Man Foils Armed Robbery Using Facebook

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Some dude hid in his attic and used Facebook to contact friends during a home invasion / armed robbery to call for help. As dumb as that sounds....it worked. :eek:

"I don't think [Facebook] is really meant as a lifesaving tool, but it's the only way I could think of contacting someone immediately to call for help," he said. So, as the intruders rifled through the home, Bhakta updated his Facebook status: "HELP, ROBBERS, NO PHONE." In all caps, naturally.
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Google voice and skype? I would rather not go that route as you can't whisper as easily into a laptop. Wouldn't be good to get heard by the robbers during the call.
 
Asacolips said:
Google voice and skype? I would rather not go that route as you can't whisper as easily into a laptop. Wouldn't be good to get heard by the robbers during the call.
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You can send texts with google voice, you don't have to use your mouth to do it. ;)
 
Dude sees grandma and sister being attacked and his first reponse is to hide and update his facebook status? This could have ended horribly in so many ways. He really should put down the laptop periodically and visit his local gun range once in a while to learn how to really defend his family.
 
If he does not have google voice or skype installed on his computer, it would have done him little good.
 
JethroXP said:
Dude sees grandma and sister being attacked and his first reponse is to hide and update his facebook status? This could have ended horribly in so many ways. He really should put down the laptop periodically and visit his local gun range once in a while to learn how to really defend his family.
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Not everybody believes in picking up a gun to end a dispute like this. Crazy way to think though, the mentality of guns=bad is rampant in the world. Must be because of the violence that they are attributed to. Anyways, we live in a free country, there are more than one way to do things.
 
JethroXP said:
Dude sees grandma and sister being attacked and his first reponse is to hide and update his facebook status? This could have ended horribly in so many ways. He really should put down the laptop periodically and visit his local gun range once in a while to learn how to really defend his family.
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Granted a person that hides in the attic while granny is getting tied-up is probably not the hero type to begin with, I doubt the inclusion of a firearm would have made the situation any better, in fact it probably would have went horribly wrong. Contrary to popular belief guns don't magically fix every bad situation.


Drewshua said:
If he does not have google voice or skype installed on his computer, it would have done him little good.
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If he has a gmail account he has google voice, nothing to install.
 
bucket said:
Granted a person that hides in the attic while granny is getting tied-up is probably not the hero type to begin with, I doubt the inclusion of a firearm would have made the situation any better, in fact it probably would have went horribly wrong. Contrary to popular belief guns don't magically fix every bad situation.
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Ya thats why he said he needs to go to a gun range after buying it... Not just buy it and wait for somethig to happen.
 
You guys expect a 20 year old to take on 3 armed robbers by himself?

Come on, you are also criticizing him for not thinking of different ways to contact people. He was panicked...
 
@Drewshua - yes, more than one way to do things. I'm suggesting that hopping onto Facebook while Granny and Sis are being tied up isn't exactly a good one. Force met with cowardice guarantees that you lose and are at the mercy of your new masters. As least with a weapon, of any type, you meet force with force and have an option for directly impacting the outcome, rather than hoping they don't decide to kill granny and rape sis, then kill her too.

@bucket - Agreed that if his first response was to hide he isn't exactly the action-oriented type, which is why I suggest he seek training. Living at the mercy of those who willfully do you harm is no way to live, eventually you lose everything. Let him seek training, and practice to build skills, and he will never have to hide again. And yes, I agree, guns don't magically solve problems, I wasn't aware that was a popular belief. You'll notice that I didn't suggest he simply wave one around and hope to intimidate. I suggested he seek training and practice so that if the need arises again, he *and* his gun can attempt to tip the scales of a bad situation in his favor.
 
eurin said:
You guys expect a 20 year old to take on 3 armed robbers by himself?

Come on, you are also criticizing him for not thinking of different ways to contact people. He was panicked...
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Well, their mastery of FPS games make them authorities on being manly men of action.

I think the guy was pretty clever. Bad guys close so risk of blaring laptop speakers or app config/setup times mean options are limited. He used the tools at hand. So +1 internet for him.
 
eurin said:
You guys expect a 20 year old to take on 3 armed robbers by himself?

