NM boy tells 911 operator he shot father in anger

The state substantiated only one claim? Of course, that's because they didn't investigate the other 8 calls. Too much red tape involved in these cases and they ends up like this one did. What a shame, this young boy will pay for this the rest of his life.

He murdered out of anger. He should pay the price.

But why was he angry? With 9 calls made to higher authority proclaiming to protect children from abuse, there had to be something going on at home. And finding out that the higher authority didn't care about them, most likely persuaded him to take care of it himself. Sure sad.

I'm not convinced the boy did this...which is out of step for me.

When asked what his address was, the boy didn't know. When asked where the gun was, he said it was in his dad's gun closet. Somethin' just doesn't sound right. Could he be covering up for an adult...or maybe his little sister? I'm open to thoughts.

Last year there was a young boy in St.Johns, Arizona who killed his father and his father's friend who was staying in the home.

First of all the police who interviewed the 8 year old, more or less put words in this mouth about his involvement in the killing. This was a mistake, it took longer to get to the truth. The police taped it and released it to the media (at times cops can be dumb as a hammer).

What finally was revealed was that the boy had been hit 1000 times. He said that the next time his father hit him he would kill his father. The boy counted the times he was hit.

This was a child's way of putting and end to his own suffering.

There HAS to be another answer to this. Unless this child was or is psyscho, bipolar or has some other mind boggling illness, he was bound to have been mistreated by his family. Children aren't born murderers, they are molded that way sometimes in their home.

To attribute adult motives to a child who kills is simplistic. It has been scientifically proven that a child's cognitivde reasoning ability is not developed fully (does not gain full maturity until early 20's), therefore, cause and effect is not totally recognized by a child.

While many children live in abusive situations--we, as a society should be more diligent in dealing with that atrocity--most do not kill to extract themselves and/or siblings from the situation. But consider this--if the children were living in a situation where dad abused them, and if they felt a hopelessness about it, since no one was helping them, possibly desperation and even a misplaced sense of protectionism drove this child. In that case, he was brave, although, of course, none of us would approve of how he went about it.

I have a 10 year old grandson, and he is a very bright young man, but he is still a child. I can't imagine he would ever go to those lengths, but he wouldn't feel the need to. His parents are loving and kind with him. Children should not be allowed and/or forced to live in such perilous households.

Of course, we really don't know the full facts of the situation, but it sounds as if there should have been more protection and intervention.

Poor child and all those concerned.

Try threatening to shoot the kid's dog, or cat...see what his/her reaction is! A "child" of 10 yrs KNOWS that when you're dead, you're dead, and there's no do overs!

I'll reply the same to all of you who think he should be smacked on the hand, counselled, and sent back to the playground. LET THEM FREE HIM AND SEND HIM TO LIVE NEXTDOOR TO YOU, OR THOSE YOU LOVE. WE'LL SEE BLEEDING HEARTS SINGING A DIFFERENT TUNE!

Politically Incorrect wrote:

Try threatening to shoot the kid's dog, or cat...see what his/her reaction is! A "child" of 10 yrs KNOWS that when you're dead, you're dead, and there's no do overs!

You are wrong. Young children often do not understand death. They especially do not have an adult's understanding of it. If these children were abused, the 10 year old had been living in a violent situation for how long with seemingly (to him maybe) no help or no way out. Children do what they've been taught to do. His violent actions were wrong--very wrong--but to assume this child understood the realm of what he did is a jump. Also, as I said, did society not understand the gravity of the children living with abuse?

There are no winners here, least of all the 10 year old.

Children who kill become adults who kill. Stop with the Sally Strothers viewpoints.

A Thinker wrote:

To attribute adult motives to a child who kills is simplistic. It has been scientifically proven that a child's cognitivde reasoning ability is not developed fully (does not gain full maturity until early 20's), therefore, cause and effect is not totally recognized by a child.
While many children live in abusive situations--we, as a society should be more diligent in dealing with that atrocity--most do not kill to extract themselves and/or siblings from the situation. But consider this--if the children were living in a situation where dad abused them, and if they felt a hopelessness about it, since no one was helping them, possibly desperation and even a misplaced sense of protectionism drove this child. In that case, he was brave, although, of course, none of us would approve of how he went about it.
I have a 10 year old grandson, and he is a very bright young man, but he is still a child. I can't imagine he would ever go to those lengths, but he wouldn't feel the need to. His parents are loving and kind with him. Children should not be allowed and/or forced to live in such perilous households.
Of course, we really don't know the full facts of the situation, but it sounds as if there should have been more protection and intervention.
Poor child and all those concerned.

Eloquently written! I couldn't agree with you more.

Of Course wrote:

But why was he angry? With 9 calls made to higher authority proclaiming to protect children from abuse, there had to be something going on at home. And finding out that the higher authority didn't care about them, most likely persuaded him to take care of it himself. Sure sad.

Sadly, you fall victim to the masses. You think you understand how the protective service system works and that all calls are legitimate. Unfortunately, many calls are made out of retaliation or because of a custody battle. You also come across as it is easy for the state to take custody of a child, it is not. Law enforcement or a judge are the only ones who can take custody. It is easy to blame a system because this society always needs someone or something to blame. It is not uncommon for kids to kill, there are plenty of examples. And as Thinker stated, a child's brain is not fully developed and they don't understand everthing that is involved. 20 years ago research showed that kids weren't more likely to act violently when exposed to violence on TV. Guess what, today, the research as changed due to the change in television programming, music videos, and video games. Obviously this kid is troubled, but apparently there were no signs that he was going to act like this, because his family didn't seem affraid, especially dad. The child had access to the guns. Again, it's easy to point the finger at a system, but parents are responsible for raising and protecting their children. And remember, the parents had custody of this child not the state. It is easy for mom to go on TV and do interviews, but I can guarantee that if the state would have taken custody of her child she would have bitched then too. Dad is dead, and mom is blaming the victim here. We don't know why he killed his dad, yet. Only thing said was that dad punished him. Not enough for me to make a decision.

