A 10-year-old boy has been charged as an adult for allegedly shooting to death his mother, police said. The boy then went on Amazon and ordered the headset on his mother's account, authorities said.
A 10-year-old Wisconsin boy has been charged as an adult after he allegedly shot his mother in the head after she would not buy him a virtual reality headset, authorities said.
A day later, the child went online and ordered the device on Amazon, using his mom's account, prosecutors said.
The boy has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide and is being held at Milwaukee's juvenile detention facility, according to online court records.
His name has not been released because of his age.
A criminal complaint alleges the child, whom relatives described as deeply troubled and under a therapist's care, shot his mother in the eye on Nov. 21 in the basement of his family's home, according to reports.
He initially told investigators he had been playing with his mother's gun when it accidentally went off, police said.
The next day, his aunt took him to his grandmother's house to meet with child protection officers.
There, he saw his grandmother crying and “stated without any empathy or compassion: ‘I’m really sorry for what happened. I’m sorry for killing my mom,’” the complaint alleges, according to reports.
After he apologized for killing his mother, “he then asked if his Amazon package arrived," the complaint said, according to reports from news outlets including The Associated Press, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and NBC News.
"This is an absolute family tragedy," said Angela Cunningham, one of the boy's attorneys. "I don't think anybody would deny or disagree with that. The adult system is absolutely ill-equipped to address the needs of a 10-year-old child," she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The child allegedly has a history of violent behavior, including setting fire to furniture and swinging the family's puppy by its tail, his relatives told police, according to the criminal complaint, the reports said.
The boy hears voices in his head that tell him to do bad things, his grandmother was quoted Thursday in the Daily Beast. The child needs help and mercy, she said.
The child's next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, according to online records.
