8-Year-Old Accused Of Dad's Slay In Court

(CBS/AP)  Vincent Romero was no stranger to guns. The avid hunter reportedly asked his priest whether he should buy his young son a firearm.

Now his 8-year-old boy is due in court on two counts of premeditated murder.

Police say the boy confessed to planning and carrying out the shooting deaths of Romero, 29, and co-worker Timothy Romans, 39, who rented a room from him. The men were found shot to death inside Romero's home in the small eastern Arizona community northeast of Phoenix last week.

Police and neighbors are at a loss to explain why he would have used a .22-caliber rifle to kill his father and another man at their home.

"That child, I don't think he knows what he did, and it was brutal," said the family priest, the Very Rev. John Paul Sauter.

The third-grader is due in court Monday, the same day as a funeral Mass scheduled to be held for his dad at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.

In a sign of the emotional and legal complexities of the case, police are pushing to have the boy tried as an adult even as they investigate possible abuse, St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick said. If convicted as a minor, the boy could be sent to juvenile detention until he turns 18.

But former prosecutor Wendy Murphy said that there is not enough evidence known yet to tell whether this murder fits that profile.

"It's an incredibly unusual case," Murphy told Early Show anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "We hear about 8-year-olds accidentally shooting a gun. This was execution style. So I think it's fair to say there was something pretty awful going on behind closed doors. Police have already talked about the investigation of this child being an abuse victim. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that this child was suffering terribly horrible things behind closed doors."

St. Johns police are hoping a judge will agree to try the boy as an adult but admit it's unlikely.

"There is no physical evidence that has been analyzed to link him to anything," the boy's defense attorney, Benjamin Brewer, told CBS News.

Brewer also said police questioned his client without representation from a parent or attorney and didn't advise the child of his rights.

"In Arizona you can be prosecuted in adult court at age 8. That's not true in most other states," said Murphy on The Early Show. "I think if it comes out this child was being abused, that he was desperate, this was his only way of defending himself against some terrible things there happening, you don't see a lot of public sympathy for keeping him in the juvenile justice system."

The boy had no record of complaints with Arizona Child Protective Services, said Apache County Attorney Brad Carlyon.

"He had no record of any kind, not even a disciplinary record at school," he said. "He has never been in trouble before."

Romero was from a family of avid hunters and wanted to make sure the boy wasn't afraid of guns and knew how to handle them, Sauter said. The boy's stepmother had suggested he have a BB gun, the priest said.

It's not unusual in a state like many around the West with liberal gun laws for children to learn early how to shoot small animals in the company of their fathers. But it might have been too much for an 8-year-old, Sauter said Saturday.

Murphy said encouraging an 8-year-old having a gun was "part of the recipe for disaster.

"But I don't think that's enough of an explanation, not nearly enough. He was 8. I mean, that's barely old enough as a matter of law to be held accountable. I don't think that's going to be the only explanation."

The boy's reported confession is also being examined.

How much truth can be imparted on such a statement from a child? Rodriguez asked.

"What's interesting about 8-year-olds is that we think they fantasize, they believe in, you know, Power Rangers and things like that, but they tend to be real credible when it comes to courtroom testimony and providing information to the police for the simple reason that, at 8 years old, they're not very good liars."

A Tragic Loss In A Tight-Knit Community

People in this small community are reeling from the killing of Romero, and they will likely turn out in droves for his funeral.

"I don't think this church is big enough to handle it all," said Sauter.

"The recent tragedy in our community has been very sad, an incident that makes us ask 'Why?' yet pulls our citizens together with love and support," said Ross Overson, mayor of the town in eastern Arizona. "Without exception, the entire community has been affected by this tragic loss. No community can begin to understand how something like this could happen."

Ask anyone here, and chances are they know a member of the Romero family.

"Everybody knows them because there's like 100 of them," said Marybeth Ellsworth, who played the piano at Romero's wedding in September. "They're very well-liked in the community."

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[gemini04-2009]

I HOPE THAT WE CAN ALL GET TOGETHER AND PRAY FOR THIS LITTLE BOY.. AND THE FAMILYIES LEFT BEHIND.THE VICTIMS ARE WITH THE LORD NOW.. GOD WILL MAKE THE WAY FOR THE TRUTH TO BE KNOWN..THIS CHILD WILL HAVE TO ANSWER TO GOD WHEN HE FACES HIM..LET GOD BE THE JUDGE. LET US NOT TO JUDGE. BUT TO BE JUDGE OF OUR OWN ACTIONS IN LIFE...WE DONT KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THE HOME? IF WALL COULD TALK? LETS ALL LIFT THIS UP IN PRAYER AND PUT IT IN GODS HANDS..CHARGING HIM AS AN ADULT IS REALLY GOING OVER THE EDGE..MY GOODNESS... WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO?

[gemini04-2009]

WELL I SAY.. LET GOD BE THE JUDSE HERE.. I PRAY AND OUT THIS CHILD IN GODS HANDS FOR THE LORD TO DO HIS WILL... I MYSELF DO NOT THINK THAT HIS CHILD SHOULD BE TRIED AS AN ADULT.. COME ON PEOPLE OF AMERICA.. GET REAL. I''M SURE THERE WAS SOME REASON WHY THIS CHILD DID WHAT HE DID.. I JUST PRAY TO MY LORD GOD ALMIGHTY THAT THE TRUTH COMES OUT. FOR ALL THE SAKE OF THE VICTIMS AND THE FAMILYS AND NOT MEANTION THIS LIITLE BOY... I LEFT UP IN PRAYER TODAY...

