A Black family in Walled Lake, Michigan shot a gun to scare off three intruders who broke into their home early Monday morning. The intruders allegedly used the n-word while voicing their intention to kill the family. The family's father has alleged that the intrusion was a hate crime.
Police have not yet released the identities of the suspected attackers nor the family targeted in the attack.
The intruders broke into the family's home around 12:30 a.m. local time on Monday morning. Shortly before the intrusion, the family's father left for his overnight work shift in Detroit. He left a mother and her two young sons, ages 9 and 13, alone at home.
The intruders—armed with a knife, a club and three dogs—broke down the house's door. Hearing the noise, the 13-year-old awoke and alerted his 9-year-old brother. The mother then contacted her husband on the phone.
"I can hear everything, them kicking and banging down the door, whatever they were doing," the husband told WDIV-TV. "They were in the house. I can hear the guy saying, 'I'm going to kill you.' The n-word and all that."
The husband said he told the wife to get the gun. She then fired it as her two sons hid under their beds. The shots missed the intruders and hit the family's truck. The eldest son contacted the police. Other neighbors also contacted the police to report the gunshots.
Immediately, the woman's husband left work. When he returned home, he found police had apprehended two white men and one white woman suspected of the intrusion.
"It was a hate crime," the husband said of the attack. "They knew that we were a Black family. I'm always on my motorcycle." The population of Walled Lake is 85 percent white and 8 percent Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Police have not yet identified a motive. It's also unclear whether the break-in is being investigated as an attempted hate crime.
The family's home sustained "extensive property damage" from the break-in, including the children's bedroom window where the mother shot at intruders, according to WJBK.
The family's father told the outlet that he's proud of his wife's heroism during the attempted attack.
"My wife did what she had to do. When you have kids you do what you gotta do," he said. "Me not being there, it was scary."
The man also said that he told sons about the attack and its potentially racial nature. "They know we don't live in a perfect world," he added.
Newsweek contacted the Walled Lake Police Department for comment.
