June 30, 2026
10-Year-Old Boy Charged With First Degree Murder
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed An unthinkable story out of Missouri as police charge a 10-year-old boy with murder after they say he shot and killed his 7-month-old niece. The boy is the youngest person in that state’s history to be charged with murder. The baby’s 19-year-old father is also being held accountable for the shooting. Ca'Marion Pawnell has been charged with second degree murder because it was his gun, stored under his mattress, that police say his 10-year-old used to shoot baby Kiyomi Parker.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, June thirtieth, and we are hopping on because a ten year old child in Missouri has just become one of the youngest in this country's history to ever be charged with murder. With that welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. That first story, that first line is shocking enough, and then you hear about who the murder victim.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: Is, a seven month old baby girl. That is truly unthinkable. So, yes, a ten year old is being charged with the shooting death of his seven month old niece, and that makes him the youngest person ever charged with murder in the state of Missouri's history.
00:00:55
Speaker 3: This is a story that is just crossing. There was some court activity because there's another arrest involved in this, But the next part of it, Robes is that authorities were being asked about motive because when I first heard about a ten year old, like, surely this was just some crazy accident, a kid playing with a gun. Robes, this kid is charged with first degree murder.
00:01:22
Speaker 2: First degree murder. When we saw that headline, I actually had to go back and check multiple headlines, multiple sources, because you, as just a human being, are thinking that's impossible. A ten year old boy would never deliberately go and get a gun and with purpose shoot a seven month old baby girl in the head.
00:01:49
Speaker 3: This is where we are on this story, folks. We are short on a lot of details, but this is a history making case right now. Just doesn't happen. This just doesn't happen in the US. Robes, it just doesn't happen. We have seen accidents before, horrific accidents. Oftentimes an adult ends up being charged because they're the one that should have kept the gun away from the kid. Some of that is in play here, but it's rare, Robes we see a kid charged, and certainly not with first degree. To the point we're asking about a motive as if this was Robes, first degree is intentional.
00:02:27
Speaker 2: Yes, just asking about a motive for a ten year old. It just it defies logic. And yes, there could have been manslaughter charges, second degree murder charges. A first degree murder charge implies premeditation implies, not implies. It says that's premeditated. It says it was planned, it was purposeful, it was intended.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: And you're making me think about the next thing there, Robes, is that this the next part I would maybe listen to is if something got heated and the kid was upset and the kid had problems in the past, or as if it was taking retaliation against the kid they had a beef with a seven month old? What is happening?
00:03:14
Speaker 2: A seven month old can barely sit up, maybe not any Yeah, a seven month old might be crawling, might be able to sit up on her own. She can't walk, she can't talk, she can smile, she can giggle, she can cry, and that's about it. And so it's hard to get your head around what the motive could possibly be. And police certainly haven't given one yet did you see one anywhere? Look, it's not like there's ever an explanation that would make this make any sense. But again, we always look for the why in these cases, and especially when something as shocking as this has happened, you have to you kind of need to know why, Like what could possibly possess a young child ten years old? What is that fourth grade? I mean, that is a young kid, and that's just it's hard to even imagine how it got to that point. And we were also trying to do the math because it is a little confusing. He's ten, his niece is seven months old. So it seems as though his sister, his sibling obviously who's a little older than him, had a baby. We don't know where that sibling is. That hasn't been mentioned anywhere. But there was another adult that we do know that's responsible, or at least being held responsible in this heinous crime.
00:04:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, Robes, there's a lot to get to in this case. The dad is nineteen, right, that's a really really young guy. There's a gun in the house. Why it's his Why Let's go back to Friday as where this started, and this kid, ten year old is at home with the nineteen year year old and the seven month old. Apparently here ropes and authorities do get a call about a shooting. And then again we haven't said the location. This is in the Saint Louis area, just north of downtown, is the way it's explained in this neighborhood.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: Yes, and so police recalled in the afternoon about a shooting. I cannot imagine that they ever in their wildest dreams, thought that they'd be walking into a scene like the one they did, Because, yes, they find a seven month old with a gunshot wound to her head, her name is Komi Parker and reading the reports of what police did, they said they literally scooped her up like a ball and crushed her into their vehicle, into their car, and they were performing CPR on her. I mean, they were doing everything they could to save this baby's life. They get her to the hospital and she dies at the hospital. But I'm just imagining. I get chills thinking about these police officers walking in. I don't I cannot imagine. I can't imagine how you I mean, you could never unsee that. To see a seven month old baby shot in the head. Forget even that the perpetrator, the person who had been holding it done, was a ten year old. Anybody who could shoot a seven month old baby in the head is pretty much monstrous. I mean, you just this is a defenseless, little, beautiful bundle of joy, this sweet innocent baby that had a whole life ahead of her, and so who could how could anyone shoot a sweet, little innocent baby in the head. And then to find out that a ten year old is the person being charged with first degree murder. Again, I have never heard of anything like this, and to that point, this is the first time anything like this has ever occurred as far as we can find in that entire state's history.
