“I killed my dad, I hate myself,” said an 11-year-old boy facing homicide charges, according to court documents cited by a local news outlet. He was reportedly looking for a Nintendo Switch gaming device when he shot his father.
WHTM reported that state troopers said 11-year-old Clayton Dietz of Duncannon, Pa., “claimed that he was searching for his Nintendo Switch and found keys to a gun safe,” opened the safe and pulled out a gun. Authorities said the boy found the key in his father’s bedside drawer and used it to look for the Switch in the gun safe. He told police that he found the gun, loaded it with bullets and shot at his father.
Clayton’s father, Douglas, was found in bed with a gunshot wound to the head during the early morning hours of Jan. 13.
Douglas and his wife, Jillian adopted Clayton in 2018, according to WHTM. In an interview with state troopers, Jillian said they sang “Happy Birthday” to their son at midnight last Tuesday, just hours before the fatal shot. She was awakened to a loud noise while sleeping next to her husband and soon realized that his blood was dripping.
Then, she said she saw her son in a closet that connected his room with his parents’. He entered their room and said “something to the extent of ‘Daddy’s dead,’” per WHTM’s report. After, Clayton ran down the stairs of their duplex home yelling “my dad’s dead,” the report added.
Jillian said that she and her father both attempted CPR on her husband and called 911.
Citing troopers, the outlet said a revolver was found in that connecting closet and Jillian said there were two gun safes in the couple’s room, though she also said she did not know what the gun safe key looked like or where it was kept. State police also revealed that Clayton had “a bloody lip and a swollen contusion above his left eye,” WHTM reported.
While Clayton told authorities that he had a good day with his parents on Monday, he said that he got mad at his father when he was told to go to sleep. WHTM said the child also admitted to entering his parents’ room from the closet and said “I shot somebody,” but also said he did not think about what would happen if he did.
Clayton was arraigned Jan. 13 and held without bail at the Perry County Prison. A preliminary hearing for the 11-year-old was postponed this week to Feb. 19 following a motion from a defense attorney, according to WGAL. It said that he is going to be tried as an adult.
Audacy also reported last week on the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old girl by her 15-year-old friend in Kentucky. Brady: United Against Gun Violence said in a report there are an estimated 350 unintentional shootings in which a child pulls the trigger every year.