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A Spring, Texas, father shot and killed a 17-year-old boy whom his daughter had apparently sneaked into her bedroom. The dad allegedly thought he was an intruder, KHOU-TV reports.
According to investigators, the unidentified man's 16-year-old daughter had brought Johran McCormick to her room in the middle of the night. Her younger brother, who had gone to say goodnight to her, noticed two feet sticking out from under her bed and went to get his father.
The man came into the room and started questioning the two teens, and the girl said she did not know Johran. Her father called 911, but then an argument sparked between Johran and the older man.
It was then, the father claims, that Johran suddenly moved. Feeling threatened, the father opened fire, fatally shooting the boy at the scene.
Johran's distraught family says that the incident didn't have to end in the boy's death. "I would like my baby back, but I know that's not possible," said Zakia McCormick, Johran's mother, according to CBS Houston. "He didn't deserve to die like that."
Shocked neighbors had conflicting feelings about how the father handled the situation. "As a mom, I just can't imagine," Letica Field told KHOU-TV. "I know the dad was trying to protect the family, but he should have let the authorities handle it."
No one else was injured in the shooting, but the father had to be taken away on a stretcher as he began feeling ill. He is reportedly on several medications, USA Today notes.
The father has not been charged in the killing as yet, but the case will be sent to a grand jury after the investigation is completed.
Read more at USA Today and CBS Houston.