Police: 14-year-old shot intruder in Laveen home

[mvccd1000]

I'm not sure where I come down on this one. Clearly the gun was accessible to the kid, which I generally think is a bad idea. What's not as clear (but seems to be indicated by the result) is that this 14-year old knew how to handle the gun and was responsible enough to use it.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/22/20120622laveen-police-person-shot-critical-abrk.html

A 14-year-old boy shot an intruder at a Laveen home near 55th and Minton avenues Friday afternoon, police said.

The boy was home with his three siblings, ranging in ages from 8 years old to 12 years old, when he saw a woman they did not recognize at the front of the house around 4:30 p.m. She began pounding on the door, said James Holmes, a Phoenix police spokesman.

The boy went upstairs and got a handgun, police said. A man with a rifle had forced his way into the home. He aimed the gun at the boy, and the boy shot him, police said.

The boy and his three siblings left the house and went to a neighbor's house, where the boy called police and his father, Holmes said.

Question: Why was this house targeted? I have a very hard time believing homes are randomly picked for armed invasions. I don't have any sympathy for homeowners (or their kids) who have to defend themselves because they have a house full of stolen property or drugs.

[hrmjustin]

1. I agree there are alot of questions but the kid was in a kill or be killed moment.

[gejohnston]

2. may I disagree with a couple of things

I don't have any sympathy for homeowners (or their kids) who have to defend themselves because they have a house full of stolen property or drugs.

I have sympathy for the kids and any innocent adults. As for why the house was targeted, who knows.

[pnwmom]

3. Why assume the only valuables in this house were illegal? nt

[mvccd1000]

4. Because it's in Laveen? :)

Sorry, that's a rather flip answer (and written in jest), but you raise a good point.

My dad had a restaurant for a while. If he didn't happen to stop at the bank after closing, he often had thousands of dollars in small bills at home until the next day.

This person could have just sold a vehicle to someone on Craigslist who then knew that he had a pile of cash, or he could have advertised an expensive TV or firearm on backpage and had a potential buyer look and then back out (leaving someone who knows where he lives and what he has in the house).

There are many legal ways to attract the attention of someone with bad intentions. I'm glad the victims are ok, not terribly unhappy that a criminal who has no compunction against armed home invasion probably won't be continuing in his career.

[pnwmom]

9. Yes, that's the kind of thing I had in mind. nt

[Upton]

5. What are you saying?

You mean if I have some pot in my house (after all, it's technically an illegal drug) it's alright with you if somebody invades my home?

Well, screw that..

[mvccd1000]

7. If you think you'll face an armed invasion...

... to pick up a bag of weed, you're probably more paranoid than the average person.

If you have a garage full of bales of weed, though, and somebody decides that's worth the risk of breaking into your house while armed, yes, I'd say you invited it.

If you're the neighborhood meth dealer and everybody knows you've been out all week, but you told them all to come by on Friday, I won't have much sympathy if the first one through the door decides to shoot you for it. (I won't have much sympathy if you manage to plug him, too, but I'll still feel that you invited the whole mess.)

[Bum_Whisperer]

6. So you would have rather seen the kid kidnapped, raped, killed or what?

I got my first firearm when I was 12 years old and I knew how to use it then as well as I do now. Just because you feel you're not responsible enough to own and use a firearm, doesn't mean that EVERYONE is the same as you. The kid did good and is not a victim.

[mvccd1000]

8. How nice for you.

I'm sure I've been responsible since well before that age, too. Since you're twisting what I said, though, I'll repeat it here: "Clearly the gun was accessible to the kid, which I generally think is a bad idea." You can feel that way or not, but the article said there were kids ranging from 8-14 in the house. I "generally" don't think it's a good idea to leave an unsecured gun around kids that age.

I'd rather there hadn't been a break-in at all, as long as you're living in "what-if" land. Since we're dealing with reality, however, I'm curious why this particular house was targeted, and why it was targeted when no adults were present. Sounds like somebody thought it contained something worth risking some lives over.

The right person got shot, but I have to wonder if the homeowners created a situation that made something like this more likely.

[Bum_Whisperer]

11. You're comprehension skills aren't as good as your spin skills...

Ah, but I didn't twist anything. I said I was responsible enough to own my own firearm when I was 12 (two years younger than this kid) and I had access to my dad's firearms prior to that. It is GENERALLY a bad idea not to teach young ones firearms safety and usage, which apparently wasn't the case with this 14 y.o.

Your wanting to deny reality by saying you want no break ins is the "what-if" fantasy land you are accusing me of being in. Everything I have written is based on my personal experiences and reality. I have no reason to lie about it and I could care less if you believe it. It's MY life, not yours and I live in an area where over 90% of the population have guns. In reality, we hardly have any crime.

If you don't want to own a firearm...good. If you don't want your kids to have access to one...excellent. If you really believe all of this, you should announce it to everyone with a sign in your front yard stating "There are no firearms on this property" and I'm certain the crooks will pass it by because they never want to have the upper hand over their victims. They play by the rules and are fair...that's why they are criminals.

Maybe instead of trying to blame the parents not denying access of a firearm to a young man and fabricating reasons why the parents created a reason for a break in, you could get your head out of your fourth pint and see that the reality of life is that someone might randomly pick your place to burglarize.

I'm certain that would never happen though...not in your reality anyway.

[mvccd1000]

13. Umm...

... I think after you've been here a little while and read a few threads, you'll realize that I'm a pro-gun poster who supports constitutional carry (which my state has - does yours?), and none of the silly permit or registration processes so many of the rest of you have to go through.

I regularly open carry, and often take new people shooting. I don't think I've yet seen a gun control law I support, and I often post here and write to my legislators in support of laws to expand our 2A rights.

I still GENERALLY don't believe it's a good idea to leave an unsecured gun around a group of 8-14 year old kids. Your personal experience has no bearing on this opinion.

Have a nice day...

[ileus]

10. @14 I had 3 guns that hung on my wall in my bedroom.

My bolt action 22
My 20 ga shotgun
and my ole trusty 35 Remingtion Marlin Lever action (wish I still had this)

[NewMoonTherian]

12. Maybe the gun was secured.

Maybe the 14-year-old was given the key or combination because he had earned that trust. That's all speculation, of course, but he was put in charge of his three younger siblings when no adult were present. At 14, I wouldn't have been trusted with a gun OR younger siblings, but I was a screwup. I also wasn't left home alone much.

As for what the parents were into that may have precipitated this, I absolutely do not care in the slightest. This guy broke into a home full of kids and pulled a gun on them. He needed to be planted and I'm sorry that he and his accomplice survived. That is true even if Dad had stolen nuclear launch codes and mutated anthrax (for duck huntin') between the mattresses.

[mvccd1000]

14. Yes, that's true...

... that the guy needed to be stopped and the reason he broke in didn't matter - as far as stopping him.

The best defense is a layered defense, however, and being known in the neighborhood as someone who has a house full of meth, cash, or stolen property is a good way to attract unwanted attention - there goes your first layer. In that case, while I wouldn't blame you for anything that happened to the burglar (he made his own choices), I would hold you partly responsible for anything that happened to the kids. You made stupid choices that attracted stupid people, and you got your kids hurt as a result.

[NewMoonTherian]

15. Well that's something we can definitely agree on. n/t