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.
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.