Another 8-year-old with a gun...

[Selena_Kitt]

What is going on?

An eight year old third-grader shot his father and a family friend.

My daughter is seven. I can't imagine an eight-year-old "planning and carrying out" these shooting deaths. I just can't fathom.

They claim there's no motive.

All I keep thinking is, "So far."

 

[neonlyte]

What is going on?

An eight year old third-grader shot his father and a family friend.

My daughter is seven. I can't imagine an eight-year-old "planning and carrying out" these shooting deaths. I just can't fathom.

They claim there's no motive.

All I keep thinking is, "So far."

Good grief!

How does an eight year-old get hold of a gun? Idiot parents, I bet.

 

[xssve]

Fashion victims - likely they wanted to emulate their conservative friends.

 

[jomar]

Yeah. Something's way, way wrong in this one.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Yeah. Something's way, way wrong in this one.

it's not just me? Cuz something smells fishy. This isn't something that "just happens."

Unless we've really, really sunk to new levels of low...

 

[Weird Harold]

My daughter is seven. I can't imagine an eight-year-old "planning and carrying out" these shooting deaths. I just can't fathom.

You don't give your daughter enough credit -- I have no problem believing that an eight-year-old is capable of planning and carrying out something like this.

Your headline is a bit misleading -- the boy killed his father and "a boarder;" a friend of his father's who was renting a room from him. The obvious suspicion of child abuse is "being investigated" even while the DA is considering trying the boy as an adult!

Something that I think the investigators are overlooking is the Mother's visit the weekend before the shootings. There's a very strange and complicated family arrangement involved with this case that probably has some bearing on why this happened.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

There's a very strange and complicated family arrangement involved with this case that probably has some bearing on why this happened.

That was my second thought... "Where's the mother in all this?"

 

[Weird Harold]

That was my second thought... "Where's the mother in all this?"

None of the articles make it clear where or why she is living separately, but most of them mention that the "father" who was shot just recently married her and the son moved in with him and the boarder. I think that would make him technically the boy's step-father but I havent' seen that term used

 

[Selena_Kitt]

None of the articles make it clear where or why she is living separately, but most of them mention that the "father" who was shot just recently married her and the son moved in with him and the boarder. I think that would make him technically the boy's step-father but I havent' seen that term used

I'm not sure... I *think* it was his biological father he shot, and he was living with his dad and a stepmother (and the boarder)... they sure are keeping mum on the details though.

 

[starrkers]

What I've read has made it clear it is the boy's biological father. The other bloke was a friend of the father who boarded with them. There is a resident stepmother (who suggested a BB gun rather than a .22 for the boy) and an absent mother who visited the weekend before the shooting.

Dad was supposedly a pillar of the community and well liked etc etc.

There's a major piece of information missing in all this somewhere.

 

[pellso27]

send him BO's way

 

[Selena_Kitt]

There's a major piece of information missing in all this somewhere.

Yeah, that's my feeling, too...

 

[jomar]

Some serious abuse had to occur. Or maybe the kid was hearing command hallucinations - rare, though, and he might not be organized enough to pull it off in that case.

 

[phelon]

no i didn;t read up on it..

but my general comments are..

if they can load the gun.. point it, and pull the trigger they could have done the killing... as to planning it, and actually making it happen... there are many possible reasons.. from the posts, the Family issues are a definite clue that not everything was good, and an absent parent could definitely cause stresses that would lead to a acting out..
as for trying the boy as an adult... i would say they need to be doing some serious psych and other testing to prove he has the faculties of an adult..
does he have a exceptionally high IQ to compensate for lack of experience, does he have a background that has forced him to 'grow up early' with adult experiences..

then again.. that would be logical and the DA is probably more trying for the political angle....

 

[3113]

There's also the fact that the kid was interviewed by the police with no adult representative present and likely no understanding of his rights. I'm not saying that the police deliberately pushed him into a confession; I'm saying that it's easy for adults, alone with a child and asking questions, to unwittingly direct that kid into saying things that might not be true or accurate.

Which is to say, I'm wondering about the confession itself. I'm assuming there are other facts to prove that the kid shot these two men, but did he really plan it out? Did he really mean to shoot them both? Did he tell the police all this right away, or after he'd been questioned for a while?

 

[Selena_Kitt]

There's also the fact that the kid was interviewed by the police with no adult representative present and likely no understanding of his rights. I'm not saying that the police deliberately pushed him into a confession; I'm saying that it's easy for adults, alone with a child and asking questions, to unwittingly direct that kid into saying things that might not be true or accurate.

Which is to say, I'm wondering about the confession itself. I'm assuming there are other facts to prove that the kid shot these two men, but did he really plan it out? Did he really mean to shoot them both? Did he tell the police all this right away, or after he'd been questioned for a while?

I have the same concerns. I don't trust the police or their interrogation methods in the least.

 

[phelon]

oh yes.. Kids especially fall for the 'leading' question... they say what they think someone wants to hear or what they think will get them out of trouble...

they also can't distinguish between.. I got angry right now and went and did something... from i methodically planned out an action...

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

The police questioned the boy with no parent or guardian or other responsible adult present. That voids the confession. Unless they have other evidence, they have no case.

 

[Jagged]

What is going on?

An eight year old third-grader shot his father and a family friend.

My daughter is seven. I can't imagine an eight-year-old "planning and carrying out" these shooting deaths. I just can't fathom.

They claim there's no motive.

All I keep thinking is, "So far."

Part of me thought...."You really have to watch what you teach kids these days"

Anyway more is coming out with this story...