HUDSON, FLORIDA — Let’s start off by saying that this isn’t a negative reflection of police officers, but rather an important lesson to realize that help always takes time to get to you.
A woman was at home when she called 911 to report someone coming in through her door. The call was labeled as a suspicious person.
Knowing that someone was in her garage, she feared that the person would make entry into her home. She took a risk and went to the door leading into the garage and came a few feet from the intruder.
She called 911 again.
“I have a gun pointed and I need the police to show up immediately,” she said on the 911 call. “I called 10 minutes ago and nobody has shown up.”
She contacted a neighbor as well, to inform them of the ongoing incident. That neighbor’s husband responded with a firearm of his own and came over to the woman’s house to assist.
Police wouldn’t arrive for another 13 minutes.
“I’m just like I gotta help, you know,” said the armed neighbor who came to help. “She’s got little kids. We held him at gunpoint until the cops showed up.”
The intruder, who was suffering from mental health issues, was taken to the hospital for an evaluation and then charged with felony burglary.
While we could argue that the response time was slow in this case, it doesn’t change the fact that police will almost always take at least a few minutes to get to your location. If there’s anything we’ve learned over the years of covering self-defensive stories, a lot can happen in just a few seconds.
Being armed at home is just as important as being armed out in public, and maybe even more so.
Luckily, no one was hurt during this incident. It was undoubtedly a terrifying 26 minutes, but it ended with no shots fired and the fact that everyone was able to go home after it was all said and done.
