An 11-year-old from Pennsylvania is facing homicide charges after he fatally shot his father after the father took away his Nintendo Switch.
As reported by WGAL News 8, court documents reveal that 11-year-old Clayton Dietz shot and killed his father on Tuesday (Jan. 13). Police responded to calls from a home in Perry County at around 3:20 a.m., and when they arrived at the scene, they found 42-year-old Douglas Dietz with a gunshot wound to his head.
Dietz’s wife told authorities that she was woken up by a loud noise and could smell a firework-like odor. She attempted to wake her husband, but he was unresponsive. She also heard what she initially thought was dripping water, but it turned out to be blood. When Clayton walked into the bedroom, he reportedly shouted, “Daddy’s dead.” Responding officers also reported hearing the boy tell his mother, “I killed Daddy.”
Douglas was adopted by the couple in 2018, and it was his birthday on the day of the incident. Shortly after midnight, they sang happy birthday to him and went to bed. When his father told him that he needed to go bed, he allegedly “got mad” at him. When police spoke with the child, he told them, “I shot somebody.”
“He admitted that he had someone in mind whom he was going to shoot, whom he identified as his father,” court documents read. The wife explained that they had a gun safe in their bedroom, but she didn’t know where the key for it was kept. Clayton told officers that he found the key in hopes of finding his Nintendo Switch, which was taken away from him.
Instead, he found the gun, and admitted to removing the gun from the safe, loading bullets into it and walking over to his father's side of the bed, eventually shooting him. Speaking with officers, the boy told them that he was “mad,” but he had “not thought” about what would happen when he fired the gun.
Clayton is currently being held at Perry County Prison and has been denied bail. His first hearing on homicide charges is scheduled for January 22.