Caught someone breaking into my house Wednesday night - Crazy shit

I've been trying to process all of this, and haven't felt like listening to the barrage of "pussy" and "should have killed him" from keyboard warriors while doing so, but whatever, here it is:

TL;DR version: Someone was breaking into my house and I helped them evacuate their bowels with the help of my handgun instead of giving them a lead tuneup.

It's 2am, and I literally just got up from playing a video game with my nephew on ps4. I heard a noise on the other side of the house, so I went to go check on it. I wrote it off as my turtle rearranging his shit and went into my bedroom where my wife was sleeping when I heard something at my window. It didn't take but five seconds or so for it to be clear this was someone taking the screen out.

I grabbed the only gun I don't keep in a safe (five children) and woke my wife up. I told her to get on the floor between the bed and dresser, took a defensive position a couple of feet behind the window, and focused on controlling my breath. I wasn't breathing heavily, I just knew I was about to have to pull the trigger and wanted to get it right. The screen was out now and the window was creaking, so my mind was instantly made up; I'm shooting. I have to shoot.

I thought about telling the guy I was there to begin with, but I didn't want to give up the huge advantage I had, plus, I live in FL; this would without a doubt be a textbook Castle Doctrine case. As I'm waiting, my wife is begging me to make sure it's not one of the kids. I knew it wasn't because I had just checked the house for the previous noise, but for some reason, it made me decide to announce that I was there, inches away and about to rush deliver him to the consequences of the worst decision he had made in his life.

I shouted, "I'M ABOUT TO PUT SOME BIG HOLES IN YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!!!' and he shouted back that he was "Very sorry" slammed my window back shut from the foot or so he had it opened, and ran away between houses. I turned the flashlight on my Sig, and ran through my house checking the rooms, and then around the outside of my house while my wife dialed 911. Once outside, I realized that he had taken out three screens looking for an unlocked window, and mine was the only one he found.


Now that it is over, and I have had a few days to process it, here is where my head is at:

Words can't begin to describe how happy I am that I was armed and prepared for the situation, but I am even happier that I didn't have to take a life. If you come into my house at two in the morning, you will die, and had I caught him legit inside my house he would have, but I almost missed the chance to stop him BEFORE that happened.

Of the thousand things running through my mind since, this is the one that is there the most.

What are your thoughts GLP? Did I fuck up? Am I a pussy?
I wasn't scared to shoot him, in fact, if not for my wife I most likely would have. I'm glad I didn't though.

up at 2 a.m. with nephew?
how old is the kid? lol

hahaha twenty-four. Not contributing to the delinquency of a minor

OP did great?

And you present yourself as a tough guy?

In my case, there would have been the process of patiently waiting for corpse removal and I would have used used all the leftover blood and brain matter to fertilize my garden.

Then I would wash my hands, open up a videogame and smile...

lol.

Have you talked to the wife and kids about how they feel?
Boundaries are so important. And the fact that you protected your boundaries is noble but they still will feel violated.

Talk it out to avoid PTSD, nightmares, insecurity, gossip, rumors, panic...