Real incidents from Massachusetts local news — summarized, sourced, and read through the eyes of instructors who've trained thousands of first-time gun owners. Not to scare you. To answer the question every one of them asked afterward: what would I do?
A man climbed through a Heath Street bedroom window while the resident slept and tugged at the blanket before fleeing. Police tied a second occupied break-in to the area.
A licensed Springfield gun owner shot a man who chased her husband with a handgun on their own property. The DA ruled it lawful self-defense.
Boston police warned of a spike in downtown phone robberies after three incidents in a week — phones grabbed from hands, one victim assaulted.
When a gunman fired dozens of rifle rounds on Memorial Drive, a civilian legally carrying a handgun helped a state trooper stop him, police said.
A woman's wallet was grabbed inside a Meridian Street gas station store; she was knocked down and kicked in the struggle that followed.
A Beacon Hill family found an intruder sitting on their couch on a Saturday morning. A parent got the kids upstairs and called 911; police arrested the man inside.
Police asked the public for help after an armed robbery at a Raynham gas station convenience store. The suspect fled the scene on a bicycle.
Two masked, armed men broke into a Saugus home just after noon on a Sunday; shots were fired, and neighbors' 911 calls brought police within minutes.
A man walking in New Bedford's North End was asked for money, then attacked with a sharp object and robbed of his wallet. His injuries were minor.
A caretaker alone at a Beverly estate was assaulted and tied up by an armed intruder one morning; she freed herself and ran to a neighbor for help.
At 1:30 on a weekday afternoon, a man stepped behind the counter of a Somerville convenience store, showed the cashier a knife, and took about $900.
A man locking up a Pleasant Street business in Dracut was ambushed at 6 p.m. by two masked men, one with a handgun. He was robbed and hurt; police sought the pair.
Two masked teens robbed an elderly woman of her purse at gunpoint on a Charlestown corner in daylight. Neighbors helped police find them.
A woman met an online buyer at the Natick Mall to sell a $27,000 diamond. He grabbed it and dragged her to the ground before bystanders stopped him.
A 19-year-old was chased and beaten by a group at Downtown Crossing on a Sunday afternoon, losing his phone, ID, and debit cards.
A man with a knife robbed the Dollar Tree on Northampton Street in Holyoke on a February night in 2026 and fled before police could find him.
A South Boston man and his partner woke at 4:30 a.m. to a stranger in their bedroom. He chased the man out. Police believe an unlocked slider let him in.
A man robbed the Cumberland Farms on Main Street in Westfield at gunpoint around 2:20 a.m. in January 2026. No one was hurt.
A suspect tried to rob a man at gunpoint on Blue Hill Avenue early on Jan. 2. The victim managed to disarm him, and the suspect fled.
A woman sitting in her car outside the Braintree AMC theater was carjacked at 6:30 p.m. by two suspects who threatened to shoot her. She was not hurt.
Two days after Christmas 2025, a man forced his way into a Fall River home and attacked the homeowner with a knife. Family members helped restrain him.
A man in a horror-movie mask robbed a Milford convenience store on a Sunday night. The manager recognized his shoes, and police made a quick arrest.
An Uber driver attacked by a passenger near Columbus and Mass. Ave. escaped her SUV and ran into a pizza shop for help. A man was charged.
Two suspects attacked a man near 100 Washington Street in Dorchester at night, took his gold chains, and left him needing hospital care.
A clerk at a Lynn convenience store was beaten behind his own counter on Halloween and hospitalized. A 22-year-old suspect was arrested days later.
A man with a sawed-off shotgun restrained two workers at a Brockton AT&T store in October 2025 and stole cash and electronics. Four people were charged.
A suspect entered a Ludlow home through a second-story window around 4:30 a.m. in October 2025, and may have left with cash, police said.
A masked man carried a large kitchen knife hidden in a shopping bag into Framingham's Dubom Supermarket on a weekday morning. Police arrested a suspect days later.
A man armed with two knives attacked the clerk at a Chelsea convenience store. The clerk was unarmed, the robber fled empty-handed, and police made an arrest.
A driver had his car taken at gunpoint at Bay and Cambridge Streets in Springfield on a September afternoon. Police found the car within an hour.
A masked gunman held up a Randolph gas station cashier in August 2025, one of three armed robberies police linked across Randolph and Quincy in a week.
An Uber driver stopped for a tree limb blocking a dark Lancaster road at 1 a.m. Two men came out of the woods, one pointing a gun at his passenger.
A father eating breakfast with his two young kids heard footsteps upstairs — then found a stranger on his staircase. Police say the man used a key from a contractor lockbox.
Police say a fake food order lured a delivery driver to a Methuen corner at 3 a.m., where he was held at gunpoint and his car was stolen. He was unharmed.
