Almost Shot and Killed AirBnB Guest

[Kathy842]

   My neighbor bought a North Dallas home for short term rentals. In addition to the 3 rooms he rents, he converted the garage to a 4th rental in this home.  He chooses not to maintain the outside of this home. His fence is rotten and falling down and it seems he will not cut the weeds until he gets a notice from the city. 

   March 22, I was watching TV in my sunroom when a man entered  the gate in my backyard wearing a mask.  He saw me through the window, then turned around to exit the gate. He stayed by my garage for about 15 minutes, walking around looking for a way to enter my home. He repeatedly tried the keypad on the garage.  

   I called 911. My door was unlocked because I had the TV antenna hanging outside.  I was afraid to open the door to retrieve the antenna to lock the door with him outside. I had my .38 loaded with the trigger back in case he entered. If I had stepped away, preventing him from seeing me, I'm afraid he would have entered the home and he would have been shot and killed.

   After the police left I  reviewed the cameras and deducted this was my neighbors AirBnB guest. My neighbor will not post pics of his rotten back fence, so his guest have no idea what to look for when taking the alley to find the property they booked. The neighbor only sends a pic of his garage door with an arrow pointing to the gate not shown. This picture looks like many other garage doors in the area. Navigation directions will not pinpoint the correct address when entering the alley. I have reported this to AirBnB but they will not get involved to encourage him to post pictures of the back of his property for guest to identify. AirBnB is on notice that this is a serious safety issue and a guest might get killed if they enter my home. I do not want to kill anyone. I don't want this trouble. I will be detained/questioned and sued at the minimum. If someone enters my home I will not have time to research if this is a meth addict or AirBnB guest. I hate being in this position.

   Background: A mile from my home, Dallas is having a growing population of people pitching tents, living in the city and begging for money at the busy street intersections. I hope to never have to take a life but will do so to protect myself and family.

[Sarah977]

American gun culture is an alien and repulsive thing to me. I'm a single woman who has lived alone for a long time. I've never felt the need to have a gun. Declaring that you wouldn't hesitate to shoot someone, just because you thought  they posed a danger, and feeling justified in doing so, is truly terrifying.

Why not just put a sign on your back gate with an arrow to the house next door with the name of his listing for confused guests?

And what threat do homeless people begging on street corners pose to you? Most homeless people are harmless.

[Debra300]

@Kathy842,

I think that @Sarah977 has made a very good suggestion that is easy to implement, and promotes the health and safety of you and your neighbor's guests.

[Kathy842]

As long as they are on the street, they pose no threat. When someone enters my fenced backyard, they are a threat to me and my family. Posting a note on my  house pointing to the ABNB nextdoor is ridicules.  It is his responsibility to identify his place of business for his customers. I'm sorry that shooting a stranger who enters a home uninvited is offensive to you.  A resident in our neighborhood was murdered by a meth addict who entered her home for a burglary. 

[Sarah977]

@Kathy842 Someone who enters your fenced backyard is not objectively a threat to you, as evidenced by the fact that this person wasn't a threat to you, just someone who was lost.

Many years ago a young foreign exchange student was shot and killed simply because he knocked on a door looking for a house he'd been invited to, he was lost and wanted to ask for directions. The man of the house claimed he was "protecting his family", even though the student had done nothing threatening. I recall this happened in Louisiana, so of course the murderer got off, while the student's foreign family suffered and a young man lost his life for nothing but someone's paranoia. 

If you find putting a sign on your back gate ridiculous, simply because the host of the property next door should be more responsible, but don't find the notion of shooting someone just because their behavior makes you suspicious and frightened to be ridiculous and unacceptable, there's nothing more to say.

[Michelle53]

@Kathy842  It would seem to me that the easiest way to solve this is a lock on the back gate. 

I think a reasonable person, seeing someone wandering about with a mask on, trying a gate, and knowing full well that there is an Airbnb next door, might conclude that the person is a lost traveller, during a pandemic. 

If you are afraid of meth addicts and other persons that might be trying to enter your property for the purposes of burglary, most reasonable people would say that prevention is the place to start. Burglary is a crime of opportunity. If your gate is locked, they are likely to move on and try elsewhere. 

If your gate is locked, and then someone tries to enter by breaking in, then I think you have a clear signal of that person's intentions.  