Come on, you are also criticizing him for not thinking of different ways to contact people. He was panicked...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiiQQP4-Ijw

If an 11 year old girl can do it, I'd like to think a 20 year old is more than capable. Remember, there are teenagers fighting in wars all across the globe, since when did 20 become such a tender and helpless age?
 
ianken said:
Well, their mastery of FPS games make them authorities on being manly men of action.

I think the guy was pretty clever. Bad guys close so risk of blaring laptop speakers or app config/setup times mean options are limited. He used the tools at hand. So +1 internet for him.
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And one more thing: the people calling this guy a coward need to STFU. Some 20 year old college kid is supposed to bum rush three armed thugs? To what end? To get dead and instantly escalate the problem?

He solved the problem using his brain. Yes, the thugs could have been out to OMG RAPE grandma. But they were not, and in home invasions that's typically rare.

Given his lack of training and limited options he made the right decision: withdraw and call for help using the tools at his disposal. Yay for brain power over macho ratard posturing which may have got him dead.
 
ianken said:
And one more thing: the people calling this guy a coward need to STFU. Some 20 year old college kid is supposed to bum rush three armed thugs? To what end? To get dead and instantly escalate the problem?

He solved the problem using his brain. Yes, the thugs could have been out to OMG RAPE grandma. But they were not, and in home invasions that's typically rare.

Given his lack of training and limited options he made the right decision: withdraw and call for help using the tools at his disposal. Yay for brain power over macho ratard posturing which may have got him dead.
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He didn't solve anything, he made a desperate call for help and hopped it worked. It did. He was lucky, not smart.

The thugs were far more likely to rape Sis than Grandma, and both could have ended up dead. Since you seem to be a home invasion expert, why not flatter us with statistics of how many end up without injury vs. those that turn violent? Or should we just accept your opinion that once a group of armed men force their way into an occupied home that they have no intention of hurting anyone, so just lay down, get out of their way, and wait for them to finish violating your basic human rights, it will all be over soon.

I neither believe in, nor advocate macho posturing, I'm suggesting that a grown man, even at the tender age of 20, should have the capability to defend himself and his family. Perhaps if more people fought back, the bad guys might start looking for a new line of work.
 
glad it worked out. personally i would have acted more directly and have in the past. people are just wired differently, hopefully he wont have to do anythign similiar again though
 
JethroXP said:
He didn't solve anything, he made a desperate call for help and hopped it worked. It did. He was lucky, not smart.

The thugs were far more likely to rape Sis than Grandma, and both could have ended up dead. Since you seem to be a home invasion expert, why not flatter us with statistics of how many end up without injury vs. those that turn violent? Or should we just accept your opinion that once a group of armed men force their way into an occupied home that they have no intention of hurting anyone, so just lay down, get out of their way, and wait for them to finish violating your basic human rights, it will all be over soon.

I neither believe in, nor advocate macho posturing, I'm suggesting that a grown man, even at the tender age of 20, should have the capability to defend himself and his family. Perhaps if more people fought back, the bad guys might start looking for a new line of work.
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I'm sorry, but while you argue its not, what you say is just macho posturing.

If I was in the guys shoes, I would of most likely done a similar thing. Depending on how "Armed" they were, and the type of weapons+experience/training I had available, maybe, MAYBE I would of confronted them, but only, ONLY if I had the upper hand.

In a situation where my only weapon is my laptop, well then facebook, twitter, skype, google voice, msn, aol, or hell, even [H] Forums, I would use every electronic means to try and get my self help while keeping myself hidden and avoiding escalation.
 
The right to defend oneself, their family and property is an inherent human right. It is not a bad thing to have the ability to defend oneself. There is no "macho posturing" when a man or woman has the ability to defend them self. He did use his brains and was successful but he lives in a country where one is able to prepare to defend them self yet he was not prepared. If he wasn't lucky with the fb update his Grandma and sister could be dead.
 
