South Carolinian Who Survived Home Invasion: ‘Bums and thieves… If I have to disable you, I’ll do it’

Experienced something similar but a little more sophisticated on the part of the ex-cons. Four came in a Porsche Panamera to fool the residents in my very quiet and peaceful neighborhood. One got off and knocked incessantly but went back and stood in the car for a long time. Then mother, who hadn’t heard or known about this, went with me to one of the rooms that faced the street below where we observed the fancy sports car with paper plates. Didn’t call 911 because no emergency but the paper plates immediately raised red flags. I called a deputy to report a suspicious vehicle and what I thought was its very young owner moving around in the car for a long time. Didn’t make sense for a young “salesman” to own a 4-door sedan. About 1 minute later all hell broke lose. Never experienced such an incident where 3 ex-cons suddenly opened all doors to the car and ran up the driveway, two going to one side and another with bright, thick green gloves heading for one of the side gates on the opposite side. Panic almost struck but I willed myself to grab my shotgun and told the deputy to come NOW before I did that. I guess I did panic because what I said was nonsensical. I controlled my breathing and prepared to meet the criminals with deadly force. My poor partially disabled mother’s fingers were shaking uncontrollably as she tried to dial a phone. She had seen the “salesman” grab a hoodie from the trunk of the car and put it on. I hadn’t seen that because I was probably busy speaking with the deputy right after 3 of 4 ex-cons ran out of the car. But that shook my mother up, she later told me. I quickly made it down to the foot of the stairs and positioned myself to shoot if anyone of them broke into my home through any one of the windows or rear French doors. A few seconds later, the ex-con with the green gloves made his way to the rear doors with arms slightly lifted, as if he was preparing to grab or break something. I turned my head for a few seconds and by the time I returned to see if he was there, the guy was gone. About less than a minute I saw the tail end of the car leaving the cross street in front of my house, and it was over that quick. Despite the sheriff station being about an 8-minute drive away from my home doing normal speed (faster during an emergency of course), the first two sheriff SUVS arrived…14-15 minutes later AFTER my call with the deputy on the phone ended! I was on the phone with him during the entire ordeal via speaker phone. I don’t remember how I carried my phone…maybe it was in my back pocket after I grabbed my shotgun(?). I know it took them 14-15 minutes to arrive because I checked the duration of the call and especially when it was over. So it actually took them longer to get to my home from the time I made the call to the deputy. I’m sure the deputy sent out cars immediately after I panicked after describing the 3 ex-cons running up my driveway. My shotgun served as a deterrent and I immediately enrolled under one of USCCA’s plans because I live in a pro-criminal, anti-2A county. I had trained a little using several platforms but I never encountered a situation where I had to decide to use a gun if I needed to. The scariest part wasn’t defending me or my mother but of having to live with the death or injury after having shot someone…with a 12-gauge shotgun.