8-Year-Old's Killing Spree Raises Questions About Why Children Murder
Nov. 12, 2008
Investigators are still piecing together exactly what took place in an eastern Arizona home, where an 8-year-old boy allegedly shot and killed his father and another man, systematically reloading a rifle and firing at close range.
Details from the St. Johns crime scene are scant, and with a court-imposed gag order, little new information is likely to come out unless the boy is tried for the two counts of murder on which he has been charged.
Police initially suspected the boy had been physically or sexually abused, but before the gag order was imposed Monday, investigators said they had found no evidence of trauma.
"That's what makes this so troubling," Roy Melnick, chief of police in St. Johns, told the New York Times Tuesday.
Experts familiar with parental murders by young children, but not involved in this case, said abuse is almost always a factor in such crimes.
According to FBI statistics, there were 62 cases between 1976 and 2005 in which children, aged 7 or 8 were arrested on murder charges. Of those, parents were the victims in just two cases.
"The number of homicides committed by children under 11 is infinitesimal. These are very rare events," said Paul Mones, the only lawyer in the country whose clients consist exclusively of children accused of killing their parents.
"The vast majority of parricides -- the murder of a parent -- committed by minors involve physical abuse and generally involve teenagers. Seventy-five percent of such murders involve boys who kill their fathers and 15 percent involve boys who kill their mothers," said Mones, who has defended hundreds of minors in 25 years of practice, though none younger than 10.
The most recent previous case of an 8-year-old killing his parent occurred in August 1990, when a Pennsylvania boy found his father beating his mother. The boy repeatedly plunged an 8-inch kitchen knife into the back of his father William Jones, 59.
A coroner's jury cleared the boy in the stabbing after authorities urged a finding of justifiable homicide.
Psychologists said that besides abuse, mental illness or even simple feelings of frustration could set off a child and lead him to kill.
"We don't yet know what was going on in that house, so it is hard to know exactly why this child reacted the way he did," said Naftali Berrill, a forensic psychologist who specializes in juvenile perpetrators.
"Was he molested? Was he being beaten? Did he shoot his father because his father frustrated him, because he wouldn't let him play a video game?" Berrill asked.
The idea that a child would be led to murder because his desires were frustrated may seem far fetched, but in 1989 a 10-year-old boy in Houston fatally shot his father and wounded his mother after they would not let him go outside to play.
Much of the hearing that took place in Arizona Monday focused on the psychological evaluation the boy would undergo. His attorney, Benjamin Brewer, sought permission to visit the crime scene -- a two-story home where police say the boy's father, Vincent Romero, a 29-year-old construction worker, and his co-worker and roommate, Timothy Romans, 39, were shot with a .22-caliber rifle Wednesday.
Brewer complained that police questioned the third-grader without representation from a parent or attorney and did not advise him of his rights.
The boy was accompanied in court by his mother. His parents had recently divorced and Romero gained full custody of the boy and remarried.
Romero, investigators said at a press conference over the weekend before the gag order had been issued, was the first of the two victims. He was shot in the head and chest inside the house shortly after 5 p.m.
The boy stopped to reload between shots and before targeting Romans, who was also shot in the head and chest.
The boy was trained in using guns. He and his father reportedly hunted prairie dogs together, and that familiarity with weapons may have played a role in the killings, psychologists said.
"The fact that the boy stopped and reloaded only indicates that he is familiar with shooting. It also suggests he may have been in a pretty dire situation," Berill said. "We'll have to see what comes out later, but it is clear that your average 8-year-old would not have done this."
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12 comments:
First of all it's a TERRIBLE idea to have guns in the house around young children, especially if you're not a cop. My dad was a cop and in all of the armed forces. He had guns in the house, but none of us were crazy enough to shoot anyone. I got to play with some of the guns sometimes because when his cop friends would pick me up from school and made a big scene about it, by showing up in like three, four cars they would let me play with the guns but. Those kids like that eight year old boy has problems. You definitely know something is wrong with him if he reloads the weapon, and most likely he didn't express any feeling of sorrow for what he did.
I just don't think guns should be available period in households.
Well, it is important that parents teach their children about the repercussions of fire arms and using them. First of all, no one should have a gun in their home unless they are authorized to. And if they are, it should definitely not be around the children, who are influenced. Another thing is that they should be teached that a gun should be used only if the situation permits, like self defense, not because someone made them mad.
IT'S NOT SAFE TO HAVE ANY TYPE OF WEAPON IN YOUR HOUSE AROUND LITTLE CHILDREN...BUT IN THIS SITUATION THAT CHILD HAS PROBLEMS HE REALLY DID'T TALK MUCH ABOUT THE SITUATION AS IF HE DIDN'T CARE FOR NIETHER OF THEM...
Recently it seems that childhood is being left behind way sooner than before. Now you have pregnant ten year olds, homicidal eight year olds. What is this world coming to? I believe that the parents are partially at fault. However, it's difficult to mold a child's personality or their decisions. All parents can do is guide, looks like this kid just didn't wan't to go down the well traveled road.
I don't know what's wrong with these parents today. How are you going to show your child how to fire the gun and tell him where the gun is located? That was an example of plain stupidity. That had to effect the child mentally because he had the idea that that is what he was supposed to do and that is truly sad.
I find that is unreasonable for the boy who was fatally shotting his father and wounded his mother just because they did not let him go outside to play.
In my opinion kids kill because they may think that if they do they will somehow be cool in front of there friends. Kids today are quick to do anything without thinking so to a parent I would say if you must have a gun put it some where so the child can`t get to it. For example put it in a safe, or under a secret spot under the floor any where he can`t get it would be fine. In doing this you can prevent a stupid mistake.
It was stupid to teach the child how to use the weapon and show him where it was in the household. That was an example of terrible parenting and now he paid for his mistake. If you show him the gun, it's a great chance he's going to use it.
Having weapons in a household is not a problem unless it is in a hidden area out of a childs reach. There are weapons in my household, but they're in a places out of my younger brothers reach. In order for these boys to commit these sorts of crimes in my opinion their being disciplined to a certain extent.They have gained a level of understanding on how to operate a weapon. I blame the parenting.
THE QUESTION "WHY DO KIDS KILL?" WILL NEVER BE FULLY ANSWERED TO ME BECAUSE EVEN IF A CHILD KILLS HIS PARENTS BECAUSE HE IS TOLD NO ABOUT GOING OUTSIDE IT STILL DOESNT ANSWER WHY DID THE THAT CAUSE HIM TO KILL HIS PARENTS, SIMPLY BECAUSE IT IS MORE THAN LIKELY THAT THE CHILD WAS TOLD NO BEFORE.... THE QUESTION IS WHAT WAS IT THAT DROVE THE CHILD AT THAT PARTICULAR MOMENT TO KILL HIS/HER PARENTS.... IF ANY FORM OF VIOLENCE IS INTRODUCED TO THE CHILD AT A YOUNG AGE, THEN THAT CHILD WONT SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT.
It crazy having guns in a house with little children.. first of we know that they are curious they touch everything and they want to know what everything can do, and even when you tell them not to touch or it dangerous they still have to get burn by that fire before they learn,, they have to see for themselves.. so please just keep the guns out of the house or if it necessary that you have one keep it on lock and out of reach. It better to take precaution now or to be sorry later.
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