Caught someone looking in my window, is there anything else that can be done?

[StrainedEyes]

So I live on the bottom floor of an apartment complex with my girlfriend and her two kids. The back windows of our apartment face a fence and another apartment complex on the other side, which has street lights, etc., and as a result things silhouette onto our blinds at night.

A month or so ago, around midnight, we turned off the light in the bedroom and my girlfriend saw the perfect silhouette of a man standing at the window. She said something to me but the person quickly left before I could see. We talked ourselves into thinking it was just someone walking a dog or smoking and they chose a bad spot to stand. We told the apartment complex and they assured us that security checks the area, though they just drive through the parking lot and wouldn't see anything around the back of the buildings. We didn't see anything again.

Last night we were in the living room watching TV, we have a sliding door and a window next to it both had their blinds closed. It was around midnight again, and my girlfriend sees a shadow on the window and I see it too. It’s head size and about waist high. I got up and quickly whipped the sliding door blinds open to see a homeless-looking guy hunched over with his face close to our window, trying to look in. Opening the blinds startled him, he looked at me and quickly bolted off.

We both went outside but couldn't see him, and then we called the police. They took a report and my description of the guy, which looking back sounded like any generic sketchy guy in a movie, and they walked around a bit before leaving.

We decided to leave the back light on at night from now on. I thought that the lights from over the fence would be enough to stop anyone from doing this, since it clearly silhouettes you on the windows, but we’re hoping more light will deter it further. We told the complex people again and asked them to give us one of those bars that you lodge into sliding doors. We also made a letter about the incidents and put them on the doors of all the ground floor apartments on our row.

Any suggestions on where to go from here? Is this just some guy trying to catch a glimpse of my girlfriend, something worse? It was disconcerting to say the least.

 

[Duke]

Do you believe in home protection? If so, purchase a firearm for your own protection, but only use it as a last resort. Also, I'd be pestering the police about these incidents & hopefully they'll pick the guy up eventually.

 

[StrainedEyes]

We don't want guns, but my girlfriend is very wary of things like this. She has a very large stabbing knife near her side of the bed (who wouldn't get in bed with a woman who has a knife under her pillow) and carries a knife in her purse.

The police were good about it and came quickly. They found one guy but he didn't match my description (baseball hat vs. beanie). If something happens again we will definitely call the police first instead of startling the guy away.

I guess I should note I am not in a dangerous/sketchy area.

 

[Destructus86]

I recommend buying a double bladed battleaxe.

 

[StrainedEyes]

I was thinking a crowbar. Good all around blunt instrument.

 

[NickNitro]

I am an advocate of a nightstand firearm. If you guys are looking to stay there for a while look into getting home security like ADT

 

[Rorschach2012]

That's so creepy... yeah crowbar seems like a good choice. if you see him again, Jason Todd his ass

 

[jonathancrane]

For about five-six years, we had a similar situation. We live out in the countryside, in a small development, on a plot that spans two acres. When I started the seventh grade, we started seeing someone standing on either the front lawn of our house, but most of the time, on our back yard. These incidents happened after nine o'clock or when it was dark, whichever came first. Over time, the person started moving closer to our house and we would chase him away. Finally, I got tired of living fear, so I threw a box of paintballs in the freezer and froze them. Due to the cyclical nature, I had a rough idea of when our friendly stalker would appear, so I kept my paintball marker nearly assembled.

One night, my mother called me and told me she saw someone standing by our treehouse, but made sure she acted like she hadn't noticed. I sprang out the back porch and lit the hill up with the frozen ones. Even though the visibility was horrible-it was fall-I knew I hit the ****, because I heard a loud thuck! and a grunt.

It was afterwards that the step-father of the schizophrenic down the road moved out that the episodes stopped. As for protection, I do not know what to suggest. Due to our location, the law enforcement we have is the State Police, who are useless. Back in the 9th grade, the other lunatic down the road tried to murder his wife, and when she got away, he tried to break into my neighbor's house with supplies. She cut across the back yard and ran to mine, since I was the only one home.

The State Police came an hour later....the best part occurred during the phone call. The preceding year, they made us change our addresses, to aid the new computer system that was supposed to reduce the wait time for them. I told the dispatcher my address and they told me, "I don't know where it is; it's not showing up."