If he wasn't lucky with his (hypothetical) gun, then his Grandma and sister (and he) could be dead.
 
twatt said:
There's no luck involved in protecting yourself. It takes training and practice.
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It's kind of pointless to argue the woulds/coulds/shoulds. Fact is he didn't have any means to defend himself or his family and acted accordingly. I don't see what other alternative he had.
 
lol @ the gun nuts saying he should have busted down the door and engaged in a gun fight and saved his granny and sister.

John McClain ain't got nothing on you guys.
 
When someone breaks into your house, it's not because they really, really, want to borrow a cup of sugar. You don't know their intentions until they execute them. Back in highschool there was a former student there who broke into women's homes and attempted to rape them. I don't know the full details anymore, but I do remember he targeted women that he knew lived alone. Thankfully he got caught and is behind bars.

These guys in this article came prepared. They tied up two women. They KNEW who they were going after. Why plan ahead and bring rope to subdue people that shouldn't be home? How can you tell me they couldn't have gone further if they wanted to?

Fortunately two of them were stupid enough to leave their cellphones. I don't get that - you're smart enough to bring rope to tie up the people you know that live there, but stupid enough to bust out your cellphones in the middle of a robbery. What?

All in all I do agree with the gun + proper training mantra. If he had this going for him there'd be a much different story being written. I don't care what you believe in when it comes to defending yourself and neither does the guy who's attacking you and trying to violate YOUR livelihood. You have a right to do so in this country for a reason, and its so assclowns like this get put in their place, be it on the floor in a bloody heap, or six feet under where a good number of them belong.

No one says you have to be a hero. You just have to be willing to defend yourself and the people who matter to you. That doesn't take being a hero. That just takes having some guts and proper training. Courage isn't the lack of fear. It's knowing that you're scared, but you do what you know you have to do anyway.
 
JethroXP said:
Dude sees grandma and sister being attacked and his first reponse is to hide and update his facebook status? This could have ended horribly in so many ways. He really should put down the laptop periodically and visit his local gun range once in a while to learn how to really defend his family.
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Yea, then he kills the robbers with unwarranted force and spends the rest of his life behind bars.
 
I wouldn't have counted of Facebook to save me, but he's just reacting to the situation at hand.

Its easy to say he should have done this and that now that the situation had played out, but before anything happens, anything could happen. You can go arm yourself and get all the training in the world, but if you are confronted by say, a gang of heavily armed people, are you guys seriously going to consider getting into a firefight with them?

Point is, you can't always say the best solution is to defend yourself with brute force. Sometimes you have to run, sometimes you have to comply, there are many different ways to react to different situation. If surrendering all my money guarantee that they would leave my family unharmed, then hell I would do that rather than trying to be a hero.
 
Hornet said:
I wouldn't have counted of Facebook to save me, but he's just reacting to the situation at hand.

Its easy to say he should have done this and that now that the situation had played out, but before anything happens, anything could happen. You can go arm yourself and get all the training in the world, but if you are confronted by say, a gang of heavily armed people, are you guys seriously going to consider getting into a firefight with them?

Point is, you can't always say the best solution is to defend yourself with brute force. Sometimes you have to run, sometimes you have to comply, there are many different ways to react to different situation. If surrendering all my money guarantee that they would leave my family unharmed, then hell I would do that rather than trying to be a hero.
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If you have a gang of heavily armed people coming after your ass, you either pissed someone the fuck off, or you need, NEED to move to a better neighborhood. You have bigger issues than protecting your home if you have that kind of crowd rolling through your neighborhood.

But in that event, that depends. If its pretty clear I'm going to be dead today anyway, better to go down fighting than to go down alone. Even if you take one of the bastards out, that's one less bastard they have to run around with to do the same to the next guy. In your scenario, you're confronted by heavily armed assholes. SOMEONE is going to die today. Its most likely you. In fact, if you're unarmed, it most likely WILL be you. Sure, you might luck out and all they do is take your money. But what if what you've got isn't enough? Then what? They take your watch, your clothes? Okay. Now that you're naked, what if they still decide they're not done with you yet? You going to get on your knees for them too? At what point do you stop letting yourself be a victim?
 
