Boy, 10, shoots and kills mother for not buying him VR headset, police say
A 10-year-old boy in Wisconsin, who shot his mother last month, has been charged as an adult with first degree reckless homicide.
Authorities said the shooting took place on 21 November in Milwaukee.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, the boy’s mother has been identified as 44-year-old Quiana Mann, reported NBC.
Mann was shot at close range and the bullet entered her right eye and exited the back of her head through her skull.
A day after the shooting, the boy proceeded to buy an Oculus Virtual Reality Headset using his dead mother’s Amazon account, the complaint stated.
He later apologised for shooting his mother and then asked whether his package had arrived.
Police said the boy had initially told authorities that he was twirling the gun around his finger when it “accidentally went off”.
But in subsequent interviews with the police the boy said that he had shot his mother.
He said that “his mother would not allow him to have something from Amazon that he wanted to have”, the complaint said.
He also admitted to retrieving the gun because he was angry at her for waking him up at 6am when he usually sleeps until 6:30am.
He said he got the keys to his mother’s gun lockbox the night before, according to the complaint.
The boy “admitted to knowing that guns are dangerous and can kill people”, according to the complaint.
After shooting his mother, he went to the second floor and informed his 26-year-old sister and father who then called the police.
According to the boy’s sister, he has had “rage issues” all of his life and “five different imaginary people that talk to him”.
Earlier he was given a “concerning diagnosis” by a therapist and his mother had placed cameras inside the home to watch him, reported TMJ4.
Two weeks before the shooting, “someone had unplugged these cameras”, the complaint stated.
The boy was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and could face a maximum of 60 years in prison if convicted.
Milwaukee mayor Cavalier Johnson said: “Anytime there is a crime in the city, whether it’s by a 10-year-old or someone much older, it’s concerning.”
“I don’t want people getting hurt. As for this case, I’m just learning about it. I got the details this morning,” he said.
