8-year-old girl shot and killed by 11-year-old boy over argument about puppy. WATE reports the boy has been charged with first-degree murder.
The unidentified boy was talking to three girls who were outside his mobile home on Saturday evening and asked one of them if he could see her two new puppies, but the girl refused, according to Jefferson County Sheriff G.W. ‘Bud’ McCoig.
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.
The girl has been identified as Maykayla Dyer, a third-grader at White Pine Elementary School. The boy was in fifth grade at the same school.
‘It is a sad, sad situation,’ said McCoig.
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.
Agencies/Canadajournal