My Home Was Burglarized

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Olympus

Olympus

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I'm not sure if this is the right section to post this is, so feel free to move this to a more appropriate section.

I want to get as much "outsider" perspective on this situation as possible. My wife and I went out of town to have an early Christmas with our families. I returned home Sunday night to find my front door completely kicked in. I immediately called 911, not knowing if someone was still in the house. The police cleared the house and they asked me to come in. They said it looked like the criminal got spooked and left before taking anything. Nothing in the home was disturbed, nothing was out of place. The officers went room to room with me to make sure nothing had been taken. I was still in a bit of shock, but nothing appeared to have been moved. No drawers were open, nothing on counters or desks were out of place. We went down to the basement to look at my gun collection, which is kept in a lockable glass gun cabinet. The cabinet was still locked, glass intact, and no guns missing. So after being a little shaken up, the officers decided that since nothing was missing or vandalized, the perp must have gotten spooked and left before taking anything.

It wasn't until after the officers left that I realized my shoulder holster hanging on the corner of the headboard was missing my beloved no dash 66! I called the police back and added a supplementary property loss to the police report. I provided the S/N, make, model, etc. But now that I've had some time to think about it, it almost looks as though someone broke into my house specifically for that gun. It's like they made a bee-line straight for the gun and then left. There were a lot of other valuables available such as my wife's jewelry cabinet and other things that are small and valuable. But nothing else was touched. This just seems really odd to me and doesn't sound like a typical burglary where things are moved around, opened up, dumped out, etc to find valuables. Does anyone have thoughts about what this could have been? People at work were saying that it sounded like the perp might have even known me because they didn't trash my house taking all kinds of valuables and went specifically for one thing. But it couldn't have been someone who knows me very well because I have several more valuable guns in the basement. Thoughts?
 
IMO...........does soud unusual unless the BG went for the Bedroom first, saw the rig hanging on the bed post took it, then got spooked and left....other than that I would check out my cronies and evaluate my security system if you have one.............mine has teeth.
 
Could be. A lot of theft is carried out by an association with knowledge of the valuable(s). Not always of course. The 'colleague' thief will likely keep the stolen item for himself, indefinitely.

If not, it could have been a thief that didn't want to spend a whole lot of time in your house. He just wanted to find one good item that he could carry off, maybe only something that he could fit inside his coat. He wouldn't want to dig through drawers, jewelery box, etc. spending time searching. Once he found the revolver, the light went on in his head and he decided that he found THE item he was looking for. He wants something he can sell fast.
 
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My security system has teeth as well, and is really large. But going out of town for a long weekend meant that he had to go with us. Makes me think that someone either knew we were gone or just had really good luck.
 
I'm sharing your concern for a thief that knows you and targeted you for that specific weapon. Any neighbors nearby with teen-aged boys that know you have guns?
 
I thought about that too. But we live in an older neighborhood and there are very few children. And none of our immediate neighbors even have kids.

But on the other side, our neighbors are pretty much hermits. They keep to themselves and don't talk to anybody. We rarely even see them come out of their houses. So it doesn't surprise me that someone was able to break in without anyone noticing. I mean our front storm door was wide open and it was the first thing I noticed driving down the street. It's like any screen/storm door and has the spring that will pull it closed when you open it. So anytime a house's front screen door is wide open and nobody's around, that should be a red flag. But none of the neighbors bothered to notice.

And we live in a big city where people aren't typically interested in guns. I can't recall speaking to a single neighbor about even owning a gun.
 
I've had more time to ponder your loss. Have there been any other crimes similar to your in the immediate area? The fact that nothing else was touched or bothered seems to me to indicate someone who knows you and doesn't want you to be too hurt but feels the 66 is an "acceptable loss". It's just too convenient that you and your critter were gone.
 
And I've also been wondering if the grip making business might be the common denominator. I use my home address for receiving payments and there are always people who say they will be sending payment but never do. Could be someone pretending to buy a set of grips just for an address. It's not a stretch to figure that someone who makes pistol grips might actually have a few guns of his own.
 
Thieves are as smart as anybody. When my friends grandfather died, thieves stole all his grandfather's guns while the funeral was taking place. This could happen to anyone listed as "surviving by" in the obituary column. They know exactly where you are gonna be at said funeral and gathering of friends. I suggest you lose the glass gun case and get a legit safe before they come back.
 
this is one reason why I never list the firearms I own on line....

I've see posts where people challenged others to discover their identity and for someone who really knows what their doing, it takes all of 15 minutes to get a home address for the typicall user.

I do post ocasional questions and might "share the joy" when I make a new aquisition. I'm guessing that no one is really interested in digging through thousands of old posts in the archives to find them out however.

I hope I don't regret ever logging on to gun forums some day.
 
