Three armed boys were shot by a man they tried to rob outside his home in Texas, authorities said.
Four boys, aged between 12 and 14, approached a 25-year-old man near his apartment on the 12700 Block of North Houston Rosslyn Road in Houston in the early hours of Thursday.
The man told police that the boys had pistols, but the man was also armed – and fired at them outside of his Willow Plaza Apartments home.
Three of the boys were taken to the hospital, with one 12-year-old in the ICU after being shot multiple times.
The other two, 12 and 13 years old, suffered non-fatal injuries, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
The boys involved also live in the apartment complex, ABC13 reported.
Panicked neighbors sprung into action and called 911 when they saw the injured children.
One resident of the apartment complex, Bruce Bailey, said he noticed something was wrong when he heard one of the boys shouting for help.
Three boys, aged 12 to 14, were shot and injured while trying to rob a man, 25, at gunpoint outside his Houston apartment complex, authorities said
Neighbor Bruce Bailey said he realized something was wrong when one of the boys started shouting for help
According to Bailey who witnessed the incident, he called out to the man to check if he was okay. The man raised his hand, called for help, and Bailey stepped in to assist him.
‘I called the sheriff’s department and ambulance to come and pick up the kid – and of course – at that time I didn’t know it was a little kid.
‘My other neighbor came and held his and was talking to him, trying to keep him alive.’
Deputies detained the man and the fourth child for questioning and several weapons were collected from the crime scene.
The adult victim is reported to be assisting with the investigation. Despite not being immediately taken into custody, he remained at the location until law enforcement officers arrived at the scene.
Investigators are determining whether the guns the boys used were BB guns or actual pistols.
‘Of all things, being Christmas, and this is a child, first thing that comes to my mind is, number one, where is the parent. Number two, if you got here with a gun, what are you doing out here with a gun?’ Bailey told KHOU.
The sheriff’s office was unable to tell DailyMail.com if the juveniles knew the man they tried to rob.
HCSO Violent Offenders detectives are conducting the investigation, which will likely go to the Harris County District Attorney’s office for grand jury review.
The incident occurred at the Willow Plaza Apartments in Houston on Thursday just after midnight
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said they are still investigating the situation and recovered several weapons from the scene
Earlier this year, three children were arrested for robbing a Houston Wells Fargo bank.
Dubbed the ‘little rascals’ by the FBI, the culprits were aged just 11, 12 and 13 when they held up the bank on March 14.
Police said they passed a threatening note to a teller and got away on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.
They were believed to be armed, but did not actually show a weapon while robbing the bank.
Parents of two of the boys came forward and identified them after pictures of them were released by investigators, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
The third boy was recognized by police following a fight. The sheriff’s office said a weapon and a distinctive item pictured in one of the photos was recovered.
