A 12-year-old boy in Goldsboro, North Carolina, is being called a ‘HERO’ after he acted in self-defense to protect himself and his grandma after two masked intruders broke inside the home.

It all happened early Saturday morning, around 1 a.m. when Goldsboro police responded to a shooting call near 402 S. William Street. When officers arrived, they found 73-year-old Linda Ellis inside the home with a gunshot wound to the leg. Moments later, police then found a man at the intersection of William Street and Elm Street with a gunshot wound.

A preliminary investigation revealed that two masked people broke inside Ellis’s home, demanded money, and then shot her. During the robbery, Ellis’s 12-year-old grandson, who has not been identified, shot the intruders with a firearm in self-defense, causing them to flee.

19-year-old Khalil Herring, of Goldsboro, was one of the intruders, and he died from his injuries.

Herring and Ellis both were transported to Wayne UNC Health Care, where Herring died, and Ellis expected to be released Monday.

Goldsboro police said charges against the 12-year-old are not anticipated, but the investigation is ongoing.