You think you’d do it differently…My Home Invasion

For a very long time, I have wanted to talk about this subject. I felt I needed to let some time pass for my own safety. With the crime in Albuquerque on the rise, I though now was a good time. On 12/8/2016, I was involved in an armed robbery, or home invasion, and I shouldn’t have lived to talk about it. First I am gong to tell the story, then talk about the aftermath, then I am going to talk about what we all think we would do in that situation, and why you definitely will not do what you think you should.

SO…. arriving at my partner’s house from the gym on that dreadful day, we found a Ford diesel down in front of a detached garage idling. We were thinking it was a specific customer of my partner as it looked familiar. It was not uncommon for customers to drop by and leave a note for him. The doors to the detached garage and the attached garage were both open. My partner entered first, and I followed. Nothing in the garage was disturbed, but as I entered the house, I noticed some items on the floor of the hallway against the wall. There was a laptop, guns and some other items. Now, folks, my brain just did not process what was going on, even though it should have. I did not live there at the time, and I was thinking some sort of spring cleaning was going on. My partner has, by this time, already gone downstairs. As I looked at the items in the hallway, I heard some banging on the walls downstairs. I ran downstairs, and wasn’t sure what I was hearing. As I made the corner and looked into the master bedroom, the barrel of a gun is aimed right at my face.

Before I had entered the bedroom, my partner had peaked in around the door carefully to find two guys waste deep under the bed. He had decided to take advantage of the situation. He walked in briskly and they were completely taken by surprise to the point they were not registering either. As he reached the one intruder, the intruder grabbed an assault rifle they apparently brought in with them. My partner immediately gained control of the gun and somehow got behind the intruder with both his hands on the gun. The intruder was in front of my partner facing away and my partner had the rifle up against the intruder and one of his hands on the stock and one on and over the trigger guard. He maintained control of the gun as much as he could. My partner proceeded to aim it at the other intruder who was trying to get out and tried to pull the trigger but he couldn’t get full control of the trigger and looking down noticed it had an odd safety configuration plus the intruder was struggling with him. The intruder was apparently on heroine, and it seems to give them an ungodly amount of energy and strength, as well as numbs any pain because it amps up their adrenaline. The other intruder then ran out of the bedroom and out the patio door.

This is when I walked in, and the intruder forced the gun towards my face. My reaction went into complete lizard brain fight or flight mode at that moment. I screamed a blood curdling scream, and all I had at the time was my brand new cell phone. My scream startled the intruder and I commenced using my cell phone like holding a knife and beat the intruder over the head splitting his scalp open and he began bleeding profusely which stunned him as well.

My partner yelled for me to get out and call 911. I left the room and attempted to dial 911. I had a code lock on my phone and could not manage to remember my code. Somehow it still worked after using it to beat the intruder with. I finally figured out how to use the emergency call function, and called 911, but let me tell you, this was extremely difficult! I now know why 911 is such a simple number, because for the life of me I could not easily dial it!

I ran up the stairs and was thinking somehow that I should take the keys out of the truck in the driveway so the intruder could not get away. I had no idea at the time that there were two other intruders, the one who ran out of the bedroom, and another one whose location I had not known. Both were now in the truck, as I stood there on the phone with the 911 operator. I could not remember the address of the house and had to yell down to my partner for help with the house number. He now had the intruder he had been struggling with outside on the front patio. I gave the information to the operator as I was standing right in front of the truck and it began to reverse up the driveway. I heard a gun fire, and I just stopped talking to the operator as I thought my partner had just been shot. My heart sank, and I began screaming as I ran down stairs to where my partner was. At this point we both thought the other had been shot. Thankfully, I found my partner, still alive, and wrestling the intruder on the patio. The neighbor had heard the screaming and came over to assist. Luckily the neighbor was armed, and was able to take the gun out of the grip of the intruder and tossed it into the yard. My partner then wrestled the intruder to the ground and I proceed to kick the intruder violently in fear. He began pleading with me to stop as he was only 18 years old. He then started spewing some misinformation about helping his friends get their stuff back or some other nonsense. He finally tired out and stopped fighting back. I then ran inside and grabbed a towel to wipe the enormous amount of blood from my partner’s face, which luckily was not his.

