An 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy allegedly shot his father to death after previously having his Nintendo Switch handheld gaming system taken away.
The boy is facing criminal homicide charges after a 13 January shooting at his family’s home in Duncannon Borough.
As put in court documents obtained and reported by WGAL News 8, the case illustrates how easily children can access guns in the US, where firearms are ubiquitous.
The victim was reportedly discovered in the bedroom he shared with his wife, which court documents say is connected to their son’s bedroom by a closet.
Police reported it was the child’s birthday, and he had entered the bedroom shouting: “Daddy’s dead.” Troopers at the scene also reportedly said that they heard the son tell his mother: “I killed Daddy.”
Police said the shooting occurred after the couple had gone to bed shortly past midnight. The child reportedly told authorities that he had had a good day with his parents, but the documents reportedly state that he became “mad” when his father told him it was time to go to bed.
According to the news outlet, the court document says that the boy told police he found a key to the gun safe in his father’s drawer in his parent’s bedroom. He reportedly unlocked it while attempting to locate his Nintendo Switch – which had previously been taken away from him – and found a gun.
Bro. You can’t just accept this. Get the kid in therapy before he becomes a horrible adult.
Harsh? Come on, man. Help the kid!
We have more professionals involved than you’d believe. Trust me, we’re working on it, but change is a slow road. You may have heard for instance that therapy only works if you want to change, well if a nine year old isn’t mature enough to want to change or be willing to participate in the process, well that also slows things down.
At the risk of being blunt here, I’m not really looking for parenting advice, I’m actually pretty sure we’re doing a decent job despite a particularly hard kid with some very real challenges.
But I do sincerely see that you mean well, and want to help, so thank you.
I’ve not had kids, but I’ve had many dogs. It’s a similar thing where people who have had a few good dogs look at a ‘bad dog’ and blame the owner. The dog needs training, or discipline, or whatever… And they’ve never had a dog that had issues. Until you do get that one stubborn little asshole where nothing works. Yes, we’ve tried that- the dog is willfully just a little asshole. Still love 'em, still give them the best life you can- but you know them too well and just know that they are going to be a pain and do bad things no matter what. All you can do is try to mitigate the damage and make sure they don’t hurt themselves.
For our dog that was like that- it just took a long time for him to grow old enough to slow down. Then he became the sweetest and best dog ever.
Good luck on the kid. Hope they figure it out sooner rather than later.
Hey man, thanks for responding. I apologize for the unwanted judgment and I wish you and your kid the best.
Cheers.
I have two boys with autism. Some of this resonates. Have you had him tested? I imagine you have but just in case. Good luck.
As someone who once was that 9 year old, and has my own child I’ll probably go through the same thing with, hugs and there is a light at the end of the tunnel