12-Year-Old Boy Defends 73-Year-Old, Shoots, Kills Home Invader

Image of Linda Ellis, a family photo from WRAL.com Screenshot, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten

U.S.A.-(AmmoLand.com)- Between midnight and 1 a.m. on 13 February 2021, two young home invaders came to the door of 402 S. Williams St. in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The address is to a modest apartment complex, home of Linda Ellis, a 73-year-old grandmother.

Ellis son, Randolf Bunn, answered the door. As he opened it the two suspects forced their way in. They forced Bunn to the ground. At least one of them had a gun. They barged into the kitchen, where they encountered 73-Year-Old Linda. They shot her in the leg. From abc11.com:

“They came in the house, I open the door, I open it, and they came in there… One guy had a gun. They just put me down on the ground…” The [73-year-old woman] was in the kitchen, I don’t know why they shot her,” said the son of the woman, Randolph Bunn. He also happens to be the great-uncle of the child who fired the gun.

Goldsboro police said charges against the 12-year-old are not anticipated but the investigation is ongoing.

“[The intruder] just shot his grandma… He would have shot him too, he would’ve shot me too, he would’ve killed us all,” Bunn continued.

As this was happening, a 12-year-old boy, said to be Linda’s grandson, accessed a firearm and opened fire on the home invaders. They fled the house. The police arrived minutes later. They found Ellis, wounded.

A bit down the street, they found Khalil Herring, on the ground with a gunshot wound. Linda is recovering at the hospital. Khalil died from his wounds. From witn.com :

Police said a 12-year-old who lived in the apartment with Ellis is believed to have shot at the masked suspects with a gun in self-defense, according to the investigation. They say two masked suspects forced their way into the apartment and demanded money from Ellis and shot her.

Khalil Herring was 19 years old. The identity of his accomplice has not been released by the police.  The identity may be unknown, or the accomplice may be less than 18 years of age.

Linda Ellis’ great-niece, Chiquita Coley, is fed up with violent crime:

Chiquita Coley, identified by CNN affiliate WRAL as Ellis’ great-niece, said she couldn’t believe what happened.

“Why would somebody come into her house and do this? It’s got to stop,” Coley said. “I don’t know what they’re thinking around here in Goldsboro, but it’s got to stop.”

Young men do not start their criminal career with armed home invasions. In September 2019, a Khalil Jered Herring was arrested for Possession of a Stolen Motor Vehicle. His address was listed as 713 West Oak Street, Goldsboro, NC.  713 West Oak Street is about a mile from 402 S. Williams Street in Goldsboro. The two Khalil Herrings may be the same person.

Pre-teens often are capable of defending their homes and family with a firearm. 11-year-old Elliot Clark killed a charging grizzly with his shotgun, saving family members, in July of 2017. 12-year-old Alyssa Caldwell used a rifle to kill a mountain lion that was stalking her in 2014.

Alyssa and lion she shot in self defense. Image used with permission of Caldwell family, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten

From home invaders to charging grizzly bears, firearms are the great equalizer. They give pre-teens the power to stop adult criminals or other deadly predators.


About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

Dean Weingarten

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SEMPAI

Black Lives Matter, unless your black. Glad that young man had the presence of mind to do what needed to be done, he should be considered a hero not a suspect under investigation.
Perhaps the investigators should ask grandma her opinion.

Grigori

Agreed! That little man is a hero. He deserves to be treated as nothing less than that.

mlhtd51

I Love the way This Ended, “Stats Show that Criminals Commit Less Crime After Being Shot.” especially True when they Don’t Survive. Great Story Dean.

Laddyboy

My heart goes out to these young American Citizens who must use a gun in self defense. These young people will have to live with the knowledge of having to shoot another person.
Those THUGS, ROBERS, GRIFTERS and KILLERS take note; MORE and MORE American Citizens are becoming armed. You THUGS better tread softly if you want to continue being THUGS!!!! It would be MUCH BETTER WHEN you become GOOD Americans who live by OUR American Constitutional LAW OF THE LAND!!!!

Finnky

Firearms remain “the great equalizer”. More important for those who are less capable of protecting themselves without – such as children and the elderly.
Not claiming any of us can be certain of fighting off a grizzle or mountain lion, so we all need to carry …

Montana454Casull

That’s a perfect application of a firearm Lfor self defense, it’s the only thing armed criminals understand . Glad to hear that they were all OK after this attempted armed robbery and the victims all survived . The criminals got what they deserved ! The young man who took thier self defense into his own hands is a hero in my eyes .

Grigori

Stories like this warm my heart. I was raised with guns. My parents helped me hold my biological dad’s old 6″ S&W Model 10 and shoot light reloads at targets of opportunity at an old dump site/shooting range used by the shooting population of my home town. They tell me I was three at the time. Mas Ayoob over the decades has done an excellent job of chronicling incidents where guns being left in reach of responsible children made the difference of life over death for those children and their families. Guns were in reach for me and I knew… Read more »

Mikial

Lesson number one . . . never open the door to unexpected visitors. Lesson number two . . . always have a gun handy if/when you DO open the door.

Finally, good for the 12 year old for having the courage to refuse to be a helpless victim like the Democrats would have all of us be. Without the Second Amendments this would have ended up far differently.

RayJN

Dems would rather have the whole family killed than one of there precious criminals. Especially if one of the victims is a minor. The Dems consider self defense vigilantism.