Gnasher said:
Yea, then he kills the robbers with unwarranted force and spends the rest of his life behind bars.
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You must not live in the USA. Here, special consideration is given when someone is theatened inside their own home. Once the bad guys crossed the threshold of his house with intent to commit a crime, the residents can use any means necessary to neutralize the threat. Often times civilians have far more leeway in their use of deadly force than police officers do. Your life is precious, and our laws recognize that and the fact that you don't have to wait for someone else to protect it.
 
Hornet said:
I wouldn't have counted of Facebook to save me, but he's just reacting to the situation at hand.

Its easy to say he should have done this and that now that the situation had played out, but before anything happens, anything could happen. You can go arm yourself and get all the training in the world, but if you are confronted by say, a gang of heavily armed people, are you guys seriously going to consider getting into a firefight with them?

Point is, you can't always say the best solution is to defend yourself with brute force. Sometimes you have to run, sometimes you have to comply, there are many different ways to react to different situation. If surrendering all my money guarantee that they would leave my family unharmed, then hell I would do that rather than trying to be a hero.
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Yes, I agree that he did the best he could with what he had, which wasn't much, and that's what I fault him for. Notice I didn't say "He should have run at them swinging the laptop like a bat". I am using him as an example to highlight the fact that most people are unprepared to deal with these types of scenarios. They'd rather live their lives in blissful ignorance and hope to survive a violent encounter by either the good graces of the perpetrator, or the speedy response of the police. In both cases, they are abdicating responsibility for their own lives and hoping someone else will take care of them. Your life is your most precious possession, why would you ever expect someone else to protect it for you?

If someone is threatening you and your family with violence in exchange for material objects, do you really want to take their word that you will be 100% safe if you just do what they say? Wouldn't you rather flip the odds and have some influence in the outcome? Honestly, hoping that bad people will stop being bad people simply because you reward them for bad behavior makes no damn sense at all.

No one is talking about trying to be a hero, you folks who would roll over for the bad guys keep bringing up terms like that, along with "macho" and "posturing". You'll notice that those of us advocating otherwise are saying no such thing. There is nothing heroic about taking responsibility for yourself and your family with some thug attacks, it’s what every other living creature on this planet does when it finds itself threatened. Yet we humans like to think we've evolved to the point that we no longer need to bother with such things, we have rules, and police, and now apparently Facebook to protect us. Under the right circumstances those things help, but unless you plan to carry a cop around with you everywhere you go, you might want to consider something more portable, like a good handgun and the training on how to use it.
 
Gnasher said:
Yea, then he kills the robbers with deadly force and avoids the rest of his life being spent behind bars, because dead criminals can't wrongfully sue.
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FTFY. If you're going to poke fun at American law, at least get it right. :D
 
The family of the who?

If you mean the robber, well now they are probably going to sue for wrongful death, 2 million bucks or something. Don't worry they are losers too and will get nothing.

Knowing three different people who have had to shoot to defend their lives; 2 different people, and one police office on two different occasions.

Not once did the "offender" have a permit, showing that gun laws don't stop the wrong people from getting weapons.

In both times the private individuals had all permits and did not kill but wounded the robber. One almost went to jail since he shot him in the leg coming through the window (wasn't technically in the house yet), he had pistol with him but ran away. Robber was too stupid to dispose of the pistol before getting caught, he was picked up by a police office while bleeding in the street.

By the time it got to court the robbers story changed... to the point of someone else gave him the pistol to defend himself etc etc etc...
 
Anyone else read the thread title and think "X is attending 'Robbery at Y's House' on MM/DD/YYYY"?
 
Wow, Some pretty brave people here. I know myself if it came right down to it, It would be a very dangerous game to try and defend my loved ones from armed robbers. I can shoot a gun. I have 2. But going up against 3 armed robbers who would probably shoot first and not even ask questions, I don't know. Mind you these robbers probably do this alot and have more time behind a gun than me. Mind you they are desperate and liable to do anything, including shooting your loved ones if they feel a threat. Escalating the situation is never a good idea unless there is no alternative. As for being prepared, no one prepares for something like that. How long have you people lived in America? We don't prepare for anything. A small percentage may, but that would be it. These people were probably being staked out by these creeps. They thought easy money, he used his brain and got creative and it worked. Good for him. Let's not blame him for being just like 98 percent of the rest of the population.
 
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