14-year-old boy saves himself and mother from attacker

Corpus Christi, Texas October 10, 2006 -- Police said a 14-year-old boy was defending himself and his mother when he shot and killed an intruder Monday afternoon at their home on Ocean Drive.

Capt. John Houston said the 14-year-old boy, whose name was not released, was home from school after becoming ill, and his 46-year-old mother, Rose Ann Kozlowski, had just returned from the grocery store when she was confronted by a man with a knife.

Cmdr. Jesse Garcia confirmed during a news conference that police received a call from one of the residents of 4221 Ocean Drive at 12:55 p.m. and responded to a report of a man tying them up and holding them at knifepoint.

The man, only identified as a black man in his 30s or 40s, led the mother and son to the upstairs master bedroom, where he bound their hands with men's ties and ransacked the house for valuables.

"He packed up her SUV in the garage with those items. He threatened to kill them repeatedly," Houston said.

After the robber caught the woman trying to untie herself once, she was able to free herself and her son and find her husband's pistol in a security box under the bed. She tried to shut double doors to the bedroom as the man tried to push them open and her son held the gun.

"She was using all her strength to push them," Houston said, adding that the boy aimed at the man through a space in the door and fired one shot.

"He shot once and hit him in the head, killing him instantly," Houston said. "He took a life-saving measure to save his mother and himself." . . . .