[catlynlawson]

makes you wonder what abuse those two men were causing to that little boy to cause him to do them.....

[dixxson-2009]

Another example of a nation conditioned to doing the wrong
thing, finding it difficult to impossible to do the right thing!
What would they do in Venuzuela, Cuba, Russia, North Korea, China and other Axis of "Evil.
I suspect that they would more likely, Do The Right
Thing.
Because They wouldn''t have done the wrong thing in the first place.
The Sniper Lee Malvo & the Korean School Shooter,
Would not, could not, comit their crimes in their
Homelands Bahamas,South Korea.
Other Nations, not preconditioned doing the wrong things would get care for the child, and charge the "Father" Posthumously with Facilitation to "Murder".

[chiquitaaz1]

I was also suspicious over of the mother being in town days before this happened. I was told that the mother does not have a relationship with her son and when she comes to town, she is visited her family and not him. I don''t think she had anything to do with his turmoil.

[usmc1968]

am not condoning trying this CHILD as an adult, he is a CHILD.
I was merely commenting on your comment about finding out the truth. We will never really know the TRUTH, we will get this child''''s attorneys, and possibly other investigating parties, version of what happened. The victim will be on trial because he is not here to defned himself or deny the "facts" as presented by the defendant in this case. That''''s not exactly the best way to get at the TRUTH!

candy-apple, truth will be irrelevant in the end, the deceased in are in the domain of god now, this poor child, of only 8 is in our domain the domain of the living, one cannot bring back the dead, and those seeking with glee this childs blood, ounce of flesh, are out there, you might not be among them, only you know what is in your heart, but I stand by one thing, and one thing only, 8 year old kids, live in fantasy land, power rangers, ninja turtles, as a single father with a 10 year old I am reminded of a comment my son made less than a year ago, when he grew up he wanted to be a ninja turtle hero, anyone who advocates this child being tried as a adult, is a sick human being, lacks any real humanity, and my guess is on judgment day will have more to worry about than this 8 year old year boy whom may or may not have even committed this crime, I am still suspicious of the coincidence of the mothers visit just prior to this crime!

[chiquitaaz1]

Experts say when a child does not learn to crawl before learning how to walk, it affects their development in ways not imagined by most. This child may not have ever had the age-appropriate emotional development to deal with extreme disappointment and anger. He may not been emotionally equipped to handle the recent change in disipline in the manner most eight years old would.

Combine that with the training to hunt and developing a natural ease with handling guns and this may have been the right combination for a nightmare like this.

At this point, nothing has come out about there being abuse. He may have been overly pampered. The term "spoiled rotten" does not quite fit, but his upbringing may have had a parallel to it. Imagine a child living in "Pleasantville" until the age of eight and then the real world kicks in.

There doesn''t seem to be any bad parenting, the Romero family are decent people. Vince loved his boy greatly.

Quite a few families in that town have taught their children to hunt at young ages, including the extended Romero family. Consider this a horrifying first with this set of circumstances.

It is not picture perfect there, just as it is not anywhere. However, those who knew his father, the child and the extended family are at a loss over what this child did.

[chiquitaaz1]

His mother gave him up at birth and his father had full custody. Even though his mother may have been in town visiting her own family the weekend before, it is my understanding she never visited her son when she came to town. I heard the child never had a relationship with his biological mother.

The child''s grandmother and extended family helped raise him. I understand that the child was doted upon. He was known to all in town as a well-mannered, sweet and smart boy. I heard he never exhibited disruptive behavior in public. He was an only child and the center of attention with his father and extended family. However, his father recently remarried.

The child may not have ever known strife, discouragement, felt ignored or had fully enforced discipline. He may not had the emotion mechanisms in place to deal with his own raging angry, hurt and hate of recently being grounded with restrictions he did not care for. He wanted to go live with grandma instead.

[swingset4u]

It really sounds like the boy might have been playing a game in his own mind. You know the one.. "t''s only pretend". Aweful!

[rhs648]

People who think like rhs648 are the ones who really need to be locked up. They may not pull triggers that kill individuals, but their social philosophy is more destructive to our free nation than the (tragic) damage caused by this 8 year old boy.

I''''m tellin ya, it may sound like his comments are fairly benign, but it''''s those kind of people who easily have the same capacity to demand that women stay at home and obey their husbands, that *** are summarily executed, that non-whites are caste as second class citizens and that adulterous women are stoned to death, just like they are today in Afghanistan (even without the Taliban being in power.)....

Posted by tnz650

Such psychological babble. It is because of people like tnz650 that we have 10 year olds, 12 year olds, and 15 year olds committing murder. Instead of protecting society, they prefer to to coddle these people. At a time when governments are hurting for money and resources are scarce, why spend a lot of money trying to rehabilitate people like this kid? That same money can be used to feed the hungry or to provide health care to those who need it. Is it really in societty''s interest to squander money on children who murder? Perhaps it is better to be realistic and incarcerate this kid for life. He is anything but normal