A home invader got more than he bargained for when an 11 year-old boy decided to fight back.
Braydon Smith was alone when there was a knock on the door of his home in Mebane, North Carolina. According to police, when Braydon went to answer it Jataveon Hall, 19, broke in through a window. Hall forced Braydon into a closet while he tried to take items out of the house, according to local television station ABC 11.
The boy got out of the closet, grabbed a machete and hit Hall on the back of the head. Hall kicked the boy but when he realized he was bleeding, he dropped what he was carrying and fled.
Hall checked into a nearby hospital for the wound and left against medical advice, telling nurses he needed to go because police were going to be looking for him. He was arrested the next day and is charged with breaking and entering, kidnapping, assault on a child younger than 12, and interfering with emergency communications.
“I grabbed my machete off my wall and went to hit him,” Braydon told a local TV station. “I knew I had to act in the heat of the moment.”
“I knew I had to act in the heat of the moment.”
11-year-old boy who hit an alleged robber with a machete says he knew he didn’t have time be afraid. https://t.co/uXfVkhKgZT pic.twitter.com/31eSoHGMxS
— ABC News (@ABC) June 17, 2019
Braydon said: “He pointed a pellet gun at me that was located in our house. I knew that it wasn’t loaded so I just sat down and got in my closet like he told me to. He went into the living room to grab my phone to make sure I didn’t call the 911 or anything. When I saw him try to put it in his pocket. I grabbed my machete off of my wall and went to hit him. I hit him in the back of the head like right here.”
Addressing his attacker, Braydon said: “You shouldn’t have done what you’ve done. You’re better off to get a job than breaking into other people’s houses.”
His father Christopher Smith said son was acting on instructions he had given him a few years earlier when thieves ransacked their home: “If they come in the door, you let ’em have it.”
Local sheriff Charles Blackwood said: “Not only did this youngster thwart the larceny attempt, he created blood evidence that very well may lead to a conviction in this case. This is very tough kid who kept his wits about him. At the same time, I want to reflect that this youngster, his family, and indeed this community, are very lucky this event did not have a tragic ending for the child.”
