An 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy allegedly shot his father to death after previously having his Nintendo Switch handheld gaming system taken away.
The boy is facing criminal homicide charges after a 13 January shooting at his family’s home in Duncannon Borough.
As put in court documents obtained and reported by WGAL News 8, the case illustrates how easily children can access guns in the US, where firearms are ubiquitous.
The victim was reportedly discovered in the bedroom he shared with his wife, which court documents say is connected to their son’s bedroom by a closet.
Police reported it was the child’s birthday, and he had entered the bedroom shouting: “Daddy’s dead.” Troopers at the scene also reportedly said that they heard the son tell his mother: “I killed Daddy.”
Police said the shooting occurred after the couple had gone to bed shortly past midnight. The child reportedly told authorities that he had had a good day with his parents, but the documents reportedly state that he became “mad” when his father told him it was time to go to bed.
According to the news outlet, the court document says that the boy told police he found a key to the gun safe in his father’s drawer in his parent’s bedroom. He reportedly unlocked it while attempting to locate his Nintendo Switch – which had previously been taken away from him – and found a gun.
Yeah, my kid is way too unpredictable, there’s is absolutely no way that I could ever have a firearm in my home or else this will be me or my wife, 100% certainly. We regularly get punched, kicked, bitten, etc almost daily. When he’s angry (which is often) he just can’t think, and then he regrets his actions later, but he does some dumb shit when he’s angry…
How old are they?
If just the father had his own gun to him, he could have had defended himself.
Douglas and Jillian adopted Clayton in 2018, according to court documents. Stuckey told News 8 that he only met the 11-year-old at one point in-person when he was much younger, as he left the country for nearly a decade and does not travel back often.
Stuckey is in a graduate MBA program, and received a undergraduate degree in Psychology Clinical mental health from Southern New Hampshire University, and tells News 8 that Clayton has autism, which escalated in 2025.
Stuckey says, at Doug and Jill’s request, he drafted a letter to the Susquenita School District asking to move Clayton to a behavioral education center, citing rising concerns about his behavior with fellow classmates.
“In the letter, I was speaking to the tune of the school violence that we’re seeing and that some of these subtle behaviors could eventually lead to a situation,” Stuckey said.
Is America great again yet?
Talent like that can’t go to waste. He’ll be put in ICE’s young achievers club where youth will be free to learn and grow at an advanced rate free from normal societies mores. He will practice high-performance psychopathy, bleeding edge unwarranted agression and advanced immunity from prosecution.
This boy has a bright future, as does America.
ICE’s young achievers club
“Rockwell Jugend”
So bright, it’s almost all white
Sounds a bit like the minting of a new Space Marine
The son then allegedly admitted to “removing the gun from the safe, loading bullets into it and walking over to his father’s side of the bed”, according to the affidavit. “He pulled back the hammer and fired the gun at his father,” the affidavit adds.
When asked what he believed would happen when he fired the gun, the boy responded that he was “mad” and that he had “not thought about that”, according to investigators.
Jesus man. This is a horrific situation. That poor woman lost her husband and, effectively, her son in one night.
The fact that the kid could easily get into the safe makes it no such thing.
He had to find the key first, which he did. Sounds like it was one of those Stack-On type of cabinets that aren’t actually safes but are better than nothing. Plus this kid loaded the gun, he was on a mission.
Yeah no this is why if you own guns you should only buy combo safes, with at least one that has no key to keep the keys to the rest.
Calling a locksmith is better than calling a coroner.
Also, ffs, choose a good combo, keep it in a secure password manager. Not rocket science.
Or just effectively hide your key. It’s really not hard to keep a key hidden from a 11 year old.
My bet is it was somewhere dumb like in the same room above the door frame or in a drawer.
Oh for sure, but even with a good hiding place kids are shits and have a lotta time on their hands. ESPECIALLY after their preferred game/tablet/whatever has been taken away.
I’ll take no chance over low chance.
… he found a key to the gun safe in his father’s drawer in his parent’s bedroom.
From the summary.
That makes it… not a horrific situation? What?
Makes the safe, not a safe.
Well, that makes much more sense.
Lol I was also confused, we can be dumb in solidarity today.
Makes the safe no such thing.
Maybe something good can come out of it. The kid has serious issues which hopefully he gets intense therapy for, rather than not killing his dad and growing up being some psycho killer that terrorizes the general public.
The kid killed one of the only people that might have provided that care, and probably left the other in poverty.
The odds ain’t good.
He’s likely going to have mental health issues now, as a result of the shooting.
As for pre-existing mental health issues; to me the most likely condition seems to be “was 11”, which most people grow out of. As a thought experiment, how many 11 year olds are there that you would be comfortable having a gun unsupervised.
At 11 my dad had guns in the house, but not in a million years would my anger have made me think yo load his gun shoot him. (Plus ammo was hidden and locks separate from his guns)
That kid has serious unchecked emotional dysregulation in my opinion.
