FAWN RIVER TOWNSHIP (WWJ/AP) - The adult sister of a 9-year-old boy who is charged with killing their mother says he has mental health problems and probably just "snapped" on the day of the shooting.
"My mom would not want him to be labeled a murderer," Reagan Martin, 23, told MLive.com. "Her whole world revolved around him."
Police say the boy killed his 51-year-old mother at their home in southern Michigan's St. Joseph County on Monday. Martin said her mother kept her brother home from school that day out of concern about his behavior, which had worsened in recent weeks after medication for a mood disorder was changed. She said he was "hitting, kicking and throwing stuff."
Martin doesn't know how the boy got access to a gun, as the family's hunting rifles were usually locked up, but she thinks her brother "snapped" after he was kept home from school and was just trying to scare their mother -- not kill her.
"I don't think he meant to do it," she said. "I think (it) was probably a scare tactic."
Martin said her brother was adopted in 2016 but has lived with the family since he was very young.
"I'm angry, don't get me wrong," she said. "But he's my little brother and he needs help. I hope he gets it."
Martin spent time with both her mother and brother the day before the killing and didn't notice anything out of order.
"He was playing with my kids," she said. "He was happy. My mom was happy."
The boy's attorney, T.J. Reed, declined to comment about the case.
"It is important to allow this case to properly move through the legal process and to not pre-judge this child based on partial or unknown facts," he said.
Prosecutor John McDonough told WWMT-TV that the victim's body was found early Monday morning on Plumb Road in Fawn River Township, east of Sturgis, and about about 160 miles west-southwest of Detroit, near the Indiana border.
The victim was identified in court records as Pauline Randol.
Police and prosecutors have not released the circumstances of woman's death, or details as to how her son was identified as the alleged killer. Court documents show the weapon used was a rifle.
Sheriff Bradley Balk said the boy underwent a psychiatric evaluation at a state-run juvenile facility after his arrest. He's facing one count of open murder and one count of felony firearm.
