News 12 at 11 o'clock / Monday, August 16, 2010

AUGUSTA---A Martinez man remains in critical but stable condition after being shot during a confrontation on the 2000 block of Westfield Drive in Augusta. Authorities say 19-year-old Milo Hayes III was shot by Brete Anthony Gunby after Gunby spotted Hayes allegedly attempting to break into a neighbor's truck.

The 39-year-old says he watched Hayes enter his neighbor's truck and that's when he called 9-1-1. He then went outside with a pistol and told Hayes to stay put until the police arrived. Hayes pulled out an object from his pockets, and that's when Gunby fired at him, according to the police report. Investigators say the shooting was self-defense.

The shooting has gotten the attention of many in the neighborhood. Mrs. Ruby Underwood says in her eyes, Gunby is a hero. The almost 90-year-old mother and grandmother says if someone tries to come in her home uninvited she'll be ready too.

"I'd shoot up in the air a couple of times and I might come to another window and take another shot at them," said Underwood. "I do have a gun and I know how to use it. I was taught how to use a gun when I was 12 years old."

Another neighbor, Fred Taylor, also says Hayes may have had it coming.

"He shouldn't have been over here in the first place," said Taylor. "He doesn't live over here and he shouldn't have been here."

Mrs. Underwood also adds that in her eyes, Gunby is a hero and a good Samaritan. She calls him a good neighbor.

"When they start thieving on other people's property,that's not neighborly," said Underwood. "He was trying to be neighborly and take care of the neighborhood and I respect him for it."

Underwood's daughter and son-in-law also live nearby so she is not alone. Investigators say that Hayes is in critical but stable condition at MCG. He will be charged with entering an automobile once he is released. Investigators also believe he may be connected to at least two other car break-ins. No charges are expected to be filed against Gunby.