Off The Record
13-Year-Old Boy Stops Kidnapper With A $3 Toy His Mom Bought For Him
Owen Burns had just gotten home from school on a normal afternoon when he heard his sister yelling.
He didn’t take her cries for help seriously and was annoyed by their intrusion.
He was taken aback by what he saw outside his window, but he collected himself quickly enough to make a decision that would save his life.
Owen Burns had just gotten settled in to play “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” on his PlayStation 3 when he heard his sister yelling from the backyard.
The tween, who was just 13, became mad because she felt she was playing around.
The adolescent peered out the window and saw an unknown man attempting to drag his sister, then aged eight, into the woods that bordered their property.
In a frantic attempt to defend himself, the young man retrieved his slingshot and stocked up on the nearest ammunition he could find: a marble and a rock. He took aim at the abductor and aimed for the head.
He struck him in the chest the second time. I heard him cussing. Owen said to the media, “He was cursing.”
The terrifying scene took place in the Burns’ front yard in Alpena Township, Michigan, during the day.
Their mom Maggie Burns said that kidnappings were quite rare in their neighborhood.
His younger sister, then 8 years old, escaped unharmed but likely traumatized from the ordeal.
The Michigan State Police have confirmed that a 17-year-old would be charged as an adult in connection with the kidnapping.
“He really is the one that … I believe saved his sister’s either life or from something seriously bad happening to her,” Lt. John Grimshaw said at a news conference, calling Owen’s actions “extraordinary.” This young boy’s actions were nothing short of heroic!
He went on to say that the young man deserved praise for his initiatives.
The teen’s slingshot wasn’t any more extraordinary than any other. His mom got it on sale for three dollars.
The adolescent reportedly practiced his aim by shooting at empty orange juice containers in the yard.
The adolescent stated that his first impression upon witnessing a kidnapper attempting to take his sister was that the stranger would either make his sister a sex slave or kill her.
According to Grimshaw, the abductor “came from behind her, grabbed her like you see in the movies — hand over the mouth, arm around the waist — and was attempting to pull her into the woods.”
Owen pulled out his sling and shot at the man.
After his sister escaped from her captor, she went sobbing into the house to tell her brother that she had nearly lost her life.
Owen stormed outdoors, yelling cursive words at the kidnapper.
He threw a baseball at him, but it went wide. The third time he tried to strike him with the slingshot, the rubber broke, rendering the weapon useless.
The kids got in touch with their mom, who had stopped by a relative’s house on her way home from work to lend a hand. She overheard the word “kidnapper” through her children’s ramblings and frantic phone calls, prompting her to return home and contact the authorities.
“I was in shock for a few days,” Maggie explained.
The kidnapper, a 17-year-old, was tracked down to a petrol station in the area.
In the end, he was taken to the District Court for Alpena County and charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted felony assault, and misdemeanor assault and battery.
“He had obvious signs of an injury consistent with those that would have been sustained from the slingshot strikes to his head and chest,” police said in a press release.
Maggie expressed doubt that his son had successfully hit the abductor in the forehead and torso from 200 feet away. The police validated the story, saying the suspect’s marble-induced goose egg kept expanding throughout the interview.
“You said I always lie!” Owen said to his mother.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” she replied. “It just didn’t sound real, until there was proof. It sounds like something you would see in the movies.”
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13-year-old boy stops kidnapper with a $3 toy his mom bought for him
“Mom,” the teenager said, “stuff in the movies can and do happen in real life.” Clearly this young man is a hero!
What a beautiful tale of a big brother’s courageous efforts to keep his little sister safe.
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