A man asked a Somerville clerk for cigarettes on a summer afternoon, then pulled a knife and demanded the register cash before running off.
Five masked men, most of them armed, ordered everyone in a North Andover jewelry store to the floor and ransacked it in minutes in July 2025.
A family's house sitter walked in on an intruder rushing out of their street-level South End apartment. She had slept, bathed, and taken jewelry, police said.
A Greenfield resident who uses a wheelchair woke to a masked, armed intruder at 5:45 a.m., fought him off, and escaped unharmed, police said.
Weeks after a similar Dorchester invasion, men posing as city workers got into a Blue Hill Avenue apartment, restrained the resident, and robbed him.
Two men posing as city workers knocked on an elderly Dorchester man's door, forced their way in, and tried to restrain him. One pointed a gun when he fought back.
Four men forced open the back door of a Park Grove Lane home in Shrewsbury. Neighbors' registered cameras helped police charge all four.
A man brandished what appeared to be a firearm at Shell station employees on Main Street in Tewksbury, taking cash and cigarettes. An arrest came a year later.
Medford police spent months searching for a man wanted on a home invasion warrant, warning residents he was considered armed and dangerous.
Two masked suspects, one reportedly armed, took an Uber Eats driver's car in Roslindale mid-afternoon. Three arrests followed the same day.
Two men walked into a North Main Street store in Leominster on a Monday afternoon, bound the owner's hands and ankles with duct tape, and robbed him at gunpoint.
At 5:17 p.m. on a January weekday, a masked man pointed a pistol at a Danvers CVS pharmacist and demanded she open the safe.
Wellesley officers interrupted a break-in in progress at a Livingston Road home at dinnertime, chasing two fleeing suspects with K9s, drones, and a helicopter.
On a Sunday afternoon, three intruders — one with a gun, two with knives — entered a Weld Street home while a man was inside with his dog, prosecutors said.
Two masked teens robbed a mail carrier at gunpoint on a Billerica street at 1:30 in the afternoon, taking his postal keys. A 15-year-old was later charged.
Twice in one Cambridge holiday weekend, sellers who arranged online sales met their buyer in person and were robbed at gunpoint of the merchandise.
Police tied one crew to 14 armed robberies at 11 Springfield-area stores between April and September 2024. Clerks were held at gunpoint over the register.
People sitting in their car at a Chicopee Street gas station had a stranger try to force his way in around midnight. Their shouts brought help fast.
A man who seemed to be asking about water walked behind the counter of a Chelsea food mart with a gun and took about $800 on a Friday afternoon.
A man followed two older women on their evening walk near Dudley and Clarence streets, then robbed them of their necklaces at gunpoint.
A Fall River gas station was robbed on a summer evening in 2024. Months of police work led to an arrest on armed robbery and assault charges.
A masked man held a gun to a Walmart cashier in North Adams on an August morning in 2024, fled in a stolen truck, and was caught after a pursuit.
Four Worcester delivery drivers were robbed in under a month in 2024, several at gunpoint on the same street, police said. One had his car stolen.
Newton logged 39 residential break-ins in 2024 — more than double the year before. One August weekend series ended in an arrest thanks to residents' tips.
A Northampton Walmart employee was struck by a car and robbed in the store's parking lot in July 2024. The attacker later pleaded guilty.
A Fall River man was approached by three strangers before 5 a.m. in July 2024. One showed a gun, and they drove off in his car. He was not hurt.
A shoplifter at the Auburn Mall pulled a knife and tried to stab a Macy's employee who stopped him, then fled — ending up in a pond behind the library.
A driver at New England and Talbot avenues in Dorchester was carjacked at gunpoint around 8 p.m.; the car was found abandoned nearby.
Two men wearing badges told an East Boston check-cashing owner he was under arrest, then took $240,000 and his car, police said.
On a May morning on Eastern Avenue in Malden, a stranger attacked a woman, took her iPad, and pulled a knife when she tried to document it.
A person sitting in a vehicle on a residential Randolph street was robbed at gunpoint at 1:20 p.m. on a Monday. Police chased down one suspect on foot.
A South Brookline homeowner watched on his security cameras as two masked men — one with a loaded pistol — tried to climb into his home's second floor.
Three men showed two handguns and demanded cash from the overnight clerk at a Norwell 7-Eleven before fleeing toward Hingham, police said.
Three masked men robbed a convenience store on West Main Street in Marlborough on a Friday night, one pointing a revolver at the cashier.
A masked man browsed an Everett convenience store like any shopper, then pulled a handgun on the clerk and emptied the register one April morning.
