It was a Friday night in March when Jeremy and Becky Wilson had their world turned upside down. They'd taken their 7-year-old son to his basketball game and gone out for dinner afterward—a rare Friday evening away from home.

When they returned at around 8:40 PM, Jeremy noticed something odd as he pulled into the driveway.

"The motion light in the garage was on," says Jeremy. "Then I saw the entry door from the garage to the house was wide open."

As Jeremy cautiously entered his home, he immediately sensed something was wrong. The house was unusually warm, there was a strange smell in the air, and the door to the master bedroom was closed, when it should have been open.

As he walked down the hallway, the full reality of the situation became clear.

"I see what I first recognized as my gardening tool from the garage stuck in the top of the safe," says Jeremy. "Then I see a crowbar, and it's still bouncing up and down in the air like someone had just let go of it."

Jeremy realized his home was in the middle of a burglary—and it was possible the intruders were still in the house. He quickly backed out, called 911, and made sure Becky and their children stayed safely outside.

The burglars had been extremely methodical. Based on footage from the family’s security cameras, they could see that the robbers wore Tyvek suits, gloves, and masks. They had scoured Jeremy's garage for tools that might help them break into his Browning Safe. They'd even used his ratchet set to change the grinding wheel on his hand grinder to one that could cut metal.

"Based on our security camera photos, they were in that office for close to 45 minutes just trying to get that safe open," says Becky. "The bulk of the time they spent in our house was trying to get that safe open—and they never did."

The burglars had managed to cut off both of the safe's external hinges using the grinder, creating a shower of sparks that was captured in the reflection on the Wilsons' security camera. But despite their determined efforts, the Browning Safe's locking mechanism held firm.

"They went through our garage and found every tool that they thought could get in that safe," says Becky. "But the lock—the locking mechanism itself—stopped them."

Inside the safe were irreplaceable family heirlooms—shotguns passed down through generations, including one that had belonged to Jeremy's great-grandfather, a circuit-riding pastor in Kentucky.

"There's a lot of things in there, as far as on the weapon side, that were handed down and irreplaceable," says Jeremy. "Along with wedding pictures, financial documents, and pictures of great-great-grandparents."

The safe also contained some of Becky's family jewelry and gemstones from her grandmothers, as well as treasured family photos stored on CDs—items with deep personal value, stored in the safe in case of fire or theft.

"For me, the things that were in the safe were completely sentimental," says Becky.

When Jeremy originally purchased his Browning Pro Series safe in 2019, it wasn't with burglaries in mind. "It wasn't ever bought with the intent of keeping robbers out of our house," he says. "It was always just about protecting family from things that you have until they're educated, or in case of a fire."

But now, having experienced firsthand how effectively it protected their valuables against determined thieves, Jeremy is unwavering about his next purchase.

"Do I intend on replacing it with a Browning? Absolutely."