Conflicting stories have emerged from an 8-year-old Arizona boy who has been charged with two counts of murder, one of the victims being his own father.
In a police interview, the boy initially said that he had found tenant Timothy Romans and his father Vincent Romero dead when he returned home from school. Throughout the interview, the boy’s accounts of the shootings continuously changed to display different levels of involvement. At one point he said that he came to find his father already shot, and shot him once more to keep him from suffering. He then shot Romans because “he was shaking.” Finally, he admitted to shooting the men each multiple times, reloading the .22-caliber rifle when necessary. When asked what he was thinking after he admitted to the shooting, the boy said “That I’m going to juvie.” The boy did add that he was upset with his father because of a spanking he had received.
His father was an avid hunter and wanted to make sure the boy wasn’t afraid of guns and knew how to handle them. Previously, Romero had contacted a Roman Catholic priest about whether the boy was ready to learn about guns. The boy and father would use the rifle to hunt small game like prairie dogs.
The 8 year old admitted to police that he would play with guns in the house in his father’s absence.
The shootings occurred last Wednesday.
