A gadget-obsessed 10-year-old boy fatally shot his mother for refusing to buy him a new Amazon virtual reality headset, grieving family members say.
The boy has been charged as an adult with first-degree reckless homicide over the 21 November shooting of mother-of-four Quiana Mann, 44, in the basement of her Milwaukee home.
A criminal complaint states that the boy, who has not been identified, took his mother’s keys and retrieved a gun from a lock box before firing and killing her as she did laundry, WISN reported.
In her first interview, Mann’s sister Rhonda Reid told local news station TMJ4 that the boy had been diagnosed with a mood disorder and his therapist had recommended reducing his access to video games.
“He was upset about these (electronic) devices being taken away,” Ms Reid told TMJ4.
The boy then used his mother’s Amazon account to buy an Oculus Virtual Reality Headset, according to a criminal complaint.
Ms Reid said she was struggling to understand how her nephew could have planned the shooting since the night before, as prosecutors allege.
Currently in custody in a juvenile facility, the boy seems to have blocked out the shooting, Ms Reid told TMJ4.
“When he calls, he’s just like, ‘make sure all my tablets and laptop and everything of mine is packaged,’” she told the station.
Mann’s mother Lueritha Mann told TMJ4 she hasn’t been able to bring herself to speak to her grandson, and agrees he should be charged as an adult, as state law dictates.
“He needs to pay for what he’s done,” Lueritha Mann told the network.
Quiana Mann was a beloved mother who worked in behavioural sciences, according to a GoFundMe page set up by the family.
“She had a love for God that shined so brightly it superseded any pain she may have experienced. She was compassionate, loving, and kind,” the family tribute states.
Police said in a criminal complaint that the boy had initially told authorities that he was twirling the gun around his finger when it “accidentally went off”.
However, in subsequent interviews the boy admitted that he had shot his mother, according to police.
He said that “his mother would not allow him to have something from Amazon that he wanted to have”, the complaint said.
He also admitted to retrieving the gun because he was angry at her for waking him up at 6am when he usually sleeps until 6:30am.
The boy is due back in court in January, and faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted of homicide.
