Volunteer Firefighter Reportedly Shoots Juvenile Home Intruder: 'It's a Horrible Situation

(Photo: NBC4 Washington)

Details are scarce in the case of a Virginia homeowner who shot a suspected home intruder who police say was a teenager from the local high school.

No names have been released at this point, but local and national news outlets are beginning to piece together the story.

ABC7 summarized what's known at this point:

Loudoun County Sheriff's officials will only say that between 2:30 and 3 a.m. Sunday, a homeowner in the 4500 block of Pullman Court shot and killed a juvenile intruder. But they won't say why the intruder was in the house.

Neighbors say the homeowner is a volunteer firefighter. When ABC7 called the closest fire house, the person who answered said no one was permitted to say anything. Neighbors also say the young man who was shot and killed lived nearby.

[...]

"I know it's an intruder but I don't see why your first instinct is to shoot somebody,” said Parkview High School graduate Tyler Henderson.

Henderson says he played basketball with the victim only a few days ago. He and Parkview student Caroline Zomparelli say they heard that the young man accidentally went into the house after coming home from a party.

"It's so shocking…it can happen so quickly,” Zomparelli said.

Sterling resident Jeremy Early said the entire scenario sounds tragic, but he stresses that if the homeowner was caught off guard in the middle of the night by an intruder, the homeowner had the right to defend himself.  [Emphasis added]

Apparently condolences and expressions of remorse have flooded local social media networks, and grief counselors will be at the school on Monday.

"It's a horrible situation,” Early added, saying he doesn't want to "lay blame" on anybody.  "It's sad that it was a neighborhood boy…and your family."

Here's more on the story from NBC4 Washington:

​This post may be updated.