily travelled state highway and the possibility of collateral injuries would be high.

 

[Tim Burke]

Priority 1-
Get everybody to a safe place.
Priority 2-
Position myself between the family and the threat.
Priority 3-
Call 911

Unless they come inside, there is no reason for me to fire. As long as the front yard is not secured, looking to see what is going on is dangerous. Retreat to safety, set up a defensive perimeter, wait for the police to arrive.

 

[Good&Fruity]

I'd likely be in bed at that time, so there's three walls the bullets would have to go through to get to me. I would still hit the floor though, crawl to better cover, arm myself, and stay down while I call 911.

 

[Chris Rhines]

At 11:00pm, it's dark outside in most places. Target identification is thus going to be a problem. Better to get everyone down in the basement, or at least under some kind of cover, barricade the door, and call the cops.

-C

 

[Loosedhorse]

Like every other scenario: if I and my family can retreat in safety, then we do that.

If not, and the shooters pose an on-going lethal threat, I will stop them. If that takes a shout, great; but I will use all necessary means that I have available.

 

[Nushif]

I'd be holed up behind something hard and not easily penetrable calling 91- Wait. they pretty much would know that A GUNFIGHT IS HAPPENING IN AN APARTMENT COMPLEX.

And no, I wouldn't go out there and counter attack. Who are the good guys? the guys with the white hats? Please.

 

[Br]

Priority 1-
Get everybody to a safe place.
Priority 2-
Position myself between the family and the threat.
Priority 3-
Call 911

Unless they come inside, there is no reason for me to fire. As long as the front yard is not secured, looking to see what is going on is dangerous. Retreat to safety, set up a defensive perimeter, wait for the police to arrive.

Exactly. Protect, defend, alert, but I would not attempt a counter-attack. Far too much could go wrong - you could get shot yourself, shoot a non-BG, or if it really got out of hand could allow someone to get between you and family.

 

[GRIZ22]

Do you grab your children and take cover hoping none of you are shot by a stray round while calling 911?

That's the frist priority.

Do you take a defensive position call 911 and try to be a good witness?

Arm myself first, good witness if possible.

Do you fire back at the gunmen to stop the threat or at least cause them to retreat?

Who's the good guy? Maybe they are both bad guys. Not slinging any lead unless this is worked out or they try to enter house.

 

[mbt2001]

A gunfight in your fron yard. What do you do?

Find cover... Call police... Retrieve firearm (maybe)... Begin to render aid when / if the event is over before the medics arrive.

 

[Remo223]

returning fire might put you in jail.

I would most likely not be awake and alert in time to do anything. I am a very light sleeper and I would definitely wake up, but I would be groggy and it would take time to figure out what I was hearing and what to do about it.

 

[RS14]

Hit the floor and start crawling to where you can cover the door. If bullets are flying through your home, it's either 1) A drive-by (or similar) shooting against you, and they're not going to stick around to enter (if they wanted to come in and make sure you were dead, they would have waited before opening fire) or it's 2) the scenario here and they neither know nor care about you. Again, they're unlikely to try to enter. What are they going to do, force down your door under fire?

Calling the police ASAP would also be good.

Once shooting dies down, move to check on the kids and provide first aid as necessary. I know you are a parent and want to make sure they're safe, but you're more likely to be hit yourself while moving around. Additionally, unless there is cover in their room you can get them behind, you're not going to be able to do much to make them safer once you arrive there.

Things to consider include that this all probably happened very fast--I would guess the perpetrators had no more than one spare magazine each, and probably emptied those within 15 seconds or less. By the time you can find good cover somewhere else in the house, they will likely be low on ammo and disengaging. Thus take cover immediately, rather than try to find good cover that you won't reach until the shooting has stopped.

Don't return fire. Aside from legal concerns, you're identifying hostiles at night. They're probably moving around (and withdrawing by the time you're taking aim), and lighting is poor. You won't be able to identify and drop them all before they start directing fire in your direction, which is likely to be much more dangerous to you and your family than undirected fire.

 

[JohnBiltz]

I'd move everybody to the most cover, behind a wall with bookshelves for instance, dump some mattresses on the floor at an angle and get behind them.

 

[BikerRN]

I'd likely be in bed at that time, so there's three walls the bullets would have to go through to get to me. I would still hit the floor though, crawl to better cover, arm myself, and stay down while I call 911.

I had something similar happen about three weeks ago. It sounded like gunfire from my driveway. Wife and I responded as such:

Hit floor
Kill lights
Crawl to safer location in house
Already armed, so not a factor
Call 911

Then, after talking to 911 and determining the area was reletively safe, we went back to watching television. I'm not much concerned as to what happens outside my home. I'm locked in and fairly safe. That's all that matters. Until individuals involved in gunfight attempt to involve me, it's not my concern. I will not be going outside to see what all the noise is about. I'm safe, I don't care if you are.

