The recent murder of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Horton and her husband Mark has dropped jaws across the country. The couple were gunned down in their home by someone masquerading as a police officer. Obviously, he was able to fool them long enough to kill them.

Moments before and only 5 miles away he had visited the home of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, shooting them multiple times, most likely thinking he was leaving them for dead. At this writing they are expected to survive.

Such an intrusion scares citizens because criminals copy the acts of other criminals. How do we know if a legitimate police officer is knocking on our door, whether it is the middle of the night or the middle of the day?

Two officers should make the visit and announce themselves as police loud and clear. They should clearly state the reason for the visit before entering a home. Flashlights or outside lighting should be on to help with visibility and identification. Uniforms should be visible with badges and IDs. The knock pattern should be a firm knock or doorbell press, and then they should announce themselves as police again. There should be a 30-second to one-minute wait for a response from the resident before knocking or ringing the doorbell again. For a search warrant, the warrant should be shown before entry.

Your local sheriff or city chief of police may have a different protocol and it needs to be made known.

Unfortunately, this still does not keep a criminal from copying the protocol to achieve their criminal endeavor.

I believe 99% of Americans are good law-abiding people. However, no one wants to be caught off guard by a criminal invasion.

Representative Horton would not have wanted to mistakenly shoot a real police officer who might have been doing his job to protect her. Sadly, the man was there to kill her and her husband. He succeeded.

This is why door-knocking after dusk is a bad idea unless you have a prearranged appointment and everyone knows who everyone is and the reason for the visit.

When I was 12 years old, I was home alone while my parents were at church. About 8 o’clock it was pitch black with darkness and a man started knocking on our front door. He then went to the back door and started knocking. He then came back to the front door and continued pounding the door. I was terrified. I did not know who it could be. So I loaded our 12-gauge shotgun and aimed it at the front door in fear he would soon be coming through.

Like a fool, I opened the door but knew the outer storm door was locked. I had the shotgun close by. The man asked if my dad was home, to which I replied, “No. he’s gone to church.” He then inquired if my father still had hogs for sale, to which I replied, “Yes, but you’ll need to speak to him about that.” The man said he would come back later.

To this day I do not know who that man was, but I am glad I did not shoot him.

It is too bad Representative Horton or Senator Hoffman did not shoot the man knocking on their door in the middle of the night.

Knocking on doors at night is a bad idea.

Dr. Glenn Mollette is the author of “Uncommon Sense” and 13 other books.