by Holland&Holland on Tue Sep 17, 2013 1:22 pm
This story brings to mind a time when I was the "neighbor" in a similar situation. Outside washing my car on a Sunday afternoon and heard what I am 100% positive was a shotgun blast from inside the house across the alley. There was no doubt in my mind. After gathering my wits enough to peek out from behind my vehicle. I assessed my next steps. In this situation, I knew my neighbor was not home, that he was a hunter, had guns in the house, and based on past observances probably did not own any sort of device to secure said firearms. I also knew his teenage son and friend were home as I had seen them 20 mins prior enter the house. My first reaction was to run over, knock on the door and see if they were ok (assumption being they had been playing with something they should not have and had a ND). While running over to the door, it dawned on me that running towards the sound of gunfire is rarely ever taught as a self defense tactic. That said, they did not answer the door which only exacerbated the concerns. While my neighbor and I were neighborly, I would not have presumed entering his residence forceably a wise move and so at that point did in fact call 911, retreat to my yard and wait for the calvary. Response time was about 4 mins. This time the kids did answer to door to the much more "vocal" law enforcement demands. Kids were ok, an officer asked to enter, they refused and stated that their dad would need to be home. The dad was called, returned home. I exited the scene before he arrived so I do not think he even knew which neighbor had called the cops. Neither of us ever mentioned it as we passed. Not long after I moved so...