Someone broke in last night but took off...
So this year for school my best friend and I rented an appt within walking distance of school (3 min walk). We've been here since the middle of August or so, and everyone has been fairly nice. It's probably about 20-25% black, and there is at least .5-.75 miles from any houses to the closest part of the appt complex. While the area within 15 minutes of driving can definitely be very rough (Price Hill area of Cincinnati, OH), the immediate vicinity (1-1.5 mi radius) is not bad. We live on the 7th floor, 11 units on our side in a row with an elevator in the middle of the row and a set of steps at both ends. Our appt is at 1 end next to a set of steps. We have 1 main door with a deadbolt that we use a 128 decible door jam/alarm on at night since I'm a very heavy sleeper. The only other door is a sliding glass door, but as it faces a balcony with a 7 floor drop, we aren't too worried.
Enough background...I went to bed about 10:30 because I had class this morning at 8, and my roomate, Baret, was playing Xbox (COD4 for those who care) at the time. Come 1:50, things got hairy. I wake up to the alarm going off and within seconds, my roommate screaming for me. I grab my .40XDSC and begin to run out, forgetting my glasses (aka, I really want LASIK now lol). I start to wake up more and realize that my roommate wasn't screaming in the type of voice that indicated someone had a knife to his throat at the moment, so I ran back 5 ft to get my glasses. I come out drawn, and see he is kneeling reverse on the couch facing the door so an entering goblin could only see his head and enough of arms plus his Glock 23. I come out of the hallway to his right and spin to my right to face the door, which I see open 3 inches or so (stopped by the door jam/alarm). We cover each other as we advance towards the door, and I cover it as he opens it before ducking so I can see the whole entry. We look out into the hallway after seeing the end door (far stairway, ~75 yds away) closing, and we wait to see if we see someone running in the parking lot. Noone goes out and we don't hear anything for a few minutes. I've called 911 by this point (of course, the 1st time it dials and hangs up without an answer), and they're sending officers. We hole back up in the appt and wait for the cops. The cops didn't seem all that concerned with gathering evidence, but it was not as though there was much they could have done. I'll have pics of the scratches around the deadboltup ASAP.
It was amazing how calm and chilled we were while it was happening (not trying to boast or saying we did the right things), but afterwards we both shook like leafs and felt so drained after the adrenaline wore off. It was certainly an experience, and we're going to continue to be all but religious about setting the alarm and keeping up with training (we had gone shooting earlier in the day lol). Figured I'd share this story with everyone...
Glad to hear you're okay . . . .
Sounds like you had a close call. Analyze why your apartment was chosen if you can. Keep in mind that unlike a lot of the CSI type shows there is not a lot of usable evidence to gather from your kind of incident. If you can isolate what made you a target, you will be ahead in the future. Keep your glasses closer than your gun, I wear corrective lenses and do so with mine. I wear contacts during the day and have my glasses standing by overnight. A lock is useful for keeping honest people honest and not much else. Any lock can be over come by force, a jamb spreader, or a skilled burglar. You kept your head and that is the most important thing.