00:06:49
Speaker 3: The youngest ever, this is a historic right now charge, we don't know if we will get to a prosecution, but right now, Robes, we don't have a court date. I haven't seen one just yet, and I'm not sure if we will because the ten year old is charged with murder, first degree murder. However, Robes in juvenile court don't believe actually, because the child is under twelve or thirteen in the state of Missouri, it cannot go over to adult courts. So I don't know if Robes we'll get a lot of access to information because the child.
00:07:23
Speaker 2: Of an age probably not so this. We do know that this is going to be adjudicated in juvenile courts, and that is because of the law. As you pointed out, ten, I believe is the youngest you can actually be charged with murder, but it has to go through the juvenile court system if he had been twelve. In some states sometimes it's fourteen, but there is an age requirement for it to then be considered, or at least for prosecutors to be able to consider charging a juvenile as an adult. We've certainly seen that in other cases, but we're usually talking about teenagers at that point, not ten year olds. And so it does a peer that this is all going to be handled in juvenile courts, which means there will be protections afforded to the ten year old in terms of anonymity just because of his age, because of state law, but because of the nature of this crime and the violent nature of it, the first degree murder charges. I don't know what they're going to do with this case, Like, how do they handle that? Because if you are processed in a juvenile court, even if it's first degree murder, from what I understand, when you're twenty one, you're free. So that's a very disturbing thought to even consider. And I can't imagine how prosecutors, how lawmakers are going to handle this situation that they've never had to consider before.
00:08:42
Speaker 3: Rose first degree. Look, we may it's possible. I didn't think about itu ttil we started recording here. We really might not hear much about this case. We have so many questions, but we might never know who this kid kid is. I've seen some reporting sometimes about kids who were charged and convicted of something when they were under age, even after they become adults and go out into the world and there's reporting about their case. News organizations still don't name them because they were a child where that happened. So this is probably one of those cases, is it not?
00:09:14
Speaker 2: Yes? And actually did you read because I actually am seeing the full statement that came from officials talking about his juvenile detention, and they say that the ten year old was ordered to be placed in the protective custody of Missouri Children's Division and is currently at a hospital where he is being psychiatrically evaluated. And that does make sense. And then it goes on to say, as he is under twelve years old, the juvenile will not be subject to certification proceedings and therefore cannot be certified to be tried as an adult. The Missouri state legislature, they have a law that says juveniles twelve years of age and older can only be certified as adults for specific serious or dangerous felonies, while juveniles under the age of twelve cannot be prosecuted as adults for any reason. Therefore, the murder allegations pending in this juvenile's case must be proceeded on exclusively within the juvenile court system.
00:10:18
Speaker 3: No, what if it gives them though? Do they have the ability police to release details about their investigation. Do they have the ability to release some documents and still keep this kid's name out of public view. It's just there's going to be a lot of interest in this case and Robes you were talking about it literally a historic prosecution for the state and for the country. I like some information.
00:10:44
Speaker 2: The reason why I think we actually will get some information is because there is an adult being charged in this case in connection to the case, and so through perhaps the adult being charged, we might learn about what happened in those moments that led up to this shooting.
00:11:01
Speaker 3: And this adult that we didn't mention earlier. The kid that was yes arrested in police custody did tell authorities, according to the police report, that they was a gun in the house, it was stored under a mattress, and that the kid knew exactly where it was, had access to it at times, and even had accessed it before. So the kid told the police all of this, and this leads us to the adult who has been arrested.
00:11:26
Speaker 2: Yes, his name is Samerian Pawnell, nineteen years old, and he is the father of this baby girl. Kiomi Parker, So the nineteen year old father of the seven month old who was shot and killed. He is now in custody as well, behind bars, and he is being charged with second degree felony murder, endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, and endangering the welfare of a child creating substantial risk, meaning he left that gun in a place where it was easily accessed by this ten year old, and he knew this ten year old, knew where it was, and knew how to use the gun. I wouldn't even know how to use a gun.
00:12:09
Speaker 3: What a mess.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: It's a horrific tragedy.
