WAMPUM, Pa. — An 11-year-old boy shot his father’s pregnant girlfriend in the back of the head while she was lying in bed in their western Pennsylvania farmhouse, then got on the school bus and went to school, authorities said yesterday.
Jordan Brown was charged Saturday as an adult in the shooting death of Kenzie Marie Houk, who was 8 months pregnant, Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said at a news conference.
Brown, the son of Houk’s live-in boyfriend, was charged with criminal homicide and criminal homicide of an unborn child, Bongivengo said. He was being held in jail.
The fifth-grader was picked up from school Friday by Pennsylvania State Police, who found Houk’s body after her 4-year-old daughter told tree cutters on the property that she thought her mother was dead, Bongivengo said.
The boy had told police there was a suspicious black truck on the property that morning, causing investigators to look into a false lead for about five hours, he said.
Inconsistencies in Brown’s description of the vehicle led police to re-interview the victim’s 7-year-old daughter, who implicated the boy in the killing, Bongivengo said.
“She didn’t actually eyewitness the shooting. She saw him with what she believed to be a shotgun and heard a loud bang,” Bongivengo said, adding that the weapon, a youth model 20-gauge shotgun, was found in what police believed was the boy’s bedroom.
The shotgun, which apparently belonged to Brown, is designed for children and such weapons do not have to be registered, Bongivengo said.
Brown’s attorney said he met yesterday with the boy’s father, Christopher Brown, and planned to file a motion to have the boy released on bail and move the case to juvenile court.
Elisco and police said they had no motive for the shooting.
The attorney said Christopher Brown was “in a state of actual shock and disbelief.” There was no indication the boy had a problem with Houk, he added.
“This is a tragic, extremely tragic situation, and it’s way too early to have any substantive comment,” Elisco said.
Bongivengo would not say whether the boy confessed to the shooting.
My question is where in the sand does one draw the line to indict an 11 year-old as an adult. I'm not dismissing the horrible and heinous crime this kid has committed, but does anyone think that he is mature enough to be charged as an adult? I'm all for throwing the book at murderers and rapists, but I just can't convince myself that this kid is old enough to really understand the repercussions of what he did.
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