If the rotten fence bothers you, and it is on the lot line between your properties, you might consider just putting up a new fence. That way, you don't have to look at the weeds either.  

There are so many ways to solve the problem you have with your neighbor without resorting to shooting someone. 

[Elaine701]

@Sarah977 

Agreed. We also have no such gun culture here. It is inconceivable to us that we would either have to fear armed robbers, nor that we should have any need to protect ourselves with deadly weapons, or expect to cause death in the act of said protections. 

Different world. Different mindset. 

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Elaine701 , respectfully, I believe its less of a "culture" to most citizens than it is a constitutional right of citizenship, probably the only right that is more important in the USA than the 2nd amendment is the 1st, The right to free speech.   What the 2nd amendment doesn't support is the right to injure or kill an innocent person by mistake or on purpose, that is a crime of the highest order punishable to the maximum extent of our laws as it should be.  keep well,  JR

[Elaine701]

@Melodie-And-John0 

Respectfully, we don't have even 1/199th the gun crime in Europe. As compared to the US. That's worth something, not? 

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Elaine701 , your very right, Its very sad to day our 5 murders per 100000 people in the USA is terrible, the only thing that makes us look better is the 19 murders per 100000 people in Mexico or 29 per 100000 in Brazil.  South America is on fire and its not helping our huge cities that are resettlement zones that have been out pf control for decades.   Cartels and gangs run the streets n24/7/365, citizens in the bad part of town cannot escape.   Nothing short of a miracle will protect those in the battlefields of Chicago, Detroit, San fran, Seattle, Cleveland and other old sick cities, most have laws that wont even allow its citizens to protect themselves with a legal  firearm and are like lambs to the slaughter.   Luckily, in 95% of New York State, the only thing firearms are used for is hunting and target practice but if I lived where the author of this thread comes from, I would be armed whenever possible.    I have ideas how these things can be fixed but they arent trending at this time...   Stay well, JR

[Ann72]

@Elaine701  The second amendment was written to provide for a militia in a new nation that had no funds to build one.  It gave every individual the right to bear arms in order to achieve that end.  The wording is not perfect, though:  "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

It is unfortunate that insane people have interpreted it to mean that every individual should have the right to walk around in the 21st century with a gun.  

The gun owner in this post doesn't think that she probably shouldn't attempt to kill someone ever.  She merely thinks she's in a difficult position because she might have to try to kill someone.  It honestly boggles the mind of a rational person.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Sarah977 , just a quick question, if someone committed a crime with a firearm in Sayulita, what would be their fate in the legal system?  

[Helen3]

Surely it would depend on why they shot someone as it would do in your country @Melodie-And-John0 

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Helen3 , In most of the USA, committing a crime with a firearm carries a much stiffer penalty than without (as I believe it should).  In Mexico, I have heard that punishment's can be all over the board according to who you are and how much money you have. 

[Robin4]

@Sarah977 

I can totally understand @Kathy842  way of thinking, and I am sure most clear headed and sensible US citizens would feel exactly the same way. In the US there is no way on Gods earth I would be snooping around in someones back yard.

What this does do is highlight the difference between cultures. If somebody unexpected and unannounced started walking into my back yard, I would not consider it a threatening situation! I would go straight outside, walk up to them and say, "How are you going, I am Rob, can I help you?" I wouldn't for a second feel any threat to my safety, we are just not wired like that in Australia.

Sure we have criminals, heaps of em, but they want to take your TV not your life!

Sarah, @Elaine701  @Nathalie-Et-Gilles0   we need to respect that this is the path America has chosen to follow to 'protect' their safety and it's no good one US person taking a stand and saying, I don't believe in owning guns, there has got to be another way. I am afraid it's that old expression..."When in Rome do as the Romans do"! You simply have to have a gun.

However Kathy, you are now aware that this can happen, and if the next door property owner is not going to adequately identify his property to his Airbnb guests, then it's up to you to provide adequate signage on your property to advise these wayward guests where they need to be.

I know, you shouldn't have to, but the reality is you do. 

I guess the only consolation is, if the host chooses to keep the outside of his property like that, the inside wouldn't be much better and it won't be long before poor guest reviews see him out of the hosting business!

Cheers.........Rob