Good thing he didn't wait for the police to defend him...

14-year-old Phoenix boy shoots armed intruder while babysitting siblings

On Friday, a 14-year-old Phoenix boy shot and nearly killed an armed intruder, My Fox Phoenix reported Friday.

The unidentified boy was babysitting his three younger siblings, ages 8, 10 and 12, when a woman rang the doorbell.

The young man did not open the door because he did not recognize the woman.

According to reports, the knocking turned into banging, and the boy rushed his siblings upstairs and grabbed his father’s handgun.

While at the top of the stairs, he saw an armed man break into the house through the front door.

Without hesitating, he fired at the intruder, wounding him. According to authorities, the intruder never fired a shot.

The unidentified 37-year-old man was taken to a hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, the Associated Press reported. The man’s name is being withheld until he is booked into jail on counts of aggravated assault and burglary. Police say they still do not know the man’s intentions.

Police are still looking for the woman, who got away.

“The police and indeed our community does not ever want to see a situation where a teenager of that age has to take a weapon to protect his family … but this young man did exactly what he should have done,” said Officer James Holmes.

“I’m not sure he gave full thought about what he had to do. He just acted.”

Members of the unidentified family were too traumatized to speak with reporters about the incident.

“The dad was pretty much out of his mind with distress, officers couldn’t even talk to him,” Officer Holmes said. “It’s going to take them a while to recover mentally.”

According to Officer Holmes, the couple took “a heck of a gamble” going after a house that sits mid-block at 4:30 in the afternoon, but said the family is lucky the young man acted so swiftly and effectively.

“As ugly as this is, and as much as this family is going through, we don’t have injured children on our hands,” he added.

According to Fox, authorities say anyone with information should contact Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.

There are still a “lot more questions than answers” at this time, Fox reported.

Link:
http://www.federaljack.com/?p=178564