Is this the best local news clip that ever happened? It's a tough call, but it deserves consideration. First, there's the story itself: Chris Gaither is an 11-year-old from Talladega, Alabama. Chris was home alone on Wednesday morning when a burglar broke into his house. Chris's response to this home invasion was to grab a nine-millimeter handgun, fire (and miss) 11 shots at the burglar as he ran for the hills, and finally hit him with a "full metal jacket" bullet as he tried to climb a fence at the edge of the property.
Then there's how it all was reported. There's the one-on-one interview with an 11-year-old in front of some car. There's the hokey local news narrating, complete with the pronunciation of bullets (boo-letts) and the clarification that although this burglar had robbed the family before, they don't know the guy. Also, they really captured the basset hound sign well:
Then there was Chris's description of the decisive moment: "It went straight through the back of him, in his leg. And he started crying like a little baby."
"A baby....that learned his lesson," the reporter quipped. To top it all off, Chris addressed the camera and offered a chilling message:
"I hope you learned your lesson for comin' to this house trying to steal stuff."