An 11-year-old Talladega boy has told of how he defended his home from an armed intruder who threatened to kill him - and shot the attacker in the process.

Home-schooler Chris Gaither was in his house by himself Wednesday morning when he heard someone breaking in. Scared, he grabbed a knife and told the man to leave four times.

Instead, the man went upstairs and 'came back down with a .38 [caliber gun],' Gaither told WVTM13. It was then the boy traded his knife for a gun his family kept at home. 'I told him I was going to shoot him... and went and grabbed a 9mm,' the boy said.

Armed: Chris Gaither, 11, was home alone Wednesday when he found an armed man in his house. Gaither grabbed a 9mm handgun, told him to get out and fired 12 times as the man fled, hitting the man in the leg once

'When he was coming down the stairs, that's when he told me he was going to kill me, and "F-you," all that,' Gaither explained.

But the sight of a boy with a gun didn't scare the man off at first: 'When I pulled the gun out on him, I guess he didn't think it was a real gun 'cause he didn't worry about it, he just kept on walking,' he said.

'I told him I was going to kill him and all that, with the gun, if he didn't get out of my house.'

The burglar made it out the front door with a laundry hamper, and that's when Gaither opened fire.

He said he fired one shot in the air that caused the intruder to run.

He then fired 11 more shots, missing with all but the last one, which hit the suspect in the leg just as he was about to jump over the fence and out of the front yard.

'I shot through the hamper he was carrying,' Gaither told the station.

'It was a full metal jacket bullet. It went straight through the back of his leg. He started crying like a little baby.'

Previous encounters: Gaither's mom, Renee, said the man - who she believes to be a drug addict - has broken into their home before. He was treated at hospital, and police are not identifying him at present

Gaither's mom, Renee, told WWMT that the man had broken into their home before.

She said they didn't know him personally, but that they had seen him around the neighborhood and believe him to be a meth addict.

Gaither told WVTM13 that his step-dad had taught him to handle a gun, and that they would pretend they were shooting zombies.

While some commended the boy's actions on social media, others have criticized the family for leaving Gaither at home with the gun.

Pointing out that 'poorly trained' Gaither fired 12 shots and hit once, Bearing Arms wrote: 'This story didn’t have a "happy ending" because of skill, or training. It had a "happy ending" because the burglar wasn’t aggressive, and the kid got very lucky.

'If this burglar had a weapon and any real intent of causing this child harm (remember that he used threatening language, but was not violent), there’s a darn good chance we’d be reading about Chris Gaither, the 11-year-old shot or stabbed in his home when he attempted to take on criminal with a handgun that he couldn’t shoot worth a darn.

'Or we’d be reading about a kid who "got lucky" and killed a man by shooting him in the back 30 yards away from his home, and who might be facing homicide charges as a result.'

The intruder's name has not been released by police, who are still investigating, The Daily Home reported. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

It is not clear at present whether the .38 gun belonged to the intruder.