A man brandished a handgun at the Lipton Mart on West Housatonic Street in Pittsfield on a March evening in 2024 and left with cash.
Just after opening, an armed man walked into a Revere convenience store, held a gun to the clerk's head, and emptied the register in about five minutes.
A masked man demanded money at Call's Corner Store in Greenfield in March 2024, then grabbed the entire cash register and ran.
A Fall River market clerk chasing a shoplifter was ambushed outside by two men and sprayed with mace. A bystander stepped in and the pair fled.
A shoplifting stop at Plymouth's Colony Place Walmart turned into an armed robbery when a man pulled a knife on a store worker and threatened his life.
Two teens robbed a Domino's delivery driver at gunpoint on a Hyde Park street in the early afternoon, taking the food bag, police said.
Two men, one in a ski mask, confronted four UMass Amherst students in a campus parking lot on a January night in 2024 and demanded their money and IDs.
Two gunmen ordered employees at Milford's Aroma Brazil grocery to empty the registers while a getaway driver waited outside. Arrests followed within a week.
Armed men robbed a Lawrence jewelry store with employees inside, taking about $500,000 in jewelry and metals. Three men later faced federal charges.
A masked, armed man robbed Andy's Convenience in Tewksbury in November 2023. Two weeks of police work ended with an arrest in Lowell.
Two masked men forced their way into a home on Arkansas Drive in Dracut on a Thursday evening, restraining one resident and injuring another who came home mid-crime.
Armed men hit a South Attleboro lottery and smoke shop in October 2023, taking about $8,000. Police linked it to two other robberies within 40 minutes.
Two people robbed the 7-Eleven on Mt. Auburn Street in East Watertown at 3:15 a.m., telling the clerk they had a handgun. No one was hurt.
After a night pursuit out of Haverhill, an armed pair tried to take cars from drivers just over the state line. Two drivers got away; one woman lost her car at gunpoint.
A driver on Dunmore Street in Roxbury was forced out of his vehicle overnight by an armed carjacker, then flagged down police for help.
Agawam police searched for a man who assaulted and tried to rob a 74-year-old on Springfield Street on a June Sunday morning in 2023.
A man holding an open knife confronted a Marlborough gas station attendant at 10 p.m. over a card dispute. The attendant handed over $100 to end it.
Break-ins hit seven Allston-Brighton streets in a few weeks in 2023 — through unlocked doors, open windows, even removed AC units. One suspect was found inside a home.
At lunchtime on a Monday, a man in a horror-movie mask robbed a jewelry store inside the Northshore Mall after threatening to open fire.
On a Sunday evening in April 2023, an intruder forced his way into a Granite Street home in Quincy. Three people inside were hurt before he fled.
A man robbed a Falmouth bank at gunpoint on a Saturday morning in April 2023, claiming to have a bomb, then fled in a customer's stolen car.
A Fitchburg Cumberland Farms was robbed on a Tuesday night. A routine traffic stop in Leominster the next morning turned up a loaded gun and the suspect.
A motorist at a Speedway station on Washington Street in West Roxbury reported their car stolen at gunpoint on a Sunday, police said.
A masked man robbed a Bridge Street bank in Lowell just after 12:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. Police later arrested a suspect after weeks of searching.
The day after Christmas, a driver at Foodies Market on West Broadway faced an attempted carjacking and assault around 6:30 p.m., police said.
A 59-year-old Hyannis man withdrew cash at a Main Street ATM, was followed to a parking lot, and robbed at gunpoint. Police arrested a suspect a day later.
A Dunkin' manager leaving work with the day's deposit was forced into her own car at gunpoint in Salem, robbed, and left bound.
A woman on the walking trails behind Salem Street in Wilmington was approached by a man with a gun who demanded her phone and jewelry. Police released a sketch.
On the morning of July 4, 2022, a masked man with a rifle broke into a Barnstable home. A regional SWAT response ended with his arrest.
In one July weekend, a Gloucester sub shop was robbed by a man with a machete and a gas station by a man with a gun, back-to-back days.
A robber with a large knife demanded money from a Taunton gas station clerk in 2022. The clerk fought back, and the robber was later sent to prison.
A man met two strangers in a Burlington parking lot to sell a gold chain. One grabbed it, the driver hit the gas, and the seller was dragged before losing his grip.
A Brighton renter woke around 4 a.m. to a man standing in her bedroom. He fled when she screamed. Police believe he climbed in through a window.
A man walked into a Littleton Road gas station in Chelmsford with a machete and made the clerk empty the register. The clerk was unhurt; police sought the suspect.
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Every story on this page is drawn from local news reporting and linked to its original source. These pages are commentary by Boston Firearms Training Center — a Massachusetts firearms training school, not a news organization.