'It tugs at the heart strings'

2008-11-08 22:40

Flagstaff, Arizona - It's a crime that police officers in a small eastern Arizona community can hardly fathom yet have to deal with: an eight-year-old charged in the fatal shootings of his father and another man.

"Who would think an eight-year-old kid could kill two adults?" St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick said on Friday.

The killings on Wednesday sent shock waves through St Johns, a community of about 4 000 people. The boy had no disciplinary record at school, and there was no indication he had any problems at home, prosecutors said.

"It was such a tragedy," said the boy's defence attorney, Benjamin Brewer. "You have two people dead; you have an eight-year-old in jail. It tugs at the heart strings. It's a shocker, no doubt about it."

On Friday, a judge determined there was probable cause to show that the boy fatally shot his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, with a .22-caliber rifle. The boy faces two counts of premeditated murder. Under Arizona law, charges can be filed against anyone eight or older.

Melnick said the boy didn't act on the "spur of the moment", though he didn't elaborate on what the motive might have been.

Melnick said officers arrived at Romero's home within minutes of the shooting on Wednesday. They found one victim just outside the front door and the other dead in an upstairs room.

Romans had been renting a room at the Romero house, prosecutors said. Both men were employees of a construction company working at a Salt River Project power plant near St. Johns, which is about 275km northeast of Phoenix.

The boy went to a neighbour's house and said he "believed that his father was dead", said Apache County attorney Brad Carlyon.

Melnick said police obtained a confession from the boy, but Brewer said police overreached in questioning the boy without representation from a parent or attorney and did not advise him of his rights.

"They became very accusing early on in the interview," Brewer said. "Two officers with guns at their side, it's very scary for anybody, for sure an eight-year-old kid."

A judge ordered a psychological evaluation of the boy, who was being held at the Apache County juvenile detention centre.

Prosecutors aren't sure where the case is headed, Carlyon said.

"There's a ton of factors to be considered and weighed, including the juvenile's age," he said. "The counter balance against that, the acts that he apparently committed."

Carlyon said the boy had no record of complaints with Arizona Child Protective Services.

"He had no record of any kind, not even a disciplinary record at school," he said. "He has never been in trouble before."

- AP