Untied and shooting.

James Slaughter was a 57-year-old career criminal. His first criminal activity took place in 1967, according to the Caller-Times. In 1984, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for a combination of crimes (making him eligible for release in the year 2029). He had tied up a couple and robbed them in their home. During police pursuit, deputies were forced to shoot him when he aimed his rifle at them. He was paroled in 2000, rearrested, and then paroled again on October 6 of this year.

Three days later, he arrived at the Kozlowski home in Corpus Christi, Texas. Fourteen-year-old Michael was home from school sick and his mother Rose Ann was just arriving home from the grocery store when Slaughter made his appearance. He forced Rose Ann into the house at knifepoint and threatened to kill her. He tied up mother and son in a bedroom and began ransacking the house.

Rose Ann managed to undo her bonds, and then she untied her son's. She got a pistol from a lockbox under the bed, gave it to Michael, locked the bedroom door, and called the police. Slaughter, discovering that his captives had freed themselves of their bonds, tried to break into the bedroom, again threatening to kill. Michael shot once through the door, fatally injuring Slaughter with a bullet to the head.

The incident has made at least one neighborhood mother rethink keeping a gun in the house. Yvette Contreras, a neighbor, said, "They probably would have been killed if [Michael] hadn't shot him. Nowadays, it seems like it's happening everywhere."