I think in rural Canada you can handle guns at 12 legally.
hopefully he gets intense therapy for
Oh he’s going to be in the US prison system now. He will get next to zero mental health care provided.
Yep, 10 years old is the age in PA where a child can be charged with a crime. Placing him in the juvenile court/prison system. Under 10 and courts could only send him to a psychiatric facility.
He is still under the cutoff for where they could charge him as an adult (14).
At his age, that is not necessarily the case.
dont think therapy will help once you already murdered someone, it mightve help if he had ideations of it.
That is possible, but some people regret and don’t reoffend
What did he do when he was told he’d never play Nintendo Switch again?
White 40something American with a goatee and a shaved head who keeps a gun next to his bed and is raising a violent kid?
Will withhold judgment on whether this is any big loss.
i don’t think you need to be a violent kid to accidentally shoot someone to death; that’s why guns are so insidious. it only takes a couple of simple actions at most to kill someone. it’s simple enough where people might not think about the consequences before killing somebody. it makes death easily accessible and not a very physical or straining task.
i also would generally refrain from calling an unknown kid who you just don’t know violent, or passing judgement on the father for looking a certain way. stereotypes might turn out true, but they also might not.
accidentally
Unlocked gun safe to get the gun
yep
I hate when I accidentally search for the key to a gun safe, accidentally unlock the gun safe with the key, accidentally take the gun out of the safe, then accidentally aim it at someone and then accidentally shoot them with it that’s the worst!
Don’t forget accidentally picking bullets and loading the gun with them!
i take a long time to properly think through consequences, and as a kid I couldn’t ever dare to try and truly feel what it would be like to shoot somebody. just because you may be different doesn’t mean everyone is. children are specifically known for their lack of foresight and increased impulsivity. one impulse can be enough for someone to go through a minutes-long process. minutes isn’t anywhere near the max that can appear.
This is true, but that’s not what “accidentally” means.
“Impulsively” would have been a more fitting word.
Would be more than happy to be wrong but it this guy wasn’t MAGA I’ll eat my hat
You don’t fuck with Animal Crossing.
Its always a tragedy. It feels simultaneously avoidable and inevitable. Its always a tragedy.
This must be the fault of violent video games
Not guns
Nope
Inb4 Trump bans the Nintendo Switch thinking it’s a Glock switch
nintendo switches are quite big for his hands.
Ah yes, good idea to get rid of all guns. I’m sure Trump’s ICE and SS will find their jobs a lot easier.
Because as we see, all those good guys with guns are scaring ICE away.
Easy enough for them so far. Literally no Americans shooting back.
It does put the lie to that argument, but at the same time what do you really think would happen if lefties went kinetic on ICE across the states? The protestors aren’t stupid, it’d be martial law.
It will probably go that way somehow or another, probably some false flag a la Chechnya. But at least don’t oblige them.
What’s the advantage in dragging it out?
You kidding? The whole point of marital law would be to halt new elections. They aren’t planning to leave.
What makes you think you’re going to have midterms currently?
- Not currently living in America, I just follow their politics
- If all you’re bringing to the conversation is hopelessness verging on accelerationism, do me a favour and talk to someone else
Predator Drone INTENSIFIES
What is wrong with responsible gun ownership? We have licenses and registries for vehicles why not for firearms? Nobody said get ride of all firearms, that was on you.
Sounds like a disturbed kid is what was responsible. Gun, knife, hammer are all just means to an end.
It’s far more difficult to kill with a knife or hammer.
That’s literally why guns exist, to make killing easier.
Guns were invented to be a superior ranged weapon for certain applications. If you’re asleep it doesn’t really matter, you ain’t putting up a fight and one whack with a ball peen will kill you just as effectively. Plenty of people survive gunshots.
One whack with a ball peen from an 11 year old child?
Only if they know exactly where to aim (specific parts of the head) and get a bit lucky too. If the kid whacks him in the chest with it, he isn’t likely going to die.
People survive lots of things, as a whole guns are more effective than other means and you know it.
I really don’t care what you have to say honestly. You’re clearly not living in reality. A gun didn’t walk itself in that room and you know it.
You’re the one not living in reality, Wikipedia even has an article related to this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_killers
There are only two entries on that entire list of a child killing an adult without using a gun, both in China. One was the strangulation of a grandmother who was beating him, and the other a stabbing of a mother who was also beating him.
On the other hand, there are 11 entries of a child using a gun to kill an adult.
A gun didn’t walk into that room, but if a gun had not been in that house, it’s almost certain that father would still be alive. Another case of someone buying a gun for self protection, only to have it be the reason they died.
Charlie Kirk approved of that
its like that guy that got enraged and killed his baby/child after accidentally disconnecting the game console.
Well, fuck around, find out. I guess?
Life in prison.
That’s a reasonable reaction for an American. Isn’t that how things work there?
It better have at least been a 2.
