When the woman began knocking on the door of a Fulton County, Georgia, home incessantly yesterday morning, the homeowner refused to answer it. Likely fearing that something was about to happen, he armed himself. When the female burglar’s male partners then kicked in the homeowner’s front door, he was ready and waiting.

The fight was on:

An attempted home burglary resulted in a shootout at a south Fulton County home that left a suspected burglar critically wounded Tuesday.

A homeowner on Diann Drive said burglars kicked in his front door after he declined to answer their incessant knocking around 11:45 a.m., Detective Melissa Parker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The homeowner and the suspected burglars then exchanged what sounded like 40 shots to neighbors. The homeowner thought he wounded one suspect and police found a man “shot multiple times” in woods near the home, Parker said.

The man was in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital on Tuesday and detectives have not been able to interview him, Parker said. Police are looking for additional suspects, Parker said.

The homeowner was not injured in the exchange of shots fired during the home invasion. While one robber was critically wounded, authorities haven’t indicated if the other suspects may have also taken hits.

It isn’t yet know what kind of firearms were involved in the shootout, but there was clearly an exchange of fire between the homeowner and the home invaders. There is a significant likelihood that if the homeowner wasn’t armed, he would have ended up injured or killed by the robbers.

The homeowner did two things here that were wise.

1. He did not open the door. If you don’t know who the person is, or if you do known them, but they don’t have a good reason to be there, be suspicious. This is a common tactic for home invaders.
2. He took the precaution of arming himself. The homeowner obviously felt that the woman’s incessant knocking presaged a Very Bad Thing, and so he acquired a firearm from inside the home and prepared to defend himself.

Criminals are not skilled breaching teams. Home invaders will typically try to overwhelm a homeowner by all rushing through the same door or window at once. When they do so, they turn themselves into inviting targets in the so-called “fatal funnel.”

Have a plan beforehand of how to defend your home. Base this plan upon both the home plan and the way furniture is laid out within the home, as burglars are going to typically move along the paths of least resistance.

If you can set up a barricade position behind cover in your home, you’re well ahead of the game, and the bad guys will be in for a very bad day.