Hiding 12-year-old called 911 while robbers assaulted mother

ATLANTA — Twelve-year-old Kenyatta Cosby is proud of his heroic actions deep inside his family's dark attic, and he's not afraid to tell the story.

"I knew they weren’t going to come all the way down here," Cosby said "I crawled all the way through there."

Cosby showed off the dusty, insulation-filled hiding space to Channel 2's Richard Elliot. It's where he dialed 911 as three gunmen burst into his southwest Atlanta home and held his mother and her friend at gunpoint in the rooms below.
 
His mother, Shereka Austin, believes her son saved her life.
 
"That's the only thing I could think of.  He may not be a hero to anybody else, but he's definitely my hero, because I knew I was about to die," Austin said.
 
Atlanta police said the three gunmen barged into Austin's Catherine Street home to rob the residents inside.  They tied up Austin with duct tape and pistol-whipped her as they tried to get her to give them her money.
 
Cosby was upstairs with a relative who heard the commotion.  Together, they crept downstairs and heard what was happening.  That's when Cosby decided to hide in his crawlspace and dial 911.
 
"So then, I'm on the phone with the police," Cosby said.  "'We're getting robbed!  We're getting robbed!'  So then once I heard someone coming upstairs so I took off."
 
As Cosby whispered for help, 911 recordings show the operator desperate to make sure he was OK.
 
"If you are still there, press a button on the phone so I know you're still there," said the operator.

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As police arrived, someone in the getaway car driver alerted the robbers who took off running through a back door, dropping a pistol and an assault rifle as they ran.

One ran into the woods, another jumped into a Chrysler Pacifica and drove away.

A third jumped into the passenger side of a Ford Mustang, the driver of which led police on a chase that ended later in a field in Fairburn.

Police arrested the driver, Minerva Riche, but her passenger got away. She'll make her first court appearance Friday morning.

Officers said they recovered the victim’s purse in the backyard with $500 inside.

Cobsy isn't shy about saying he's a hero for his action.  His dream now is to meet Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.

WSBTV