Not to derail your thread, but, I wanted to illustrate some of the problems of handling prowlers/peeping toms.

 

[chamber-music]

I think take the Charlie Hunnam approach. Get a baseball bat, the next time you see a guy walk out and shout as loud as you can "so we got business mother******!"

If that doesn't scare them off for good then try something else.

 

[Teelie]

Let's go shoot people peeking into windows. Perfect solution for over compensating.

He sounds relatively harmless (in that he had no apparent weapons on him and ran when spotted) but it's still good to have some kind of weapon handy in case it escalates into a break-in, that won't necessitate killing him or accidently killing someone else when you invariably fire off as many rounds as possible in the general direction of the intruder.

A baseball bat would be a safer alternative. Longer than a crowbar, not as heavy but made for hitting and it won't be hard to swing and do damage. It's enough to deter most people. Just make sure when you swing it you use a firm grip.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Yeah, I'm assuming it's a peeping tom situation. Which is scary in itself because of what that kind of thing could escalate to (which is why my girlfriend has a knife under her bed).

I don't know why you would try to case a place for a break in while the people are clearly still awake inside (then again, it's really obvious you're casting a shadow on the windows, so maybe they aren't too bright to begin with).

Hopefully informing the entire row of apartments will help things out, it's highly unlikely that we are the only ones being targeted. We will definitely be moving some kind of blunt weapon next to the sliding glass door.

 

[jacobed]

Its always relatively harmless until the day he decides to break in. Nothing wrong with being over protective especially because their are children in there. I keep a shotgun underneath my bed just in case. The blunt instrument is a good idea. I live next to a busy street and these stories just creep me out. The real scary thought is how many times has he been looking through the windows that you guys haven't noticed. That is terrifying, hopefully since you scared the creep he won't be coming back.

 

[Figs]

Let's go shoot people peeking into windows. Perfect solution for over compensating.

He sounds relatively harmless (in that he had no apparent weapons on him and ran when spotted) but it's still good to have some kind of weapon handy in case it escalates into a break-in, that won't necessitate killing him or accidently killing someone else when you invariably fire off as many rounds as possible in the general direction of the intruder.

I don't think a responsible gun owner(I know many) would just start shooting at a peeping tom who is outside. Now if he busts down the door with a weapon and the intent to do harm, then you really need to protect yourself. Also, "fire off as many rounds as possible"? Yeah, because all gun owners are crazy nut jobs who shoot wildly without aiming like a gang banger.

 

[Teelie]

And every response requires firing off a gun.

 

[craigdbfan]

Get a Mossberg 500 and keep it close.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

I wanted this so bad to be a braincrusher thread.

That's creepy tho man, I hope that however you move forward, this isn't something that you have to deal with again.

 

[craigdbfan]

I wanted this so bad to be a braincrusher thread.

That's creepy tho man, I hope that however you move forward, this isn't something that you have to deal with again.

I thought the exact same thing when I read the title for this thread.

 

[DCW]

Creepy stuff...

When my daughter was born my wife and I decided to get a small hand gun, which of course is kept locked up. I also used to play alot of baseball so thankfully we have a handfull of bats in the house. This stuff always bugs me though. I had a real vivid dream when I was younger of someone looking into my bedroom window that really disturbed me.

I worry about my wife and daughter being alone in the house when I have to go away on business, but I feel much better knowing that they have a variety of ways to protect themselves.

 

[chamber-music]

I don't even want to know what madness braincrusher would dream up in this scenario

 

[DarkSovereignty]

It would probably be a shark peeking in...a shark with a jet pack.

 

[Teelie]

It would probably be a shark peeking in...a shark with a jet pack.

When you hear the doorbell ring, don't answer the door.

Spoiler

 

[jonathancrane]

When you hear the doorbell ring, don't answer the door.

Spoiler

This is great!

 

[Teelie]

The scary thing? I had no idea that existed 5 minutes ago. Truly the internet knows all.

 

[jonathancrane]

The scary thing? I had no idea that existed 5 minutes ago. Truly the internet knows all.

Indeeed.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

I thought the exact same thing when I read the title for this thread.

That makes 3 of us. t:


I'm with the others who said get a baseball bat. Your girlfriend has kids, and even with proper gun safety, I never feel safe about having a gun somewhere that is easily accessible to kids.