00:12:11
Speaker 3: What a mess. Then, and you can argue, these are all kids, These are all children in that house. A nineteen year old. Yes, you see his mug shot and you might think something else, But bro just is really really really.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: He looked to me, the dad, the nineteen year old, he looks so young to me.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: These are just what a tragedy in that house robes But as we were going through, we were trying to find similar cases, other cases, like really, this is historic in Missouri, but is this the youngest person ever in the country's history to be charged with murder. We were shocked to find out.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: No welcome back everyone, as we continue to discuss this horrific, unprecedented crime story coming out of Missouri. And it's unprecedented in Missouri because this is the youngest person ever charged with murder, a ten year old charged with first degree murder for shooting his baby niece, a seventh month old little girl in the head and killing her. And so yes, this is making history in the state of Missouri. But my goodness, to think that there were killers, murderers younger than ten in this country, not many, obviously, this is exceptionally rare. But you found TJ. The youngest ever person charged and convicted of murder. Give us the age of that child, six six And it wasn't an accident.
00:13:56
Speaker 3: Six got into a fight with an eight.
00:13:59
Speaker 2: Year old over who got to sell some scrap of iron, goes into his home, pulls out a shotgun and shoots the kid in the chest and kills him on the spot.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: Kid dies, they say, pretty much instantly, but robes this kid, Carl Newton man when he went and retrieved the gun robe, they said he actually had to get a chair and move it over to the cabinet and step up like this was part of the case in that how are you gonna say this kid shouldn't be charged with a serious crime when he gave thought to this, This was a legit fight, and he retaliated exactly. But they go ahead, oh, go ahead, No no, but they came back later. The other side of that is this kid is from a poor community. He's from this mining town. He's surrounded by violence all the time and doesn't understand necessarily what the result was going to be. But he understood he was gonna do harm. But they didn't blame the kid ultimately, so yes, we were. He was convicted and what fifteen years in the reform school essentially juvie whom you could say. But they end up overturning the conviction. He got out five years later.
00:15:12
Speaker 2: Isn't that amazing? Guess he actually had? Can you a six year old a jury is convicting him. They came back with the guilty verdict and folks who were in the courtroom and this goes back by the way, it was so fascinating to read an article online from the New York Times from nineteen twenty nine, but they're describing a kid who was playing in the courtroom. I mean, he really didn't understand what was going on, but it was interesting because his mother. His defense was that he didn't know it was loaded. He was just going through the motions of what he had seen, but he had no idea it was loaded. And the neighbor testified, uh uh, I heard him threatened the kid, I'm going to go get my gun, shoot and kill you. And then he went and got the gun and shot and killed him. And so that is why the jury came back with a guilty verdict for a six year old for murder.
00:16:02
Speaker 3: It's fascinating to heares even that that's possible. That story is certainly interesting to hear that, like it sound like the kid knew what he was doing. But just it's hard to comprehend folks this young having a real conscious idea, And if you do, how is it possible the kid that young has that much violence and malice in their heart. I can't remember the town, but the six year old. The trials we were just watching recently where the six year old shot the teacher, came in and shot the teacher. We saw the trial of the assistant principle.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: You're right, I totally forgot about it.
00:16:39
Speaker 3: They said that kid knew exactly what he was doing, was angry and was mad. Who are these six year olds? I guess you get them every once in a while. It's just hard to imagine any six year old I've never met. I've met some terrible kids.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: Never one that I thought, actually I needed to sleep with one eye open.
00:16:58
Speaker 3: No good point.
00:17:00
Speaker 2: That, And that is just shocking and scary. And then there were also there's a Catherine and Curtis Jones twelve and thirteen years old back in nineteen ninety nine, killed their dad's girlfriend.
00:17:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, those twos, I think they got out as adults, but yeah, siblings actually did that one. So it's it's rare to find something under twelve and thirteen fourteen in this case, it's just so so rare. But when you go down to ten, you're talking ten years old and under you're talking about a handful of just it just doesn't happen. So we're witnessing something and something it's taking place right now that I'm desperate to try to understand, and we all should be interested in beyond just the headline. This is fascinating, rope. How is this possible. I don't want to say there's some epidemic. These are just big headlines right now. But yeah, the six year old was in the headlines a lot.
00:17:51
Speaker 2: It's scary stuff, and I absolutely totally forgot about that. I am interested though, because when we talk about these other cases, including the six year old who shot the teacher who just luckily survived, but the six year old who killed a playmate, I guess that was an eight year old, and then the other ones were shooting adults. I also just want to say, this is a whole other level because for a ten year old to shoot an innocent baby, for a ten year old to shoot an infant, a helpless infant that couldn't have done anything actually that would have angered him, that would make any sense, where he wasn't getting into a fight with a seven month old, he wasn't angry about being punished by an adult. And so that is a whole other level of evil that I don't wish upon in terms of the folks who have to decide what happens to him, where he goes, if he can have any sort of rehabilitation, and what do you do when he's twenty one. These are all questions that I think are going to have really difficult answers, and none that are certainly clear at this point. But to know he's going under a psychiatric evaluation right now is at least heartening. They're trying to find out why, trying to figure out what was going on with this kid. But we just wanted to hop on and let you know this frankly, disturbingly historic headline taking place in Missouri, and we'll follow. We'll follow any of the details. If we get any information about the story, we'll certainly pass it along to you all. But in the meantime, thank you for listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you so much.
