Hero or Villain? Chicago Grandmother Margaret Matthews Shoots Troublesome 12-Year-Old Boy

CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2010 — -- Is the gun-wielding widow who wounded a menacing 12-year-old boy a hero or a dangerous granny with a gun who over-reacted? That's the debate stirred by the actions of an elderly woman on Chicago's South Side this week.

On Tuesday, Margaret Matthews, 68, decided she'd had enough of two young boys, ages 12 and 13, who she said had been harassing her in her South Shore home for more than a year. When she returned to her home near 76th St. and Coles Ave. from grocery shopping that day, she noticed broken windows and the two boys running away.

When they returned, the widowed grandmother stood on her porch and confronted them. Allegedly, they replied by hurling bricks and rocks at her. She said one hit her in the chest.

"I was terrified," said Matthews, adding she went inside and grabbed a gun.

She called police, but worried they might come too late. So she said she went back outside and fired at the boys, wounding the 12-year-old in the shoulder.

"I was either going to be a victim or a villain," Matthews told ABC affiliate WLS-TV. "I did what I had to do to protect myself."

Police agreed and decided not to charge Matthews. The boys face charges of aggravated assault.

Meanwhile, in a neighborhood troubled by violent crime, the pistol-packin' grandma neighbors call "Miss Margaret" now is being called a hero.

The boy? Not so much, at least in Matthews' circles.

"His name? As far as I know him, I call him the little bad boy," said Hilda Brunt, who lives down the street. "He broke her window. He set her grill on fire. He started a fire last year across the street at the row houses. I had to call the fire department."

Frenchie Johnson, a neighbor who helped replace Matthews' broken window, said Tuesday's incident was the latest of many.

"She talked to me on Friday and said, 'Frenchie, I've done had enough,'" he said. "They set the garbage can on fire, her barbeque pit. This isn't the first time they busted a window. It's bad."

The 12-year-old boy's family told another story, insisting the boy didn't break the window and the shooting was unprovoked.