When Seconds Count Cops Are Usually Minutes Away

So this 14-year old took matters into his own hands and possibly saved himself and his siblings:

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.

"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."

He was obviously well prepared for the situation. Good job.