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NY boy, 10, fires shot at intruder who dropped gun

A 10-year-old New York boy picked up the gun an intruder dropped while attempting to rob the boy's house and fired at the would-be-burglar, scaring him off. 

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AP
A NY boy, 10, used an intruder's weapon against him during an attempted robbery. Here, two school children gaze at the house where the incident took place, June 4.
  • By Staff Associated Press

| New York

A 10-year-old boy picked up a gun that was dropped in his home by a would-be robber dressed as a deliveryman and fired a shot, helping to chase away the intruder and a partner, police said Tuesday. No injuries were reported.

Two men in disguise knocked on the door to the Brooklyn house on Monday evening, and two teenage sisters opened the door, police said. In video released Tuesday, one man is seen carrying an open cardboard box and pushing his way into the home; a second man quickly follows.

The intruders went upstairs to the second floor. A woman, the owner of the home, then slammed a bedroom door on one of the men's arms.

The man dropped his gun, police said, and it was picked up by the owner's son, who fired a round that hit a wall. Police said one of the men fired back but no one was hit and the men fled the red-brick house without stealing anything. Police were investigating.

The two-family home is on a busy thoroughfare in Canarsie, a south Brooklyn residential neighborhood that ends at the Jamaica Bay. Other children were in the home at the time, but police said they didn't witness anything.

The family didn't answer the doorbell Tuesday. A handwritten note posted on the front door Tuesday told reporters not to ask for interviews and to respect that family members were still "traumatized on what occurred yesterday."

"We just want to continue with our daily routines," the note read.

Neighbors said the family moved to the area a few years ago and keeps to itself.

Neighbor Onika Rogers said she was shocked by the violence, describing the block as peaceful and quiet. She said Monday's home intrusion and gunfire made her worry for her own children, three sons around the same age as the 10-year-old boy.

"I'll call him brave," she said. "He's a brave little boy."

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