A 13-year-old boy in Ladson, South Carolina, sh*t and k*lled an armed intruder with six prior felony convictions during a home invasion while he was alone in the house, and the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office later ruled the sh*oting lawful self-defense.
The incident unfolded around 1:30 p.m. on a Tuesday when the boy, home alone, heard a commotion at the back of the house. According to an arrest affidavit, the boy saw a man trying to break into the back of the home, “at which time he feared for his safety” and grabbed his mother’s pistol. He fired through the door, and the man returned fire. As the two suspects fled in a gray Chevy Sonic, the boy kept firing, leaving the getaway car riddled with bullet holes.
The wounded man, identified by the Charleston County Coroner’s Office as 31-year-old Lamar Anthwan Brown of Summerville, had been struck three times. The driver, 28-year-old Ira Bennett of North Charleston, rushed him to Trident Medical Center, where Brown was pronounced d*ad. Authorities said Brown’s record included six felony drug charges and a weapons offense. Bennett was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and a judge later denied him bond, with a sheriff’s deputy citing “the serious nature of this crime.”
The boy’s mother told the Post and Courier that she had bought the g*n for protection but had never taught her son how to use it. “I tell my kids that if anything ever happens to call 911, but I also tell them to protect themselves if they have to,” she said. A neighbor, John Griffin, told WCBD he heard “like four or five g*nshots coming from the back and then a car came creeping from the backyard.”
The sheriff’s office did not pursue charges against the boy, concluding he acted in lawful self-defense while protecting himself and his home. Neighbors praised his quick thinking, though his family said the ordeal left them feeling unsafe in the house.
