Scary Stuff

I'll be posting more pictures from our Southern California trip soon, but I just had to relay this story while it was still fresh in my mind.

I was arriving home about 10:00 last night after my first class in the NAU program. As I was pulling up to the house I noticed a police car in front of the next door neighbors, which is always a peculiar thing as our neighborhood is relatively quiet. As I was backing into the driveway I heard the distinctive sound of our outer gate rattling, and then a very loud voice yelling "Get Down On The Ground! NOW!!"

I jumped out of the car quickly and ran through the gate to the front door thinking there was something big going on next door. I turned toward the pathway next to our house and saw a cop with his gun out pointing at a man lying face down on the ground! On our side of the fence! Holy shit! Nothing like this had ever happened before. I ran back to the front door, told Brie to bolt the door, keep the dog inside, and get with the kids. She had heard the cop's voice from right outside the window and was on the phone with 911 not knowing what was going on.

I stood on the front step with my hands up while another cop with a gun was running up to the gate. I identified myself as the homeowner and pointed him toward the walkway next to the house. He thanked me, told me to hold tight and ran around the house to join his partner. I felt like the safest place for me to be was in front of the front door, as I still didn't know what was going on and if there would be gunfire or not.

A third cop came to the gate, and older guy, much more relaxed than the other two. He told me they had the perpetrator and everything was OK. I continued to stand my guard at the front door until they took the guy off our property and into one of the police cars (there were three at this point). Then I went back inside gave Brie a big hug and let my breath out.

The cop came back to our door to take down our information, and tell us what was going on. The man they took away was a disgruntled ex-husband of one of our neighbors, we had been warned about this lowlife from many different neighbors, apparently he's a drug addict and has been harassing his ex for years, she'd had a restraining order and everything. So it wasn't a random burglery. They had been chasing him and he had hopped over two fences before they cut him off in our yard. The cop was very polite and helpful, he had us written up as "victims"of tresspassing.

So it was by far the scariest thing that's every happened to us at this house, but the kids slept right through it and we were never in any real danger. But just seeing guns pointed at someones head in your front yard is enough to shake anyone. I didn't sleep very well last night at all. I got a good look at the guy when they dragged him out, so I'll be on the lookout for him again. Hopefully he won't make it back to our property.