8 Year-old kills father in premeditated act after father teaches him to use gun

UPDATE: This is the most egregious display of poor judgment by the prosecutor’s office to release portions of the taped confessions of this little boy. What is also shameful is the fact that there was no-one in the room with the little boy except two female cops. They have blundered this case from the start. This poor boy needed an adult or a lawyer with him during his interrogation. They should not get away with this. What happened to this little boy is unprecedented. How do you prosecute a little boy for murder? This is a sad case.

I came across the story of a young boy, who apparently killed his father and another man in a premeditated murder:

The father, Vincent Romero, 29, was from a family of avid hunters and wanted to make sure the boy wasn’t afraid of guns, said the Very Rev. John Paul Sauter of St. Johns Catholic Church. The boy’s stepmother had suggested he have a BB gun, the priest said.

Romero taught his son how to use a rifle to kill prairie dogs, Sauter said. Police say the boy used a .22-caliber rifle Wednesday to kill his father and another man, Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos. Source: Huffington Post

Obviously this is a tragic story, which should have been prevented. First, I think that eight is far too young to have a child handling a gun of any kind. It’s my personal belief that children have no business using guns, because they lack the adult judgment to use them responsibly. Someone in this man’s life owed it to him to intervene and recommend that he not teach a CHILD to use a GUN.

Apparently, Romero conferred with his priest, John Paul Sauter, to determine whether he thought the child was too young to handle a gun. It’s unclear exactly what the priest advised him to do. In addition, the police are investigating whether abuse of some sort led to the murder.

At a minimum, why wasn’t the gun locked up,with the ammunition stored separately from the gun? How does something like this happen?

So my question to you is, do you think that children should be allowed to handle guns? If so, what is an appropriate age?

Filed under: By Cheri Thomas, In the news, John Paul Sauter, Murder, Social Commentary, Vincent Romero