At this moment, the police showed up. The police station is literally across the street, and there was a shift change going on, so many, many officers showed up. We told them the intruder was apprehended and to please come down and handcuff. They were very good and had no overreaction at all on any level. The cops were seasoned. They had guns still drawn and I have to say we had no fear of them or uneasiness whatsoever. We stepped away as they asked and they called the ambulance. The intruder was taken to UNMH and while we waited for the ambulance he was giving up the ghost of his buddies names that turned out to be true.

As the intruder lay there, severely injured, asking for help, my instinct was to go help him as I am a mom of 3 sons. His heroine was definitely wearing off, and the pain was now setting in. I had to stop myself from offering help, and I asked my partner what happened to him. For a brief few minutes I did not remember that I was the one who had beat on him. I had been in such a fight of flight mode that it took a few minutes to remember what had happened. Me, my partner, and the neighbor were immediately separated and detained into separate vehicles for questioning. This was heart wrenching, because I just wanted the comfort of my partner.

We each received our own detective for questioning. We all went through the questioning and then were individually sent to the mobile crime lab, which had just showed up, and were processed there. Photographs were taken, and honestly I can’t quite remember what else. I just know I was now covered in blood, and I started hysterically laughing, then crying. As the stunned crime lab officers just looked at me, all I could say was ” if that guy dies from me beating on him, am I going to jail?”. They reassured me that I was most definitely acting in self defense. I laugh when I am stressed apparently.

The house was now taped off as a crime scene. My partner’s dog was still in the house, we think someone had locked him in his cage. The dog had enough common sense to actually hide in his dog cage during the invasion, likely saving his little life! Within that crime scene was also my car, which was loaded with stuff for a school Christmas play that my kids were supposed to do that night. I told an officer that my kids not only needed to be picked up from school, but they needed the stuff in my car. So they decided that I could call a friend, but could not discuss what had happened, as that then makes my friend a witness. That friend could come get the stuff from the car. We were not allowed to leave. So I called my friend, and all I could say to her was ” there was an incident, and the cops were called, and I needed her to pick up my kids, come get their stuff and get them to their play”. They had major rolls, and the mom in me didn’t want the play ruined! The kids dad was on a flight from DC, so he did not find out what happened until later.

My friend arrived to the crime scene, all taped off, with the crime lab in the driveway. I walked up to her with a bag full of Christmas costumes and props, with my own clothes full of blood, and just handed the bag to her. I could not say anything to her, as the officer was standing right there. She looked at me in shock, took the bag, and asked if I was OK. I nodded, and she just walked back to her car, which now contained all 4 of my children. I hated not to being able to reassure her or my kids. My kids went to the play and tried their best not to worry about the crime scene they had just left, and they were super brave!

This whole ordeal was about 8 hours long. When we were finally allowed to leave, we went down to a local bar, in our bloody clothes, and just sat there in shock and drank a cup of coffee. I would have had enough time to catch the end of my kids play, but I with my bloody clothes and post trauma mindset, that was a big NO! 

And now here is some aftermath….we later found out that the gun that was shot was actually meant for me. As the two intruders were fleeing, one shot out the truck window, and aimed directly at my head. Luckily it hit the very corner of the house instead. The two that got away were found, with the truck, which was stolen, full of rifles, ammunition and stolen property. The guy we beat on was taken to the hospital, where he and the doctors though he had been shot. The detective was pleased to tell him he had not been shot, but had been beaten, by a mom, with her cell phone. All three intruders were allowed out of jail within 2 days due to New Mexico’s catch and release law. I had to go though a year of testing for blood borne illness as they would not release medical records of the intruder because of HIPAA. So we had no way of knowing if I contracted something from him with all of the blood splatter. Speaking of blood splatter, the house had blood spray for 8 feet from where I beat him with the phone, and the patio had a huge blood stain where he lay as he waited for the ambulance, shown in picture above. That was not fun to deal with. When I had called 911, I stopped talking after the gun was fired, but I did not hang up, so everything was recorded, which helped the case. We were super lucky that the news did not get wind of the incident and did not show up that day. They did try to get our story a couple days later, but we declined for safety. We lived fearing for our lives for quite a while since the intruders were out of jail. One of the other two intruders who fled was charged, the other one went into hiding and was not found again. I still have the cell phone I used that day to beat the intruder with. I had a minor crack on the top due to the amazing case I had on it. Below is a picture. My son has since used it, and it was run over by my car when it fell out of his pocket, but I keep it because it helped save my life.