Politically Incorrect wrote:

Try threatening to shoot the kid's dog, or cat...see what his/her reaction is! A "child" of 10 yrs KNOWS that when you're dead, you're dead, and there's no do overs!
I'll reply the same to all of you who think he should be smacked on the hand, counselled, and sent back to the playground. LET THEM FREE HIM AND SEND HIM TO LIVE NEXTDOOR TO YOU, OR THOSE YOU LOVE. WE'LL SEE BLEEDING HEARTS SINGING A DIFFERENT TUNE!

OUCH! Now that is some hard truth there. I have sons and worked very hard as a parent to be supportive in their educational career, sporting events, family time, and church. However, no matter how promising a young child may grow and how loving an environment may be....there still lies the internal knowing of right and wrong that a child has, regardless of the wrong doings of others. What I'm getting at is that even my own child, whom I would stand to protect and support, did happen to do wrong by making ill decisions of drinking with friends, truancy, and breaking the law. I had to step aside and let the law take charge because i firmly believe that if you do the crime, then you must do the time.
No matter how nurturing OR non-nurturing a child's home or surroundings may be, there is no excuse to hurt another human being or to take a life. This may sound too easy, but I'm quite sure many could relate in dealing with a much more difficult way of life as early as a decade ago to earlier than that. Today's children and the influence of a world and society so quick to take action in nonrealistic manner that would have a child think that the only resolution would be to take a life. Just as a video game character were to die and you quickly move forward again to a new level as if you didn't "lose" moments earlier.

I'll reply the same to all of you who think he should be smacked on the hand, counselled, and sent back to the playground. LET THEM FREE HIM AND SEND HIM TO LIVE NEXTDOOR TO YOU, OR THOSE YOU LOVE. WE'LL SEE BLEEDING HEARTS SINGING A DIFFERENT TUNE
And that's what happens when you start listening to some idiot, lib shrink, and let them pass laws saying that it's illegal to spank your kids.

Oops...Sorry about that Politically Incorrect... I'm kinda new to this whole forum thing. Didn't mean to plaigerize you.

oh_its_him_again wrote:

I'll reply the same to all of you who think he should be smacked on the hand, counselled, and sent back to the playground. LET THEM FREE HIM AND SEND HIM TO LIVE NEXTDOOR TO YOU, OR THOSE YOU LOVE. WE'LL SEE BLEEDING HEARTS SINGING A DIFFERENT TUNE
And that's what happens when you start listening to some idiot, lib shrink, and let them pass laws saying that it's illegal to spank your kids.

To correct you, it is not illegal to spank your kids. It is illegal to beat them where you leave marks, bruises, cuts, welts, etc or injure them. AS well as to hit them with a weapon.

A Thinker wrote:

To attribute adult motives to a child who kills is simplistic. It has been scientifically proven that a child's cognitivde reasoning ability is not developed fully (does not gain full maturity until early 20's),

Then, I wonder why 18 and 19 year old MEN are sent to war. Is it because their cognitive reasoning abilities are not yet present? Men that age won WWII. Men that age are in Iraq and Vietnamagainistan.

Men that age are heroes.

The issue is not age. The issue is values.

I think the thinker is not a thinker, yet.

My dad and step-mother left my step-brother with a 13 year old boy babysitter while they went bar hopping. The 13 year old told my step-brother to put his pj's on and go to bed. . .being 8 years old and not about to do what a stranger told him, he refused. The 13 year old got a shotgun and killed my little 8 year old step-brother (he said later that he didn't know the gun was loaded). Frightened, the 13 year old fled to the hills for three days. This was 40 years ago in a small town. . .nothing was done to the 13 year old - the District Attorney's office closed the case and reported it as an accidental shooting. Get the guns out of the homes or at least out of the reach of children. . .you can't have too many safety measures for me when it comes to guns. Don't tell me guns don't kill. .people kill. . .GUNS KILL.

Theseus wrote:

<quoted text>
Then, I wonder why 18 and 19 year old MEN are sent to war. Is it because their cognitive reasoning abilities are not yet present? Men that age won WWII. Men that age are in Iraq and Vietnamagainistan.
Men that age are heroes.
The issue is not age. The issue is values.
I think the thinker is not a thinker, yet.

that's right 18 & 19 year olds, not 10 year olds. Thinker is correct, the brain is not fully developed until mid 20s, that doesn't mean you aren't accountable for your behavior. And if you think a 10, 12, or even 14 year old have the same ability of understanding, then you need to start thinking and become a thinker.

And by the way, you want to know what makes a good soldier, someone who follows orders, doesn't question authority. Too much cognitive ability can get in the way for some.

And lastly, please understand that we know far more now on brain development than what we did when it was decided that you had to be at least 18 to enter the armed forces.

pmv wrote:

My dad and step-mother left my step-brother with a 13 year old boy babysitter while they went bar hopping. The 13 year old told my step-brother to put his pj's on and go to bed...being 8 years old and not about to do what a stranger told him, he refused. The 13 year old got a shotgun and killed my little 8 year old step-brother (he said later that he didn't know the gun was loaded). Frightened, the 13 year old fled to the hills for three days. This was 40 years ago in a small town...nothing was done to the 13 year old - the District Attorney's office closed the case and reported it as an accidental shooting. Get the guns out of the homes or at least out of the reach of children...you can't have too many safety measures for me when it comes to guns. Don't tell me guns don't kill..people kill...GUNS KILL.

How sad for you. What a thing to remember.