11-Year-Old Uses Machete to Defend Himself Against Burglar: “I Knew I Had to Act”

(TMU) — An 11-year-old North Carolina boy was home alone on Friday when he was approached by a suspected burglar. The boy, Braydon Smith, defended himself with a machete.

Smith told the News & Observer that he “didn’t have any time to think” as the situation unfolded. He quickly grabbed a machete from the wall to fight off the would-be burglar, who has been identified as 19-year-old Jataveon Dashawn Hall.

Hall reportedly took Smith’s phone so he was unable to call 911. The 11-year-old explained what happened next:

“He pointed a pellet gun at me that was located in our house. And I knew that it wasn’t loaded, so I just sat down and got in my closet like he told me too. When I saw him try to put [the phone] in his pocket, I grabbed the machete off of my wall and went to hit him, and I hit him in the back of the head.”

After the failed burglary attempt, Hall fled with two other unidentified suspects and walked into a local hospital for treatment of the machete wound he received to the back of his head.

According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were soon notified that the suspect was at the hospital after local area hospitals were told to be on the lookout for someone with a head wound. Though Hall, unbeknownst to hospital staff and against their advice, quickly left after telling a nurse that “police were going to be looking for him.”

After realizing the suspect had fled the hospital, the sheriff’s office enlisted the help of the community to find the 19-year-old. On Sunday, a tip came in that Hall was hiding out at his mother and stepfather’s house.

He was arrested that same afternoon.

Hall has been charged with “breaking and entering, second-degree kidnapping, interfering with emergency communications and assault on a child under 12,” according to the News & Observer. He is currently in the Orange County jail on a $100,000 secured bail.

“I knew I had to act in the heat of the moment,” Smith said. “Always have your kids prepared for anything.”

By Emma Fiala | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com