When a 13-year-old boy heard his 8-year-old sister screaming in the backyard, he looked out his window and saw a stranger attempting to drag the girl into the nearby woods. The teen quickly grabbed a $3 toy his mom had bought for him, and in an incredible move, he used it to stop the attempted abduction.
Owen Burns was initially annoyed when he heard his little sister making a commotion in the backyard of their Michigan home one day. He had just gotten home from school, and like most boys his age, he wanted to settle in and play a game on his PlayStation. His sister had chosen to go outside to play instead, deciding to hunt for mushrooms in the backyard, which backs up into some woods. Unfortunately, Owen’s gaming was soon disrupted by his little sister’s screams.
Initially, Owen assumed his sister was goofing around with her friends, but when he looked out his bedroom window to see what was going on, he spotted a stranger trying to drag his sister into the nearby woods. With one hand around her waist, the other was over the 8-year-old’s mouth in an attempt to stifle her screams as she struggled against him. Making matters worse, the children were alone, having arrived home before their parents. That’s when the 13-year-old decided to take matters into his own hands.
Unfortunately, the weapons available to Owen were limited, so he had to make do with a $3 toy his mom had bought for him. Turning to his bed, he grabbed his trusty slingshot and anything he could find for ammunition. After loading his slingshot with a marble, Owen pulled back the yellow plastic tubing, aiming the slingshot at the stranger some 200 feet away. From his open window, Owen let go, firing the slingshot.
After miraculously striking the stranger right between the eyes with his first shot, Owen loaded his slingshot again, this time with a rock. He fired at the stranger once more. This time, the teen hit the suspected kidnapper in the chest. His sister was able to free herself and ran inside crying, telling her brother that she had almost been killed. That’s when Owen stormed out of the house, yelling and cursing as the suspect started to take off.
“He was swearing. He was cussing,” Owen recalled, according to The Washington Post.
With the stranger running ahead of him, Owen grabbed a baseball and hurled it at him, hoping to stop him. When he missed, Owen returned to his trusty slingshot, but as he stretched the sling back, preparing to fire a third shot, the plastic band broke, causing Owen to smack himself in the face. This allowed the suspect time to escape — but not with the boy’s sister.
Thanks to his impressive aim, Owen’s sister was safe and he was being hailed a hero for neutralizing a scary situation that could have turned into a tragedy. What’s more, a 17-year-old local was eventually put behind bars, charged as an adult for allegedly attempting to abduct an 8-year-old from her backyard — all thanks to Owen’s heroic efforts.
“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, where he called Owen’s actions “extraordinary” and said the boy “should be commended for it.”
After the horrifying ordeal, the siblings called their mother. She rushed home and called the police, who found the 17-year-old suspect hiding at a nearby gas station. He was arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted felony assault, and misdemeanor assault and battery. As the suspect was being interviewed by investigators, the goose egg that Owen Burns had left on his head kept growing, proving that the police had the right guy and that Owen hadn’t been telling tall tales.
“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 news release, proving Owen hadn’t lied when he said he sniped the stranger from some 200 feet away.
As for the slingshot, it was nothing fancy. In fact, Owen’s mother had purchased it on clearance a couple of years prior. Thankfully, the teen had put it to good use, occasionally taking it outside, where he would practice his shot using old orange juice cans as targets. Just like David and Goliath, this kid is a legend, and I’m sure his mom would agree that the $3 slingshot was the best money she ever spent. After all, Owen Burns didn’t just save his sister. He saved his entire family from unimaginable trauma. Job well done, young man.
