An 11-year-old boy has been charged with criminal homicide after his father was fatally shot in the family’s home.
According to Pennsylvania State Police, the boy had his Nintendo Switch taken away shortly before the shooting, and was ordered to go to bed.
In court documents obtained by local NBC News affiliate WGAL News 8, police identified Clayton Dietz, of Perry County, Pa., as the suspect in his father’s death. According to ABC Eyewitness News, police at the scene said they overheard Clayton tell his mother, “I killed Daddy.”
The incident occurred on Clayton’s birthday.
Douglas Dietz, 42, died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to the documents.
Dietz was found in his bed in the master bedroom he shared with his wife, which is connected to his son’s bedroom by a closet, according to the affidavit.
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According to the court filings, Dietz’s wife told police she was woken from her sleep by a loud noise and the smell of something that reminded her of fireworks. She said she tried to nudge her husband awake, but he didn’t move, according to the legal filing. She heard what she assumed was water dripping, but upon turning on the light, she discovered it was blood.
Police said Clayton came into the room and said, “Daddy’s dead.”
Dietz and his wife adopted Clayton in 2018, investigators said.
The alleged shooting happened around midnight, shortly after the couple had finished singing Happy Birthday to Clayton, according to court documents. The boy told investigators he had a good day with his parents, but “When his dad told him he needed to go to bed, he got mad at him,” the documents stated.
When police asked Clayton about the events leading up to his father’s death, he said, “I shot somebody,” according to the affidavit.
“He admitted that he had someone in mind whom he was going to shoot, whom he identified as his father,” the documents stated.
Deitz’s wife said there was a gun in a safe in the master bedroom, but denied knowing where the key was.
Clayton told police he found the key to the safe in his father’s drawer and unlocked it in an attempt to find his Nintendo Switch, which had been taken away, according to the documents.
According to the affidavit, Clayton confessed to “removing the gun from the safe, loading bullets into it and walking over to his father’s side of the bed.”
“He pulled back the hammer and fired the gun at his father,” it says.
When asked what he thought would happen when he fired the gun, Clayton said “he was mad, and he had not thought about that,” investigators said.
According to state police, Clayton was taken into custody and charged with criminal homicide, Eyewitness News reported.
WGAL News 8 reporter AJ Sisson spoke to a neighbour who said the family were “very kind.”
“I mean, I didn’t talk to them much. They kept to themselves over there and just seemed pretty nice. I didn’t expect this,” Jesse Weldon, a lifelong resident of the neighbourhood, said.
Clayton is currently being held at the Perry County Prison. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22.
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