VIDEO: Protecting Yourself During A Home Invasion

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-Having your home broken into is scary enough, but if you’re home when someone tries to come inside, it’s terrifying.

Within the few months, WCBI has reported on several home invasions in North Mississippi.

“Somebody’s coming into your house, they’re invading your property and your safe area, so it can be very scary for the homeowner,” said Keith Worshaim, a retired police officer. “Fight if you think that’s right, if you have to resist, resist. If you think that not resisting is the way to go, that’s up to you, that’s your own personal choice.”

A choice he said could have a life long impact on those involved.

So to protect yourself from home invasions, Worshaim has this advice.

“Have a good sturdy lock on your door so that people just can’t kick it in, that’s the number one thing,” he said. Have a good alarm system if you are into that kind of thing. Test your alarm system.”

If a homeowner fights to defend themselves, there are several options.

“You can do hand-to-hand combat, you can use a weapon, whether it’s a knife or a chair leg, anything can be a weapon,” he described.

If you have a gun, Worshaim said it’s important to know how to use it properly.

“You need to know who you are shooting at,” Worshaim explained. “You need to know that you are shooting at a burglar and it’s not somebody that just happened to lose the key, and they’re trying to crawl through a window. If you are shooting at somebody, you’ve got to think what’s behind them, because if you miss that person and you hit someone else’s home, or you hit someone else that’s innocent, that’s a bad thing.”

The self defense instructor said when children are involved, other precautions need to be taken.

“You want to get your children away from harm, so if you know that you are going to use your pistol or your gun, you want to get that child away from their room, or you may stay in that room and protect that child in that room, it just depends,” he said.

Worshaim said its important for the homeowner to have a plan in place and practice it in case the frightening situation ever occurs.

He also recommends trying to get a good look at the burglar so investigators can have a good description to go for their investigation.