[fastforty]

Thanks for all the responses.

Yes, a situation like this is never "safe", but my years of dilligent training kept me, my family, and the thieves as safe as we could be, save hiding in the house and hoping that my elderly mother would remain safe while not in my sight (she was alone in the mobile home pictured, our house is farther toward the street in a second fenced area). I had my back/left side to our dwellings when I confronted the guys, with plowed field 270 degrees around me. At the time that they were together it wasn't too hard to keep an eye on what their hands were doing, but once they split up, yeah, it was tough (impossible) to know exactly what each was doing (I did see them drive in, but I suppose there could have been a third laying down in back of the truck). Had this been Texas, where "stop" means "STOP!", they would have created a much greater problem for themselves when they started scurrying about then they would have for me (I most likely would have chosen the "neutralize" at least one of them at that time). In addition to the tire iron, wrenches & knife on the seat, there were also two hardwood batons (barely visible in the picture). Yes, these were tools of the trade, which double as weapons in a pinch.

To answer a few direct questions:
I had all of my neighbors (1/2 mile away, one in each of three directions) on the phone as soon as I finished with 911, as they or their children may have been in immediate danger from desperados needing a getaway vehicle.
Mom's bathroom window is blocked partially open, 50 feet away. I could have yelled for her to call authorities if I had pinned the guys down.
We had a meth lab busted one mile away a few years back, & another directly across the street from our rental property on the other side of the county.
I drive my kids to school & pick them up every day, and they *KNOW* not to leave the fenced yard without an escort.

A lot of good points made by Double Naught & BillCA, you guys are well prepared mentally. Without going through point by point, I may have been able to do a few things better, but all considered I followed the routines that I have trained extensively with which kept me as safe as I could be when the SHTF. At the point that I knew for sure what they were up to, I was about 20 feet away & would have had to cover myself all the way back to the house (100 yards away) during which time I may well have encountered them on their way out (right next to my house & kids) as the crime would have been completed within 30-60 seconds. Looking back, I really don't know when I unholstered my weapon, but I think it was when I first saw the vehicle (knowing it wasn't backed up in there for any good reason), before I advanced to see the guys behind it. I do not remember seeing my front sight during either of the shots that I fired, but they were both center hits from my vantage point at the time; the tires were 20 & 25 feet away. The shots sounded very muffled; far away. I didn't just stand there like a scarecrow on a stick, I moved several times during the 20-30 seconds (at most) that the encounter lasted. If things had really hit the fan, I was only 2 or 3 cover shots & 3 or 4 big steps from disappearing around the corner of the tack room, on my left. We occassionally have farm hands (irrigators & such) pass by on their way to tend water valves located south of the barn, I'd really look foolish calling the sheriff every time one of them came to do their job.

Oh, "what was I armed with?". *sigh*
We were getting ready to go to town when this situation arose, I had my new KAHR PM9 on my waist (thouroughly broken in & tested), with an extra mag on the opposite side. It was just a couple of years ago that I encountered 3 guys in a similar situation, in the dark. I was seriously underarmed at that time with my .40 caliber Sig P239 & an extra mag, as those guys split up & tried to surround me. Yeah, I would much rather have had my shotgun, but "any gun will do, if YOU will do".

edit: Ooops, that grey building in the background is the garage, 3 block walls of barrier between where I was & where the kids were. Mom's mobile home is slightly to the left, just out of the picture.