The main intruder was finally kept in jail after he committed several more felonies. He did give up many names, and an entire novice gang was taken down because of it. I won’t disclose the gang for safety’s sake. We were assigned a victim’s advocate, which I was glad to have considering what we were about to go through. In New Mexico, the defense attorney has the right to interrogate the victims before trial. We are one of the few states that allows this. They interrogated us for 4 hours, and both my partner and I repeatedly refused to answer questions, and referred them to the police report, as well as called them horrible names for defending these criminals! We were not going to give them any ammo to get that guy out of jail! It was an exhausting process, which led to my partner losing his temper pretty severely. The advocates also were there for us if we chose to go to any of the hearings, which I didn’t for my own safety. I finally did end up going to one hearing where they were trying to have the case dismissed. I was so fearful, but I went, and my partner showed up later. The advocates were great, and very supportive. I remember being sad that this young criminal had no one there for him during the hearing, no family, no friends. I am sure a bad family situation is why he was how he was in the first place. I didn’t even recognize the intruder. In the heat of the moment, even though I was looking right at him during the robbery, I did not remember what he looked like. I thought he had green eyes, and he most definitely did not. I was not able to give a description of him on the day of the robbery. Your eyes and your brain completely deceive you in a situation like that.

The district attorneys office did a great job, and after 2 years, the intruder finally pleaded and got 13 years of the 90 he was facing. It sucks, yes, but part of me hopes that this kid does turn around and do better when he gets out. I have seen kids change their life direction after going to jail, so we can only hope. So young, 18 years old, doing what he did….I just don’t understand that.

Now….how would I have done things differently? First off, we should have never entered the house. Even though we thought we recognized the truck, we should have called police. Second, I definitely thought that if I were ever in this situation, I would do some heroic eye gouging, or I would grab a kitchen knife and stab the intruder, or grab the gun and shoot him. After the robbery, everyone and their dog had everything to say about what they would have done, and they all would have been so heroic! All they did was make me mad! My whole mindset has changed because I went through it. Your brain literally has the same processing ability as a lizard when your life is in immediate danger. The simplest things become impossible. There were kitchen knives right there in the kitchen on the wall, but I did not even think to go get one. I didn’t poke his eyes out. I used my cell phone, my only means of getting help, to beat him with. If I had been carrying a gun, I can 100% guarantee that I would not have even remembered I had it.

My partner, on the other hand, had spent quite a bit of time in martial arts training, and because he repeated these types of situations over and over, his brain stayed calm, and he reacted in an automatic way that lead to him saving our life! This, my friends, is why soldiers and police are trained over and over and over how to react to life threatening situations, It has to become an automatic response. Talking about what you would do does no good at all. If you are going to train for this type of thing, there has to be repetition, and your reactions have to be simple but effective. Your first reaction should be to leave the situation if possible!

 Of course this could have ended up bad in so many ways and was not the best way, but it went the way it did. After analyzing the information from the Sheriffs office, it was optimal or rather had more upside for a few reasons… (and at this point I will tell you that I will not handle the situation this way again). Had we stepped away and called 911 they would have certainly arrived in plenty of time with the substation just across the way and they were on shift change. They were there within 2-3 min from my call. But the robbers would have had a minimal charge that does not much of anything.  

The intruder we apprehended already had four previous arrests of aggravated robbery and just a week earlier had been caught trying to car jack. Out so soon robbing another person…us! What a joke New Mexico’s laws are. However now he had a second degree felony as well as one of the other two. Even though it took a lot for him to finally stay in jail, it did happen.

This is not a situation I ever hope to go though again. It changed me. I do appreciate life more now, because I almost lost it. I am also a little more fearful. I used to be the first to help a homeless person asking for money, now I kind of panic if they come near me, although I have gotten better. I also now greatly question my ability to stay calm in a life or death situation. We did OK, we did survive something we most definitely should not have. Timing just worked out the way it did, and we lived. We were able to work together on some level, at least one of us stayed calm, and we had a ton of luck that saved us. So, in conclusion, you think you will react certain ways when your life is threatened. I am here to tell you that unless you are trained for this sort of thing, you may be wrong, and maybe that is something you should prepare for.