An 11-year-old Tennessee boy has now been charged with murder after he allegedly shot an eight-year-old girl with a shotgun because she would not show him her puppies.
The boy, who is unidentified, was talking to three girls who were outside his mobile home on a Saturday evening and asked one of them if he could see her new puppies, but the girl refused, Jefferson County Sheriff G.W. ‘Bud’ McCoig reported.
The boy allegedly retrieved his father’s 12-gauge shotgun, shot the girl in the chest from the window, and then threw the weapon by the girl’s body.
McCoig said the girl was unresponsive at the scene, and was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital.
The boy was taken into custody and was charged with first-degree murder as a juvenile. A judge at a detention hearing on Monday determined that the boy will remain in a juvenile facility in Knoxville.
He will appear in court again later in October, at which time the judge may decide whether he should be tried as a juvenile or as an adult.
