SWITZER, S.C. -- An 11-year-old boy 'acted very wisely' in shooting two burglars when the fifth-grader realized that he could not escape from his house, authorities said.
But despite praise from police, William Todd Knight wept when he found out he had killed the two intruders with the .22-caliber rifle his father gave him for Christmas.
The boy told police that he heard noises Monday at the front door shortly after his older sister left him alone in the rural Spartanburg County home to attend a high school beauty pageant rehearsal. Their parents were at work.
'They pounded on the door, and when he looked out the window, he said they looked pretty rough,' said Russell Moore, the boy's grandfather, said Tuesday. 'He didn't answer the door.'
The men apparently left the house when William did not answer the door, county coroner Jim Burnett said, but they returned about 10 minutes later.
William was in his parents' bedroom watching cartoons on television and heard the intruders enter the house through a rear window.
The fifth grader at Woodruff Elementary School, hoping to escape, slipped into the bathroom, but realized he could not get out of the house, Burnett said.
William loaded the rifle he received last Christmas and walked toward the den where the intruders were taking the family's VCR.
'He had entered a bathroom attempting to escape from the house and realized it was probably impossible for him to escape,' Burnett said, 'so he went back into the hallway and shot at the two intruders.'
Danny Ray Abernathy, 35, and Broadus Petty, 39, both of Spartanburg, stumbled outside the home and Williams phoned police. Officers found the bodies outside the house.
Burnett said William 'felt like his life was in danger' and did what he had to do to protect himself.
'He did not panic. He apparently used his head, looked for an escape and could not find one, and I think he acted very wisely,' Burnett said.
Capt. John Blackwood of the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Department said the shootings were justifiable and no charges will be filed against the boy.
'It was certainly a scary situation for an 11-year-old, or for that matter anyone who has somebody breaking into your home,' Blackwood said.
William cried when he was told Abernathy and Petty were dead, Sheriff's Lt. Ray Murphy said.
His grandfather said William received the rifle as a gift from his father and was not allowed to have it out when his parents were away. Moore said he had some reservations about his grandson owning a gun, but he added the boy may have been dead if the rifle had not been in the house.
'I feel like they might have killed him if he hadn't had the gun,' Moore said. 'I hate it, but if he hadn't done what he done, he might not be here.'
The coroner said the boy's parents were both at work and his sister had left the house for only an hour to rehearse for a high school beauty pageant.
Witnesses reported seeing another man near the home at the time of the incident, but officers using bloodhounds found no sign of a third person.
