Home Security
Push-In

Push-In: An attacker bursts in (or brandishes a weapon) when you ignore home security and answer the doorbell by opening the door without knowing who's there. Or if you do use a peephole and intercom for home security, he’ll use a scam to entice you to open the door – then push in. Increasingly popular with predators, a push-in provides extra benefits only when the occupants are home: their wallets and car keys, the locations and entry codes for hidden safes, and the option of raping the victims.

With a suspiciously soft knock at her front door, Winnie Fang's pleasant suburban life was swept away in a matter of seconds as two armed assailants burst into her home in one of the safest neighborhoods in the Bay Area. ... Winnie Fang was hit in the chest by one of two bullets fired into her husband's back and passed through his body. "The gunshots were going off, and it was so loud," she recalled. "I felt this terrific pressure in my left chest. I thought, 'I have a bullet going right into my heart.' " Her husband died hours after surgery.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle – 23 May 2002

Lying on her back in the foyer of her home, Sharron Blais tried to focus on the red Bermuda-style shorts worn by the masked gunman who stood over her. She'd been knocked to the ground when he burst through the door with another man. Suddenly, every illusion she'd ever held about her safety was shattered. ... Society's safeguards and home security measures had failed Blais and her family, exposing them to the whims of a stranger who repeatedly shouted, "I'm going to kill you." ... Blais' vulnerability that night is not unique. Though statistics suggest that most of us will never be victims of violent crime, the question remains: How safe are we? The disturbing answer from police experts: We're relatively safe, but no one is immune.
Excerpted from the Daytona Beach News-Journal – 30 September 2002

Ulysses Towe settled into a sleepy neighborhood and didn't think twice about home security before opening his door to strangers who claimed they needed help. That all changed as Ulysses and his wife were watching the evening news when the doorbell rang. Soon, two teens armed with a shotgun and a large knife had forced their way inside their home. ... The invaders ransacked the couple's home and continuously threatened to shoot the couple during the hour-long ordeal that included sexual assault. She kept calling her attacker "Honey" and "Sweetie," thinking that might make it harder for him to pull the trigger. She clasped her hands together and told him she was praying. He retorted: "I'm your God now. Pray to me."
Excerpted from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 22 March 2003

In the mid-1980’s, a gang invaded Chicago-area homes to rob, torture, and force family members to have sex with each other. They put a fake florist sign on a van and parked it in front of a house. Two men with large bouquets of flowers would ring the doorbell. The homeowner, seeing flowers and a florist delivery van, ignored home security and opened the door.

The terror begins simply, with a knock on the door. When the door is opened, two intruders storm inside. In almost every case, victims willingly opened their doors. In some cases, they asked who it was, and it was just a mumble, so they opened the door to hear them better.
Excerpted from The Houston Chronicle – 17 September 2003

Mr. Paul heard a knock. When he didn't see anyone in the peephole, he opened the door. A male pushed his way in and stabbed him.
Excerpted from The Dallas Morning News – 17 November 2005

The husband, answering the knock on his apartment door, opened it just a crack and suddenly a man pushed his way in demanding money and stabbed the husband in the head. The wife was trying to give the suspect money, but he wasn't satisfied and stabbed her. A mystery is how the man got into the building in the first place. Doormen guard the front door.
Excerpted from a WABC-TV7 NYC report – 05 June 2006

Victims are routinely tortured in their own homes to reveal the whereabouts of valuables. Evil armed robber Stephen Harding boasted: "Once you've got someone's wife and kids, they are going to give up whatever there is. When he hears his little kid screaming 'Daddy, daddy,' what's he going to do?" ... Harding said that the best time to do a tie-up was about 9:30pm, when the victims are usually relaxing in front of the TV after their evening meal. He said: "I'd slip up at night, bang on the door and go in when they open it.
Excerpted from The Sunday Mirror (UK) – 31 October 2004

In a sleepy Ontario, Canada town, a man pounded frantically on the door of a home, yelling out that he needed directions to a hospital for his injured son lying in his car. A woman, cleverly duped into ignoring home security, opened her door to help him. He pushed-in, raped, and murdered her. It’s chilling how clever predators know how to manipulate their prey. Would you have breached your home security by opening your door – or instead called 911 for an ambulance or a police escort?

Donald Ursem was always careful when he answered the door - his son said. "The one time my dad doesn't ask, 'Who is it?' he opens the door and gets a gun in his face." Moments later, he lay dying from a gunshot to the head.
Excerpted from The Las Vegas Review-Journal – 07 February 2004

Baton Rouge LA - A woman who survived a home invasion said, “He wanted to make sure I was dead. He wanted to rape me, and then he wanted to make sure, I guess, that I didn’t tell anybody,” said Diane Alexander. ... She said [serial killer Derrick Todd] Lee approached her home and said he was lost. When he found out that her husband was not home, she said, he forced his way inside and threatened to stick a knife in her eye. Her son interrupted the attack when he came home.
Excerpted from The Associated Press – 15 January 2004

Greatly improve your home security by Installing a peephole and a wireless intercom for communicating through your fortified, and locked door. Never blindly open your door for anyone you don’t know and trust. See Door Reinforcement and Simple Home Electronics.

Two armed men forced their way into a man’s apartment after he answered the door. He said he could think of only one way to make it out alive. So he dove head first through the plate-glass window of his apartment to the ground about 10 feet below and ran for his life. "In my mind, it was a matter of life or death," said the man. "I took my chances and jumped instead of having them kill me."
Excerpted from The Chicago Daily Herald – 30 November 2007

If you are pushed-in, do not remain inside with him (even if other family members are home). Flee to the outside for help. That forces him to flee as well because he’ll know that you’ll be calling for help, which may arrive very soon (yell out that you’re getting your “neighbor the cop”).

Better yet, get the home security panic-button/siren/strobe-light system described in Simple Home Electronics. Also see Alarm Systems.

Go to
• Home Security - Overview
• Break-In: Most homes are easy to invade. Make yours burglarproof.
• Walk-In: Half of all home invasions are through unlocked doors and windows! It's easy to always keep them locked at all times with the guidance in the Security Products Buying Guide: Home - Intro (below).
• Push-In: Never blindly open the door when someone knocks. If you are pushed-in, do not stay inside with him (even if other family members are home) – flee to the outside for help. See Hostage Taking. Better to use an intercom from www.smarthome.com. (YOU’RE NOW ON THIS PAGE)
• Mug-In: If you’re ambushed outside your home and ordered to go inside, do not go! As with a push-in, you’re better off outside. See Kidnapping.
• Scam-In: Do not open the door, not even an inch, to any stranger - no matter what they say - scam-artists are master manipulators (see Push-In above).
• Cracks in Security: subtle variations of Break-In, Walk-In, Push-In, Mug-In, and Scam-In home intrusions.
• College - Apartment & Dormitory Security: staying safe despite careless roommates.
• Good Neighbors: the final layer of home protection.
• Security Product Buying Guide: Home - Intro
• Door Reinforcement
• Window Reinforcement
• Garage & Yard Reinforcement
• Simple Home Electronics
• Alarm Systems
• Flaws in Electronic Security
• Apartment & Dormitory Security
• Safe Room
• Recap: for a quick summary of this entire section.

Safeguard your home security even if you live in Sleepy Valley - predators like to prowl where the prey least expect them.

Prevent the vast majority of home intrusions - whether by burglar or invader by making sure all your family members use these home security strategies. Of course, predators will always find prey – but the most cautious targets will be spared.

Return to
Home Security - Overview
Crime-Safety-Security Home Page