Only On 2: Teenager Scares Off Would-Be-Burglar From La Verne Home

LA VERNE (CBSLA.com) — Police are calling a 13-year-old boy a hero for his efforts to scare off a would-be-burglar in La Verne.

It's the story of a teenager turned crime fighter that you'll only see on CBS2 News.

On Monday afternoon, Brody Gates was biking past his friends house on Seventh Street when he saw a suspicious man lurking on the property of a home.

"He walked up to the window and he was just like peeking through to see if anybody was there," Gates explained. "Then he proceeded to open the door and step in with just one foot."

Gates said that's when he kicked the front gate of the property to get the man's attention.

The would-be-burglar then became spooked and ran away from the area.

CBS2's Rachel Kim spoke with the homeowner, Valerie Pearce, who expressed her gratitude for Gates' heroic actions.

"It terrifies me, absolutely terrifies me," Pearce said. "I think about what if my kids were home. Obviously he wasn't afraid."

According to police, this incident marks the fifth attempted burglary that was stopped or solved with help from the public in the past several weeks.