Boy, 12, bests burglar
When 12-year-old Juan Carlos Rojas walked into his home on North Park Place at midday Sunday with his father and younger siblings, he saw shattered glass on the floor -- and one startled burglar.
The burglar held a VCR and wore Juan's brother's sweatshirt and his mom's yellow jacket.
"I'm sorry," the burglar said, and ran out the back door.
Juan had failed to make the basketball team at Marshall Middle School. But Sunday, the seventh-grader showed another kind of athleticism.
He ran down and tackled a burglar.
Juan, maybe 5-foot-8, not much over 100 pounds, chased the thief over fences and through a yard with barking pit bulls. He bruised his ribs crashing into a wheelbarrow.
A block away, Juan and his muscular -- but slower -- father, 38-year-old Juan Rojas, cornered the burglar in a yard.
The younger Juan, who says he had never tackled anyone before, dove into the wiry burglar's midsection. His father put the man in a head lock. Father and son held the burglar down until police arrived.
Story from Witchita Eagle
When 12-year-old Juan Carlos Rojas walked into his home on North Park Place at midday Sunday with his father and younger siblings, he saw shattered glass on the floor -- and one startled burglar.
The burglar held a VCR and wore Juan's brother's sweatshirt and his mom's yellow jacket.
"I'm sorry," the burglar said, and ran out the back door.
Juan had failed to make the basketball team at Marshall Middle School. But Sunday, the seventh-grader showed another kind of athleticism.
He ran down and tackled a burglar.
Juan, maybe 5-foot-8, not much over 100 pounds, chased the thief over fences and through a yard with barking pit bulls. He bruised his ribs crashing into a wheelbarrow.
A block away, Juan and his muscular -- but slower -- father, 38-year-old Juan Rojas, cornered the burglar in a yard.
The younger Juan, who says he had never tackled anyone before, dove into the wiry burglar's midsection. His father put the man in a head lock. Father and son held the burglar down until police arrived.
Story from Witchita Eagle
