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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | ||
| Abuse theory after boy, 8, 'shoots dad' | ||
| 2008-11-10 | ||
| POLICE in a small eastern Arizona community are investigating the possibility that a boy, eight, who is charged with killing his father and another man with a rifle had been abused. The boy, who faces two counts of premeditated murder, did not act on the spur of the moment, Police Chief Roy Melnick said yesterday. "I'm not accusing anybody of anything at this point," he said. "But we're certainly going to look at the abuse part of this. He's eight years old. He just doesn't decide one day that he's going to shoot his father and shoot his father's friend for no reason. Something led up to this." A judge said there was probable cause to show the boy fatally shot his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, with a .22-calibre rifle. Under Arizona law, charges can be filed against anyone eight or older. The judge ordered a psychological evaluation of the boy. The boy was charged as a juvenile, but authorities were pushing to have him tried as an adult, Chief Melnick said.
Police had responded to calls of domestic violence at the Romero home in the past, but authorities were searching records to determine when those calls were placed, Chief Melnick said. "We're going to use every avenue of the law that's available to us, but we're also looking at the human side," he said. Chief Melnick said officers arrived at Mr Romero's home within minutes of the shooting on Wednesday in St Johns, which has a population of about 4000 and is 275km northeast of Phoenix. They found one victim just outside the front door and the other man dead in an upstairs room. Mr Romans had been renting a room at the Romero house, prosecutors said. Both men were employees of a construction company working at a power plant near St Johns. The boy went to a neighbour's house and said he "believed that his father was dead", said Apache County attorney Brad Carlyon. Chief Melnick said police had a confession, but the boy's lawyer, Benjamin Brewer, said police overreached in questioning the boy without representation from a parent or lawyer and did not advise him of his rights. "They became very accusing early on in the interview," Mr Brewer said. "Two officers with guns at their side. It's very scary for anybody, for sure an eight-year-old kid." Prosecutors were not sure where the case was headed, Mr Carlyon said. "There's a ton of factors to be considered and weighed, including the juvenile's age," he said. "The counterbalance against that, the acts that he apparently committed." Mr Carlyon said the boy had no record of complaints with Arizona Child Protective Services. "He had no record of any kind, not even a disciplinary record at school," he said. "He has never been in trouble before." FBI statistics show instances of children younger than 11 committing homicides are very rare. | ||
| Posted by:john frum |