Prosecutors Say 8-Year-Old Boy Methodically Shot Father, Friend
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.