I've had more time to ponder your loss. Have there been any other crimes similar to your in the immediate area? The fact that nothing else was touched or bothered seems to me to indicate someone who knows you and doesn't want you to be too hurt but feels the 66 is an "acceptable loss". It's just too convenient that you and your critter were gone.
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We get emails every once in a while from the HOA about vehicle break-ins, but never actually a house. It's a little scary because the person had to be a pretty big guy. The storm door was pried open, but the front door was physically kicked in. There were no pry marks around the door. The piece of trim around the door was knocked completely out of the wall, all the way down the hall, and almost to the kitchen. The officers said whoever did it put a lot of force to it. I'm 6' 1" and 225lbs and I doubt I could have done that, much less some teenager.

If it was someone who knew me, they would have known that the 66 came from my father in law who had the gun for almost 30 years. My wife said that she grew up shooting that gun with her dad, so it has a tremendous sentimental value to both of us. So possibly someone familiar enough with us to know I had it, but not familiar enough to know it had sentimental value and wasn't just some GunBroker gun. Or maybe they did know it had special meaning and just didn't care. Who knows. Something tells me that if a person is capable of kicking in your front door and stealing from you, they're probably not too worried about your feelings.
 
this is one reason why I never list the firearms I own on line....
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Excellent advice that I plan on following from here on out. Who knows if that has anything to do with my situation or not, but it raises my eyebrow enough to err on the side of caution from here on out. Who knows what kind of people "lurk" around forums.
 
Its very possible they will come back. I knew some who had a burgalary where they broke in the basement window. Took a few items. I told him they would be back. He said he solved the problem by putting some big bolts on the basement windows. What he didnt notice is that they took one of his garage door openers. While he was gone they pulled a truck into his garage that was connected to the house and really cleaned the place out. They already knew what they wanted from the first trip.
 
Every case I've ever heard of where people went straight for one item and left has been an inside job. I'm sure it doesn't feel good to have to suspect friends and family, but I think that's what you're looking at.

A possibility to consider...
Was there anyone else in your wife's family who felt that the gun should have gone to them instead of her/you? Inheritance disputes are common and frequently ugly. And family would have presumably known you were out of town, putting them in a great position to plan a break-in.
 
Sorry about your experience. I know the loss of stuff is secondary to the feeling of invasion. As Ironhead said, they may be planning on coming back. They know how easy it is to get in, and they may have taken an opener or key with them to make it even easier.

* Change ALL of your locks (not just the door they broke down).
* Change the code on your garage door opener.
* Get a monitored alarm.
* Fix your door and reinforce your exterior doors and door frames. (This is not hard to do and you can make a door kick-in proof pretty easily.)
* Get all of your guns and jewelry into a gun safe.
 
I am sorry for your experience, i have been thus far fortunate enough to not have experienced that myself.... I hope i never do.

IMO, the days of the gun cabinet are over... The days of the gun rack are over... The days of trusting "friends" are over. The best recommendation i can make to you is to get a good safe to keep in your basement... NEVER keep a safe on the ground floor if you have the option for upstairs or the basement. I am glad you didnt have a greater loss, but IMO there is no such thing as "acceptable loss" to burglary.

Beef up your doors/locks, add exterior lighting, get an alarm system if you dont currently own one.. Early prevention and deterrence is key...

I wish you the best of luck finding your gun... call local gun shops and pawn shops about it and you may get lucky, buy my "gut" tells me that this particular item will be kept by the thief.
 
IMO, the days of the gun cabinet are over... The days of the gun rack are over... The days of trusting "friends" are over.
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+1

Get the word out about your tragic boating accident in which you lost all your guns.
 
I always get a little edgy when someone asks me what guns I own,few people know what makes up my complete collection.
 
First, I totally feel for you. It isn't rape but it sure comes close.

Hard to tell why they grabbed one thing and left. Maybe they were spooked by something. I doubt the bad guy realized he needed to pick up his kid at day care.

If nice stuff was on view and your security for arms looked light, I would be worried that they will come back another day.

I'd consider some sort of imaging system to obtain an ID of them if they come back. I used to have a web cam pointed at my front door that motion activated pictures to a off site location. Camera died, and I have not set it back up yet. Note to Clutch, fix that.

Yup, that is what I'd try, some way to id them if they return.

Like I say, I feel for you. I had a battery stolen out of my car years ago while I was walking to town to get a jump. It took months to feel right. Basards that stole it stole a dead battery, I sure hope they didn't charge it.

Clutch
 
My wife stayed where were for the weekend and caught a flight out for business so it was just me when I got home. She called today and asked me to check and see if her new Coach purse that I got her for our anniversary was still there. She hung it over one of the chairs in the dining room, which is right off the front door. Came home tonight and looked and it was gone too. So now I'm really scratching my head. So now there's another thing gone. Makes me think that other items I'm not thinking about could be gone.
 
If nothing was turned over or drawers were not opened, they got what they came for. Could that Gun be seen from a window? No one has seen all my Guns. When I take them out the door their in cloth bags. No one know what Gun is in the bag. I may have two or a hundred. I made bags for all sizes and always use them. I have a Range here, in the woods. I never shoot on weekends, on this land, too many people are off on weekends and may be checking on noise. If you don't have an alarm system look up "Sky Link" on net. Northern Tool sells it. it works real good.
 
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