JaxChris
09-24-2009, 12:38 AM
I think the kid should be left alone and isn't required to answer a bunch of questions. He acted within his rights and halted a forcible felony that was in progress.
I'm just sorry he didn't have a larger caliber or higher powered weapon in the home.
Robber-shooting teen worried for his family
The 18-year-old now frets about leaving his mother and sister alone in their home.
By Erin Sullivan
esullivan@tampabay.com
According to Michael Henry, this is what happened Monday afternoon: He was home alone, playing games on his computer, when his two dogs began barking. Signs on the gate around his Shady Hills mobile home warn trespassers to beware of dogs, but Henry’s pets wouldn’t stop the mailman, let alone a prowler. A chi*huahua named Pee Wee and a terrier mix named Boomer, both tiny, were outside and wouldn’t stop barking.
Henry, who is 18, looked through a window and saw three people in his yard. They wore black ski masks, only their eyes and mouths showing. They were dressed in black. One carried a tire iron, the other a cane.
Henr y heard the knob on the front door twisting.
They were trying to get inside.
The phone was on the other side of the house. Henry didn’t think he would make it there in time. He didn’t know what weapon the third person carried — if any at all. He had a feel*ing they didn’t care if anyone was in the house.
Henr y grabbed his late grandfa*ther’s .22-caliber rifle. Henry’s father isn’t in his life. It’s just him, his mom and his 13-year-old sister.
T he masked people were still at the door, twisting, kicking, trying to get in.
Henry ran at the door and flung it open and shot once, not knowing if he hit anyone. Then he shut the door, locked it and ran to call 911.
The would-be intruders fled the scene. According to Kevin Doll, spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, one of the suspects was shot, though Doll did not give more specific information. Doll said it appeared the other suspects dropped off the wounded teenage boy at a hos*pital and kept going. The teenager’s name has not been released. He is in stable condition, Doll said. The other suspects are at large. There had been no arrests as of Tuesday evening.
The case, Doll said, remains “under investigation.”
Tuesday afternoon, Henry was still shaken.
“I don’t know who they are, what they came here for or if they are com*ing back,” he said, standing at his gate. He used to go hunting with his dad, he said. But he has never shot anything bigger than a squirrel.
“I feel bad I had to hurt somebody,” he said. “In my mind, there was no other option.”
After deputies arrived, Henry went outside to tr y to find his dogs. He wor*ried the strangers might have hurt them. Or worse. But he found Pee Wee and Boomer unharmed.
Henry couldn’t stop thinking about the what-ifs — what if his sister had been home alone when this happened? What if it was his mom? They don’t know anything about guns, he said.
“A weapon is useless unless you know how it works,” he said.
He plans to go into the Air Force soon. When he does, he doesn’ t want to leave his mom and sister alone here. He doesn’t feel like he was brave. He wishes none of this e ver happened. If anything, he said, he feels “lucky.”
“I shouldn’t have ever had to do that,” he said.
Researcher: Shirl Kennedy
I'm just sorry he didn't have a larger caliber or higher powered weapon in the home.
Robber-shooting teen worried for his family
The 18-year-old now frets about leaving his mother and sister alone in their home.
By Erin Sullivan
esullivan@tampabay.com
According to Michael Henry, this is what happened Monday afternoon: He was home alone, playing games on his computer, when his two dogs began barking. Signs on the gate around his Shady Hills mobile home warn trespassers to beware of dogs, but Henry’s pets wouldn’t stop the mailman, let alone a prowler. A chi*huahua named Pee Wee and a terrier mix named Boomer, both tiny, were outside and wouldn’t stop barking.
Henry, who is 18, looked through a window and saw three people in his yard. They wore black ski masks, only their eyes and mouths showing. They were dressed in black. One carried a tire iron, the other a cane.
Henr y heard the knob on the front door twisting.
They were trying to get inside.
The phone was on the other side of the house. Henry didn’t think he would make it there in time. He didn’t know what weapon the third person carried — if any at all. He had a feel*ing they didn’t care if anyone was in the house.
Henr y grabbed his late grandfa*ther’s .22-caliber rifle. Henry’s father isn’t in his life. It’s just him, his mom and his 13-year-old sister.
T he masked people were still at the door, twisting, kicking, trying to get in.
Henry ran at the door and flung it open and shot once, not knowing if he hit anyone. Then he shut the door, locked it and ran to call 911.
The would-be intruders fled the scene. According to Kevin Doll, spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, one of the suspects was shot, though Doll did not give more specific information. Doll said it appeared the other suspects dropped off the wounded teenage boy at a hos*pital and kept going. The teenager’s name has not been released. He is in stable condition, Doll said. The other suspects are at large. There had been no arrests as of Tuesday evening.
The case, Doll said, remains “under investigation.”
Tuesday afternoon, Henry was still shaken.
“I don’t know who they are, what they came here for or if they are com*ing back,” he said, standing at his gate. He used to go hunting with his dad, he said. But he has never shot anything bigger than a squirrel.
“I feel bad I had to hurt somebody,” he said. “In my mind, there was no other option.”
After deputies arrived, Henry went outside to tr y to find his dogs. He wor*ried the strangers might have hurt them. Or worse. But he found Pee Wee and Boomer unharmed.
Henry couldn’t stop thinking about the what-ifs — what if his sister had been home alone when this happened? What if it was his mom? They don’t know anything about guns, he said.
“A weapon is useless unless you know how it works,” he said.
He plans to go into the Air Force soon. When he does, he doesn’ t want to leave his mom and sister alone here. He doesn’t feel like he was brave. He wishes none of this e ver happened. If anything, he said, he feels “lucky.”
“I shouldn’t have ever had to do that,” he said.
Researcher: Shirl Kennedy