What a brave kid

A 14-year-old boy in Laveen, Arizona was home alone with his three younger siblings (ages 8-12) yesterday afternoon when a strange woman started pounding on the door.  Things rapidly went south from there:

"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, [Phoenix Police spokesman James] Holmes said."

Make no mistake - this situation only turned out OK because this heroic young man had the proper tools and training available for repelling an apparent random home invasion.  This event otherwise may have turned out very differently indeed.  The cops agree:

"He took an action that no police officer, certainly no one in our community, wants a 14-year-old to have to take," Holmes said. "And yet he's safe, his siblings are safe, and so now we have to figure out why this happened and why these people were there."

It really doesn't matter, as far as we're concerned.  The alleged perpetrator is in the hospital in critical condition instead of the innocent kids.  Case closed.