I also will not be engaging in a gunfight with unknown parties outside when I am not the targeted recipient of their bullets. Of course perceptions vary, and if I perceived that I was the intended target than my response would vary accordingly. Like I said, I'm safe and inside my home, why do I want to change that?

BikerRN

 

[Loosedhorse]

when I am not the targeted recipient of their bullets.

So...if they kill you or your daughter unintentionally, that's fine and dandy?

The standard is not if they "mean" to kill you; the standard is whether they pose an immediate, otherwise unavoidable lethal threat to the innocent.

returning fire might put you in jail.

Yup...but what if not returning fire would get you dead? Sometimes you may have to pick which flavor of loser you want to be, and I think I'd rather be a live one.

As I said, retreat in safety if you can. Always.

 

[Sam1911]

when I am not the targeted recipient of their bullets.

So...if they kill you or your daughter unintentionally, that's fine and dandy?

Of course not. But shooting back at an unidentified crowd of unknowns in the dark outside your house, in the brief few seconds they're likely to be actively firing really isn't going to do much to protect you or your daughter. Just more rounds flying. And you might even attract more to fly your way. Getting yourself and your loved ones to a position of cover is the only really helpful thing you can do immediately.

The standard is not if they "mean" to kill you; the standard is whether they pose an immediate, otherwise unavoidable lethal threat to the innocent.

Let's think about that clearly, though. The only ones firing toward your house are likely to be the ones farthest away -- probably across the street or in a passing vehicle. Engaging the shooters who've taken cover in (or are just occupying) your front yard -- shooting the other way -- wouldn't be lawful ... or helpful. So are you proposing that it would make sense to somehow engage the most distant of the shooters, in the dark, in the few seconds they'll even be present, when there are already folks actively shooting at them?

This seems like a get down and stay out of it situation to me. Those "to whom it may concern" bullets sure can kill, but adding my fire to the fray doesn't seem effective at stopping them. In fact, it just seems likely to draw more.

but what if not returning fire would get you dead? Sometimes you may have to pick which flavor of loser you want to be, and I think I'd rather be a live one.

Of course, and if the situation actually does allow you to actively defend your life and those of your loved ones, of course you would do so. But I'm having a tough time seeing how the scenario as given presents that kind of opportunity.

...

Maybe if the situation was really prolonged, going on for several minutes with your home taking sustained fire, maybe, then picking off those shooting at the house might end the rounds hitting your house sooner, which would be good. But like RS14 said, unless they brought a lot of spare ammo and are taking up hardened positions so they can sustain the fight far longer than any common shootout, I wouldn't expect to have such an opportunity.

As I said, retreat in safety if you can. Always.

Absolutely! Unless they're actually entering your home, I'd think that would be far wiser than returning fire.

 

[Al Thompson]

IMHO, Tim Burke has it right. I've been in a house that was struck by gunfire (drive-by) and priority one is cover.

 

[alsaqr]

Grab my gun off the night stand, wake the wife, get away from windows and doors, hunker down and call the cops. It is unlikely that a handgun bullet would penetrate a full sized brick, 3/4" particle board, insulation and sheetrock.

 

[mljdeckard]

In all likelihood, it would happen too quickly to respond with force. I think it is very unlikely that there would be any fight left after I checked everyone and got them downstairs. I would prioritize exactly like others here have said, protect, defend, alert.

But if there were a vehicle paused in front of my house, with the occupants shooting in the direction of my house, and I responded with rifle fire to stop them, I don't think it would be any more likely to get me prosecuted than any other defensive encounter. And don't disregard the guy in the front yard either. HE brought them here, and the odds are, he wasn't completely innocent, and he should not be regarded as 'friendly' either.

 

[Sam1911]

And don't disregard the guy in the front yard either. HE brought them here, and the odds are, he wasn't completely innocent, and he should not be regarded as 'friendly' either.

Sure, but is he shooting at you? Does he present a lethal threat to you or some other innocent whom you need to protect?

Of course I wouldn't want to disregard him or ignore him for what he possibly might do, but I can't see a justification for shooting/killing him if he presents no direct and immediate threat to me/mine. (Probably not what you were suggesting, but just trying to be clear.)

 

[mljdeckard]

You are correct, and that is perfectly fine.

 

[Jonah71]

Priority 1-
Get everybody to a safe place.
Priority 2-
Position myself between the family and the threat.
Priority 3-
Call 911

Unless they come inside, there is no reason for me to fire. As long as the front yard is not secured, looking to see what is going on is dangerous. Retreat to safety, set up a defensive perimeter, wait for the police to arrive.

Works for me.

 

[Water-Man]

Duck and call the cops.

 

[45Fan]

Its situations like these that make me glad that I live far enough off the road that there wouldnt be any mistake of someones intentions if my home were to come under fire.

My reaction would be to secure my family in a safe place, and stop the threat. If I were alone (without another adult) I would call 911 at the earliest safe time I could, or have my wife call.

Calling the police will only alert them that a crime has been committed, but its very unlikely that they will get there soon enough to stop any threat before irreversible damage has happened.