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SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. - A 15-year-old boy is facing a second-degree murder charge for killing a man he says was attacking his mother.

Authorities told WTVR that 37-year-old John Conroy, Jr. was dating the boy's mother when the pair got into an argument.

"Detectives determined that the incident began several hours earlier, when Conroy and his 36-year-old girlfriend, who is also a resident in the home, began arguing. At some point, according to initial information garnered by detectives, Conroy began physically attacking her, in the presence of her juvenile son, who is not related to Conroy," Spotsylvania Sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Jeff Pearce said. "The woman's son, attempting to intervene, took a semiautomatic firearm from a nearby location in the room and fired several shots at Conroy, striking him multiple times."

The boy's mother was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The teenager was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm during the commission of a felony.