8-Year-Old Boy Charged with Murder; Prosecutors May Seek to Try Him as Adult
An 8-year-old Arizona boy appears in court today after being charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of his father and a co-worker.
St. Johns police say the boy admitted killing his father, Vincent Romero, and a co-worker who lived with them, but the boy’s lawyers say the child was questioned without a lawyer or a guardian present, reports KOLD News 13. Prosecutors may seek to try the boy as an adult, USA Today reports.
A judge ordered a competency hearing for the boy on Friday.
According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, no children under the age of 9 have been charged with murder since 2005, the Arizona Republic reports. A 7-year-old and an 8-year-old from Illinois were charged with killing an older child in a 1998 case, but they were later exonerated. Both had confessed during a police interrogation.
St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick said police were investigating whether there was abuse in the home or discipline that was too strict. Melnick said police had responded to domestic violence calls in the home in the past, the Associated Press reports.
“I think it was on his mind a long time, and then a trigger just triggered it, and the child said: ‘I’ve had enough. I’m gonna take care of it today,’ ” Melnick said. “We certainly have to take a look at physical and emotional abuse.”
