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Hi Guys,

I closed on the 5th wheel travel trailer yesterday and should get it set up this weekend. It will be nice to be out of the hotel. Actually, I am out of the hotel … Thrown out… I am staying at RW's home for the rest of the week. R says he does not mind if I shoot. Unlike the hotel… It seems the Candlewood Suites hotel policy is to throw you out if you shoot anything. They didn't tell me that when I checked in. They didn't have a sign. ☺

The week before Christmas, thieves broke in to my pick-up and took a couple of thousand dollars of my stuff. Two pistols, a camera, etc.. I never leave guns in the truck at a hotel. Never.. Except that one night. I had not slept in a couple of days and was beyond exhausted. When I got to the room I remembered the guns and thought I would make another trip down in a minute or two. Once I sat down though I fell asleep. I left the guns, and lost them. I was pretty much just as angry at myself as at the thieves.

So… After the holidays I moved to a third floor room that faced the parking lot, started parking my truck in a place with the best angle of fire from my room, and I put alarms in my truck that would alert me in my room.

This past Sunday evening at 8pm the alarms sounded. I opened the window and there were two guys in my truck. One on the driver's side was working under the dash screwing up the wiring. The other was tearing into the steering column. They had come in two vehicles. A convertible Mustang pulled along beside my truck and a Ford pick-up behind my truck.

I yelled "HEY!!! GET OUT OF MY TRUCK!!!" . The guy on the far side ducked down and ran to the waiting pickup. The guy on my side ran to the front of the Mustang. He stopped and pointed up at me. I really did not feel a threat. I think he was pointing me out to the others in the car. When he pointed, I brought my 40 caliber Glock up to center mass on the guy, focused on the front sight, and started taking up slack. The guy was dumb struck. He clearly knew I was going to shoot him dead center. He did not move an inch. Like I said, I really did not feel a threat. Oh well, by this time the decision had already been made to shoot...

I fired three rounds. Bam, align sights, bam… align sights, BAM!!! All closely timed and closely grouped. Dead center… Into the hood of the Mustang.

They all were in a hurry to leave. They seemed to have been having such a good time before I shot their car. I went down to check out my truck and apparently I was not the only one who called the police.

The officers were very friendly. Said these were gang members… They took statements, descriptions of the vehicles, and gave me a case report number for my insurance.

I went back up to my room and tried to call it a night, but I was pretty wired up on adrenalin by this time (great feeling by the way). Right after 11, two officers hammered my door yelling "POLICE!!! OPEN UP!! Much more adrenalin… I did some yelling back, (i.e.: “What county is this?� HARRIS! “Who’s the Mayor?� WHITE!) and after being assured that they actually were police and just wanted to talk, I opened up. They were two different (and large) guys and had been called by the hotel manager to evict me. I refused to leave. The cops told the manager to leave. Once gone, they told me that I was in no trouble, and that the room was my home, and I had every right to protect my self and my property.

To try and wind down, I had swallowed two Benadryl capsules and drank a couple of large shots of vodka. I told the officers this and told them that I refused to drive anywhere. They agreed and told me they would fix it so I could stay the remainder of the night and leave in the morning.

If I had known that it was completely OK to shoot, I had two full magazines… I am most upset that I can't stay there anymore. Man, I have paid much more for hunting and not enjoyed near as much...

Earl

ps
Several people have ask. These are the alarms and the web address. I used velcro to attach the sending units to my driver ' s door and one on the right rear door and kept the receivers in my room.

http://www.carolwrightgifts.com/cwg_v2/ ... 98#SUGGEST

boomerang wrote:I wonder if the manager was tipping off the gang of car thieves and getting a cut.

llwatson wrote:So, if I understand this story correctly, the management of the Candlewood Suites is so hearltess that they would forcibly evict a legally armed citzen in the middle of the night after he has been a victim of a crime? Well, I am putting this on my list of places never to stay again.

Oh, and BTW, this chain is also part of Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge, Intercontinental, and Crowne Plaza. Just in case you wanted to know.

Russell wrote:He is VERY lucky he didn't get charged with something.