ok finally read through this entire thread. it doesn't seem to me you really want to do anything about it. i know bb guns can't kill, but jesus christ, the dude nearly shot your wife with it and is causing stress to a family with twin infants. i don't really care how it would affect how some view my neighborhood, if this was happening to my family, i'd be contacting the police and news agencies daily.
No offense, but if someone was shooting at my wife and kid with ANY kind of gun, I wouldn't give a frog's fat ass about whether or not the neighborhood gets defamed. I would do anything and everything to protect my family.
Seriously, I can't see how you're being so collected and rational about this whole situation. If someone is taking shots at my house, my car, my WIFE, and my BABY's room, I'm flipping the **** out, and going on a rampage. Who cares how your neighborhood gets painted?? The fact that this little ***** is continually doing this crap even AFTER he sees you taking measures to stop him is beyond comprehension to me. If it's me, I'm grabbing my brother, waiting for him to leave his apartment, and going full-out Bas Ruten on him. A gentle, but stern warning from his landlord isn't gonna do **** to this guy....he'd probably just laugh it off. He needs to have the ever-loving **** kicked out of him. That's the only way degenerate scumbags learn their lesson. If you can't do it physically yourself, I'm sure you know somebody who can. Taking the high road only works when the people you're dealing with have some kind of moral compass. I've never had to resort to violence in my entire life, but I think this is a situation where it's the only solution. The news story is a good idea too, but only if the cops get off their asses and DO something about it. Otherwise, you're just wasting time and resources trying to get people who probably have bigger stories to deal with to come down and report on yours. And who knows what kind of timetable you're looking at if you go down this avenue? It could be weeks before the news station decides to run with your story, and by that point, imagine what kind of other damage this guy is doing. I still say your best bet is to fight fire with fire, and affect this ***hole's life to a point where he won't ever mess with people again.
Or you could try guilting him out. Leave him a box of chocolates and a note asking him nicely to not target your house, and inform him that there is a baby in the house. then next time beat him with a hammer.
It's very easy to condemn JV's approach when it is not your situation. So you advocate going Hulk Hogan and getting what? Shot by a nut? Family really injured? Years of retribution? It could be over now that the kid had the cops knock on his door. On the other hand, if he is a nut, it could escalate things. Be safe.
Seriously dude... You need to think about your family. I know what you're saying but I think you're taking this too lightly. I don't care if its a BB or a booger... You might protect your family. This is bullsh!t. Honestly you need to pick up the phone and start calling HPD several times and tell them whats going on. If you're not going to stand up for your family, no one will man. It sounds like you're not a confrontational type of person but this is serious. In my honest opinion, you need to throw a brick through that window with a note saying next time I won't miss. If they've shot at other houses, there's no way of pinning who did it. There's a lot of punks out there that do **** to people because no one ever does anything.
Actually, I think the landlord is easily the most efficient and effective tool I have. If the landlord tells him to stop, and he takes another shot at my house, the landlord would be pissed off at being ignored and toss him out on his ear. It's easy to evict people in Texas. Whether he stops or moves doesn't matter. As for the cowboys who want to escalate, cool your heels and think about this. I cannot realistically win with this strategy. One, I have a lot to lose while he has little to lose. Two, he can get a lot of information on me while I can get little information on him. Three, escalation is more likely to get me in trouble with the law (because I'm more identifiable) than him. Four, escalation perpetuates the cycle. On the legal recourse angle, I haven't stopped pursuing that one yet. I'm trying to find a contact who will do something for me. I just haven't found it yet. As of now, the police have no intention of getting a warrant and kicking in his door - I asked.
The next time this happens, I don't see why you couldn't grab your nearest telescope (which happens to be a scoped rifle) to "identify" the guy, when suddenly you see him aiming his rifle at you. Fearing for your life, you fire back, with the intent to "stop the threat". That's what this guy did. Personally, I probably wouldn't go to this extreme, but I can imagine entertaining the thought. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6366239.html
http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Imageview-15-45x70mm-Camera-Spotting/dp/B002008N1G Bushnell Imageview 15-45x70mm 5MP Camera Spotting Scope A little pricey, buy you can ebay it off after you catch him in the act.
If he is a student you could get his name from the landlord and contact his university about the situation.
Props on being more level headed than I would be but I'd be very careful until you can solve the situation. If he's breaking glass at 60 feet he's using a high powered pellet gun with bb's and if he's shooting at people then he could do some damage. Hate to have you wondering what your wife would look like with an eye patch.
i think the problem is they can't charge any individual by just knowing the aprtment #, since many people may live there. however, the landlord can tell the tenant on the lease to that aprtment to take care of the problem, whether it's him or someone else. If the tenant can't deal with it, then the landlord has enough reason to kick him and everyone else out.
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I used to be a private investigator, and it's really not that hard to get a name or even personal information/life history with just an address. Also you can just stake out in front of his door at an appropriate time and confront the guy when he leaves or returns to his apartment. By confront I don't necessarily mean violently, but man to man, rather than going through a third-party who doesn't really have as much at stake in this situation as either of you principals. You can decide on the spot whether he needs some sense knocked into him or an understanding voice to counsel him with whatever issues he's dealing with that is causing him to vent his negative emotions out in this way.
Edit: Well, that's what I get for not reading the whole thread and checking the date of the OP. JV, put me in the group that can't believe how calm you seem to be about this. I would already have kicked his door in and gotten both of us in a hospital.
