Juvenile Justice
Prosecutors Say 8-Year-Old Boy Methodically Shot Father, Friend
Posted Nov 11, 2008 6:30 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Prosecutors said yesterday that the 8-year-old boy accused of murdering his father and the father’s friend methodically reloaded a .22-caliber rifle as he committed the crime, pumping at least four rounds of bullets into each victim.
Police Chief Roy Melnick of St. Johns, Ariz., originally suspected the boy had been abused, but he told the New York Times he found no evidence supporting that theory. The child had no disciplinary problems at school and showed no signs of being troubled, he said. “That’s what makes this case somewhat puzzling,” he said.
Melnick spoke before Judge Michael Roca issued a gag order, saying it was needed to prevent ''loose-cannon pronouncements,'' the Associated Press reports. The boy, who appeared in court Monday in handcuffs, has been charged as a juvenile.
Hundreds of mourners attended a funeral Monday for the boy’s father, Vincent Romero. The funeral for the father’s co-worker and renter, Timothy Romans, was scheduled for later in the week.
The deputy attorney for Apache County, Brad Carlyon, told the Times that Romans was talking on a cell phone outside the home when he heard the popping sound of the rifle and the boy’s call for him. Investigators believe the boy shot his father first and then shot Romans as he stepped onto the porch to enter the house.
The boy had been trained to hunt prairie dogs with the rifle. Psychologists said that might have played a role in the killings, the New York Times story says. Usually children who kill parents are teens. University of South Florida criminology professor Kathleen Heide told the newspaper that the usual reasons for such murders are abuse, mental illness or psychopathic tendencies.
The boy’s lawyer, Benjamin Brewer, complained in court yesterday that there was no parent or lawyer present when the boy confessed to police.
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Comments
B. McLeod
Nov 12, 2008 10:05 PM CST
It seems pretty CHEEKY to shoot your parent and then COMPLAIN they weren’t THERE when you confessed.
At the peril of offending the gun lobby, I AGREE with the psychologists. When you train a child to use firearms to kill small, defenseless animals for no reason, you are sowing the seeds of TROUBLE. BTK got HIS start with small animals. Parents, DON’T train yoiur children to SHOOT prairiedogs (or more generally, any small, defenseless animals)!!
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D. Toy
Nov 13, 2008 12:07 PM CST
If you’re going to abuse your child, it’s probably best if you didn’t show them how to properly use a firearm first.
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L. Lord
Nov 14, 2008 8:01 PM CST
What ever happened to keeping firearms locked up with bullets and a key kept in a safe place?! Especially if a young child is in the home! Abuse or mental illness should be the responsibility of the parent or teacher or caregiver. BTK, Jeffrey Dhamer, they all started out like this. When a child is prone to this sort of behavior, even if it went unrecognized, an 8yr-old has no rhyme or reason to be taught to kill small animals for fun or sport! Of course a safety plan should be in effect as part of the house rules, but putting a deadly weapon in the hands of a child is nothing but trouble! Basically, It’s like the parent is encouraging the fact that this behavior is okay no matter what the circumstance whether it be for gaming purposes or, unfortunately, the fatal death of the person who gave him the gun and taught him how to use it in the first place!!!
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L. Currypowder
Nov 18, 2008 7:28 PM CST
Gun laws and the pros or cons of teaching a child to hunt aside, this 8 year old killed his father and another adult. There is something incredibly wrong here. 8 year children don’t (or shouldn’t) THINK about killing anyone. There is a bigger picture here and its inside that kids head, not gun laws and hunting.
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Tompson Jones
Nov 19, 2008 8:33 PM CST
There was no evidence of abuse, learn your facts prior to making a comment. I’m sorry but I was trained to hunt and shoot as a child aswell and it never made me want to kill anyone execution style. Thats just a sorry excuse from far left liberals who know nothing about the ways of the world, people have been hunting for hundreds of years to put food on the table and yes even small (defenseless animals) game hunting is hunting. The child should be charged as an adult, and sentenced to death. Lets look at the facts he shot his father in the head twice with a rifle, then saw that he was still moving and finished him off with a third shot to the head. This is premeditated first degree murder, not some innocent accidental shooting. When I was in high school a classmate of mine brutally beat his babysitter to with in inches of death when his parents were out of town. He was charged as a juv, When he was 18 the charges were dropped he was released from Juv Detension center. Only a few months later he was at it again, this time charged with first degree rape and assault. Criminals like this need to stopped in their tracks before the strike again. If this means a child must be charged as an adult and sentenced to death, so be it. What ever it takes to defend the greater good of society from insane murderers, even if they are only 8 years old. Really what is lost from stopping a young pyscopathic murderer, take him out now so he will not murder again later.
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