Burglar Shot, Killed By Homeowner In Chicago Heights
CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. (CBS) -- He heard a noise and then he grabbed his gun. An elderly Chicago Heights man was talking Wednesday about why he shot and killed a teenager who allegedly broke into the man's home.
"My son was a victim of crime," Latisha Rhodes – the mother of the teenager who was killed – said of her son's walk down the path of crime.
As CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports, it was a walk 18-year-old Anterrio Hall paid for with his life on Tuesday, when he was shot dead after breaking into a Chicago Heights home.
"Being in this area is, it's just full of violence," Rhodes said. "It's too great."
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Chicago Heights police said Hall threw a rock through the back window of a home in the 300 block of Boston Street at about 8 a.m. Tuesday.
The homeowner was in his bathroom at the time and when he heard the sound of breaking glass, he grabbed his gun and went to the kitchen to find Hall standing on the kitchen table.
The man fired several shots at Hall, who jumped out the window and collapsed in the back yard. Hall was taken to Franciscan St. James Hospital and Health Care Centers in Olympia Fields, where he was pronounced dead later Tuesday morning.
The homeowner didn't want to go on camera on Wednesday, but said he believes the teen was trying to burglarize his home. "Yeah, I guess he was," the man said.
"If someone came into my home, a young child, I wouldn't shoot him dead. That's not justice," Rhodes said.
Neighbor Ed Mahan said, "It's very unfortunate; tragic."
But Mahan said it wasn't the first time his neighbor had been robbed.
"I know the old gentleman over there is sick. He has a nurse that comes in and goes to the hospital," Mahan said. "I heard that his house has been broken into maybe three or four times."
Police said it was the latest in a long line of neighborhood break-ins, most committed by young men.
Rhodes said she tried to get her son to move to Kentucky with her, but he refused.
"He's gonna learn, but do he have to learn through death?" Rhodes said.
Police said they don't expect any charges to be filed against the homeowner.
