A 14-year-old Las Vegas boy armed with a .22-caliber rifle protected his 6-year-old siblings during a brazen daytime home invasion.
Andrew Mason was watching over his brother and sister when he heard a “thud” at the door. He didn’t answer, but the knocking got louder, until ultimately the suspects broke down the door.
“It’s pretty intense,” said Andrew. “Once I heard that thud on the door, my heart was just racing.”
But Andrew’s parents had walked their son through this scenario on more than one occasion, instructing him to never answer the door, and how to defend himself and the family if necessary.
Andrew followed his parents’ lessons to the letter. He ordered his young siblings to hide in a closet while he grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and a cell phone.
Armed with his rifle and his wits, Andrew joined his siblings in the darkened closet.
Andrew and his siblings waited quietly while the thugs rummaged through the house. The crooks eventually found their to the closet, but when they opened the door and stared down at the rifle, they decided it was time to leave.
No shots were fired during the home invasion and no one was injured. Mason said he was proud of his son for protecting the family while he was away, and even called him a hero.
The proud father is an ardent Second Amendment advocate who believes in the right to keep and bear arms, and even takes his children to the firing range to keep their skills sharp.
The dad was happy Andrew and his kids were okay, but furious that they were put in that position in the first place.
“It truly angers you,” said Mason. “My wife and I work very hard. We don’t bother anyone, and for someone to come violate our family, our household, it really is upsetting.”
A recently installed surveillance system captured some images of the suspects as they entered and exited the house. Hopefully the authorities can use these to bring the thieves to justice.
(This article was a submission from freelance writer Brent Rogers; H/T Guns.com)
James suggestion is well reasoned and sound..
I suggest a sleight modification..
Once a determination has been made not to answer the door..
Use a handy little club to bang on an interior wall close to where the potential assailant is outside.. Alternatively bang on a couple pots and pans.. In other words make sufficient noise to insure the potential threat outside knows the home is occupied.
This is a bit better choice because it denies intelligence to the potential threat as to the gender, age and general disposition of person/s in the home. It also reduces the chances the innocents inside will be manipulated/tricked into opening the door.
Among’st this crowd it might be hard to believe that is possible at least for adults.. I am sure James can attest to the fact that this happens more often than we might think in many situations.
Get this boy an AR15 for Christmas this year.
This young man is a hero and someone to be very proud of. His parents are to be commended for
instituting a safe plan and training the kids properly. I disagree with answering the door, even if not opening it. If he had, the crooks would have reaffirmed that no adult was home. They might have seen the parents leave, anyway. But why assist them? Every home invader deserves to be shot, twice!
The article says the 14 year old DID NOT answer the door.
“Andrew Mason was watching over his brother and sister when he heard a “thud” at the door. He didn’t answer, but the knocking got louder, until ultimately the suspects broke down the door.”
I love it when a plan comes together! Clear thought, preparation, simplicity = ready to respond in a crisis.
Lots of good advice from James (above), although I missed it if he said “arm yourself” as part of the response.
Nonetheless, success is success, and as a famous lawman once said, “there are no second place winners.”
Usually better to answer the door. That does not mean opening the door!
Good job!
However, another burglary that likely could’ve been avoided in the first place if…….he had just responded to the initial knocks.
I was a street cop in Miami for the last 25 years, retiring in 2013 & have responded to several hundreds of burglaries in my career.
Today’s scumbag does not just show up & kick in the door, break a window & crawl in, etc. After choosing their target de jour, they ALL knock first & wait for a response (or lack of). If there is none, they make their move……either by the front door kick/pry, or around the back or sides for another point of entry. If they get a response, they ask for ‘John, Tony, Miguel, Tre-Tre’….pick your nomenclature. When they get a response & are advised that the person sought is ‘not here, wrong house’, they move on. When they pick a target, they know that it’s very possible that there is someone home, even if it looks like there isn’t, but they don’t want to get busted or shot. Almost all home burglaries occur during daytime hours, because the scumbag knows that this is when most people are at work….with a bonifide job, unlike them. The impression that a lot of burglaries happen at night while you’re sleeping is a fallacy perpetrated by movies & t.v. shows. At businesses, yes. Homes, no. The residential ‘Cat Burglar’ is very rare. So they try to find out if there’s anyone home…..by knocking first. They know that kids stay home sick, there might be an elderly person inside, etc. They don’t want that house. They’re cowards & want no interaction with a resident at all. Residents can pull a trigger or call 911.
