Bear shot dead after attacking 15-year-old in Arizona cabin: “Not many kids can say they fought a bear”

A black bear was shot and killed by Arizona state fisheries and game officials after it entered a home through an open door and injured a teenager in a mountain community near the New Mexico border, wildlife officials said.

The 15-year-old boy, identified by his family as Brigham Hawkins, suffered injuries to his face and arm when the bear snapped at him and was treated at a hospital in Alpine after the incident late Wednesday, the state Game and Fisheries Department said.

His mother, Carol Hawkins, told CBS affiliate KPHO-TV in Phoenix that the bear attacked her son while he was alone watching television.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we think (a bear) would come into our house,” she told the station.

Hawkins said her other son heard screaming and came to help. Wildlife officials said the bear entered the house a second time before escaping.

“Not many kids can say they fought a bear and won,” Hawkins said in a Facebook post that included a photo showing cuts on her son’s nose and arm. Hawkins did not respond to a Facebook message from The Associated Press on Saturday.

Wildlife officials found and shot the bear. The agency said it was believed to be about three years old and was being tested for disease by agency specialists.

“Thanks to the quick response of his brother and family, they were able to distract the bear from what could have easily become a real tragedy in a matter of seconds,” Shawn Wagner, law enforcement chief for the AZ Game and Fish Department, told KPHO-TV.

The teenager was taken to a local hospital with injuries to his face and arm and received a precautionary rabies vaccination, but is expected to recover.

“He has thanked everyone who helped him and is coping well. And he will be fine,” Carol Hawkins told the station.

The attack was the 16th on humans in the state since wildlife authorities began keeping records in 1990. Two of them were fatal, the agency said.

A 66-year-old man was killed nearly a year ago when he was attacked at a campground in the Groom Creek area, south of Prescott and about 100 miles north of Phoenix.