I'm so tired of thugs being turned into victims...they shot at him first.

Homeowner fatally shoots three masked teens who fired at him in attempted robbery. But relatives of one suspect say they didn't deserve it.

To 'aggressively to shoot these little teens, that's ... overkill,' one observer remarked

 DAVE URBANSKI

Three masked teenagers attempted to rob three residents in the front yard of a Georgia home early Monday morning, the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office said.

As the teens — one 15 years old and the other two 16 years old — approached the Conyers home, one resident fired back and hit all three suspects, the sheriff's office said.

One teen died at the scene, and the other two died at a hospital, officials said, adding that none of the victims of the attempted robbery were injured. No charges have been filed, the sheriff's office said.

'He didn't have to kill them'

According to WSB-TV, two of the suspects in the 4 a.m. incident were brothers. And following the incident, a group related to one of the suspects gathered near the scene and told the station the teens didn't deserve to die.

Image source: WSB-TV video screenshot

"He didn't have to kill them," one female told WSB.

A male in the group added to the station: "That's not how it's supposed to go. I understand one shot to stop the people, the victims or whatever — but aggressively to shoot these little teens, that's ... overkill. That's too much to handle."

Image source: WSB-TV video screenshot

'He's a nice dude'

But neighbor Asteria Williams seemed to vouch for the homeowner's character.

"He's a nice, caring dude," she told WSB. "If they would've knocked on his door and asked for anything, he would've gave to them. He's a nice dude."

Image source: WSB-TV video screenshot

Neighbors told the station the homeowner is a truck driver who owns a semi-automatic rifle and is highly protective of his mother. A woman was among the three people at the home during the shooting, WSB reported.

A sheriff's office spokesman on Wednesday told TheBlaze there's no information available regarding the type of gun the homeowner used.

Anything else?

The station added that deputies found the teens outside the home after the homeowner called 911 for help.
"I heard a guy yelling for help: 'Help me, help me, I'm dying, I'm dying, help me, help me,'" neighbor Brian Jenkins told WSB.
Another neighbor, Carlos Watson, told the station he heard gunfire and ran out to help: "It was five shots, and then it sounded like a handgun. Then I heard somebody have an assault rifle. And it was a slew of shots that came out."