While preparing to play his favorite game, “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” on his PlayStation 3, 13-year-old Owen Burns of Alpena Township, Michigan, heard his younger sister yelling.

She was playing and having fun in the yard when the screams came. Owen’s little heart stopped when he hurried to the window, fearing that she might be in danger. The 8-year-old girl was being violently pulled toward the woods that bordered the family’s house. Owen reached for the closest ammunition he could find, a marble and a rock, and retrieved the $3 slingshot his mother had purchased for him, knowing he had to move quickly. He knew he could hit the kidnapper because he had practiced using the slingshot by striking used orange cans.

Unbelievably, Owen managed to strike the kidnapper twice: once on the chest and once between the eyes. He was using profanity. Owen told the Washington Post, “He was swearing.” The girl was left alone when the kidnapper fled. Although the incident severely traumatized her, at least she was safe and sound, and her brother’s courage and quick thinking were entirely responsible for this.

When they got home, the siblings called their mother, who at the time was assisting a relative. She hurried home and called the police as soon as she learned what had happened.
The alleged kidnapper was found by Michigan State Police. Although they did not disclose his identity, they stated that he was a 17-year-old who would face adult charges.

At a news conference, Lt. John Grimshaw described Owen’s actions as “extraordinary” and stated, “I think he saved his sister’s life or prevented something bad from happening to her.”

The kidnapper “came from behind her, grabbed her like you see in the movies — hand over the mouth, arm around the waist — and was trying to pull her into the woods,” Grimshaw added in her account of the encounter.

Maggie Burns, Owen’s mother, didn’t think her son was telling the truth when he claimed to have struck the kidnapper on the chest and in the eyes.
According to a police press release, “[the suspect] had obvious signs of an injury consistent with those that would have been sustained from the slingshot strikes to his head and chest.”

“I lie all the time, you said!” To his mother, Owen said.

She answered, “I just couldn’t believe it.” Until evidence was presented, it simply didn’t seem real. It has the sound of something you might see in a movie.

The teenager remarked, “Mom, things that happen in movies can and do happen in real life.”

Owen’s status as a true hero is obvious. The entire community has commended him for his efforts to protect his younger sister. Excellent work, young man.