The instruction by parents to their kids to ‘never answer the door to a stranger’ from decades ago has unfortunately morphed into ‘keep quiet & don’t let anyone at the door know that you’re inside’. Very bad idea. There are parents that actually teach this nowadays, right along with ‘if anything happens, call me first!’ Equally as bad. Please….to any of you that have told your kids this, or any member of your household……retract it. Tonight. Tell them instead that if they are home with no adult present & someone knocks, immediately go to the door & ask loudly ‘who is it!?’ When the scumbag asks for his chosen nomenclature, your child should respond with the ‘no one here by that name!’ then even louder over his/her shoulder ‘Dad!! There’s someone at the door!!! Scumbag leaves, which is the optimum result. Their next step should be to grab their phone (which is likely already in his/her hand as they seem to be surgically attached to kids nowadays) & call 911…..not you, not anyone else. 911. If they can look out of the door peep-hole or move to another room & look out of a window to get us a description of the person, vehicle description, tag (awesome!), even better. 911 for someone knocking? You bet! I can’t tell how many idiotic things some people call 911 for, so to use it to report a potential burglary in progress, even if the subject(s) is departing, is absolutely justified. When dispatch answers, have the kid tell the operator that someone IS (not was) banging on the door, he/she is home without parents & he/she thinks the person is trying to break in. That immediately escalates this call to a ‘in progress’ call, which get’s units enroute immediately. Them calling you instead, does nothing other than delay us from being aware that the scumbag is in your area or keeps us from even knowing that it occurred. If called first & the parent asks ‘is he gone?’ & the response is in the affirmative, most parents don’t have the kid (or they don’t) call us. They don’t see it for what it most likely was…..a burglary attempt. The parent typically assumes, ‘guy had the wrong house’ & we’re never even called. Ummmm, probably not a guy at the wrong house. The guy is out there hunting. If we’re never called, all that does is allow him to move a few blocks over, or to move to another neighborhood. Have your kids verbally answer to any knocks at your door & have them call 911 before calling anyone else…..they can always call you afterwards. You can’t get there before we can. It’s what we get paid for.
Amen!
Spot on James. Every parent should teach their kids this. Also, if you have an elderly parent who lives alone they need to know this also. My late father in law had a cranked up low life banging on the door one night and he let the guy know there was someone in the house but never called 911, even when the low life was persistent. Eventually, the low life wandered away, as I recall he accosted on of the neighbors. Had 911 been called the guy would have been apprehended.
This kid is 14 and NOT a 25 year police veteran. In the story it made no difference to the intruders that anyone was home.
He DID call 911.. but as you know response time is KNOWN to the intruders. Don’t believe this was random.
I suppose if at the knock- the boy had hollored out “Hey DAD” someones at the door- that may have worked for the creeps to scram.
* However just if those thiefs had cased out that neighborhood long enough and thoro enuff to “KNOW” dad wasn’t there.
The creeps would’ve realized the kids are “HOME ALONE” and kicked down the door that same second before the lad could react or act.
Then those children could be used as witnesses- but the crux of it is that thot would’ve weighed on the thieves minds as they robbed the place possibly causing them to them murder them all.
Just thinking out loud here; better to have really solid locks+doors on your house that can’t be kicked in(with dead bolts).
Giving good time to gather ones wits and better deal with the situation;
like call 911 w/location, desriptions, vehicles and direction taken…
Good kid! Great Dad! Wonderful family! Need I say more?
Great story and a happy ending. People we are watching the report on the news, stop saying such silly things about it not being reported. Could we have better coverage? Of course.
Beautiful! That’s why people keep, and carry firearms in this wonderul country. That’s why there is a second ammendment. In order to PROTECT ourselves and our loved ones. The police are not always available in a moments notice.
Don’t let anyone turn “the right to bear arms” into anything else. Don’t ever believe that by taking away this right, we will be living in a safer environment.
GUNS don’t kill innocent people, THUGS and IDIOTS kill innocent people.
Yes and tyrannical criminal governments kill thousands of times more.
Great job young man great job, and fine teaching from your parents that enabled you to keep cool and do the job right bravo bravo bravo to all involved. This is what it is all about when we speak of God given rights and a man’s right to defend himself and his loved ones. This is a prime example of why those that wish to remain unarmed, and or disarm others are dead wrong. Like the one commentor said, this article will not be shown on the local news, nor will it hit the local newspapers.
One more suggestion, though–but a dead bolt on the door of the closet you plan on hiding in.
(Samuel Segal invented the vertical dead bolt. I owe my life to him.)
lol. i don’t understand what you people are talking about saying this won’t be on the local news or the newspaper. did you not watch the video? it was on the local news station. that’s what the article is based on!
Of course this pro-gun news NEVER reaches the Major networks!
NEVER! It wouldn’t fit their gun grabbing at all cost M/O.
Way to go, kid! Way to go, dad!
uh…you’re saying fox isn’t a major network? or are you suggesting that a couple teenagers breaking into a home in the middle of the day after school and being stopped by (very fine) young man with a rifle warrants national coverage?
A young Hero indeed! Way to go, young man! And way to go Pro2A family! Both those parents should be very proud of what they have taught those kids….no doubt it saved their lives. In light of all the stories of evil doers out there these days, it’s good to hear a stories with happy endings.
Fine young man you have there sir….mature and responsible beyond his years… Well done dad and mom.
Hero. Question. 3 kids alone and a home invasion in progress. Yet the police didn’t get there in a timely fashion. Perfect example of taking care of our own safety. Kudos to these kids and their parents.