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, June thirtieth, and we are hopping on because a ten year old child in Missouri has just become one of the youngest in this country's history to ever be charged with murder. With that welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. That first story, that first line is shocking enough, and then you hear about who the murder victim.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: Is, a seven month old baby girl. That is truly unthinkable. So, yes, a ten year old is being charged with the shooting death of his seven month old niece, and that makes him the youngest person ever charged with murder in the state of Missouri's history.
00:00:55
Speaker 3: This is a story that is just crossing. There was some court activity because there's another arrest involved in this, But the next part of it, Robes is that authorities were being asked about motive because when I first heard about a ten year old, like, surely this was just some crazy accident, a kid playing with a gun. Robes, this kid is charged with first degree murder.
00:01:22
Speaker 2: First degree murder. When we saw that headline, I actually had to go back and check multiple headlines, multiple sources, because you, as just a human being, are thinking that's impossible. A ten year old boy would never deliberately go and get a gun and with purpose shoot a seven month old baby girl in the head.
00:01:49
Speaker 3: This is where we are on this story, folks. We are short on a lot of details, but this is a history making case right now. Just doesn't happen. This just doesn't happen in the US. Robes, it just doesn't happen. We have seen accidents before, horrific accidents. Oftentimes an adult ends up being charged because they're the one that should have kept the gun away from the kid. Some of that is in play here, but it's rare, Robes we see a kid charged, and certainly not with first degree. To the point we're asking about a motive as if this was Robes, first degree is intentional.
00:02:27
Speaker 2: Yes, just asking about a motive for a ten year old. It just it defies logic. And yes, there could have been manslaughter charges, second degree murder charges. A first degree murder charge implies premeditation implies, not implies. It says that's premeditated. It says it was planned, it was purposeful, it was intended.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: And you're making me think about the next thing there, Robes, is that this the next part I would maybe listen to is if something got heated and the kid was upset and the kid had problems in the past, or as if it was taking retaliation against the kid they had a beef with a seven month old? What is happening?
00:03:14
Speaker 2: A seven month old can barely sit up, maybe not any Yeah, a seven month old might be crawling, might be able to sit up on her own. She can't walk, she can't talk, she can smile, she can giggle, she can cry, and that's about it. And so it's hard to get your head around what the motive could possibly be. And police certainly haven't given one yet did you see one anywhere? Look, it's not like there's ever an explanation that would make this make any sense. But again, we always look for the why in these cases, and especially when something as shocking as this has happened, you have to you kind of need to know why, Like what could possibly possess a young child ten years old? What is that fourth grade? I mean, that is a young kid, and that's just it's hard to even imagine how it got to that point. And we were also trying to do the math because it is a little confusing. He's ten, his niece is seven months old. So it seems as though his sister, his sibling obviously who's a little older than him, had a baby. We don't know where that sibling is. That hasn't been mentioned anywhere. But there was another adult that we do know that's responsible, or at least being held responsible in this heinous crime.
00:04:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, Robes, there's a lot to get to in this case. The dad is nineteen, right, that's a really really young guy. There's a gun in the house. Why it's his Why Let's go back to Friday as where this started, and this kid, ten year old is at home with the nineteen year year old and the seven month old. Apparently here ropes and authorities do get a call about a shooting. And then again we haven't said the location. This is in the Saint Louis area, just north of downtown, is the way it's explained in this neighborhood.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: Yes, and so police recalled in the afternoon about a shooting. I cannot imagine that they ever in their wildest dreams, thought that they'd be walking into a scene like the one they did, Because, yes, they find a seven month old with a gunshot wound to her head, her name is Komi Parker and reading the reports of what police did, they said they literally scooped her up like a ball and crushed her into their vehicle, into their car, and they were performing CPR on her. I mean, they were doing everything they could to save this baby's life. They get her to the hospital and she dies at the hospital. But I'm just imagining. I get chills thinking about these police officers walking in. I don't I cannot imagine. I can't imagine how you I mean, you could never unsee that. To see a seven month old baby shot in the head. Forget even that the perpetrator, the person who had been holding it done, was a ten year old. Anybody who could shoot a seven month old baby in the head is pretty much monstrous. I mean, you just this is a defenseless, little, beautiful bundle of joy, this sweet innocent baby that had a whole life ahead of her, and so who could how could anyone shoot a sweet, little innocent baby in the head. And then to find out that a ten year old is the person being charged with first degree murder. Again, I have never heard of anything like this, and to that point, this is the first time anything like this has ever occurred as far as we can find in that entire state's history.
00:06:49
Speaker 3: The youngest ever, this is a historic right now charge, we don't know if we will get to a prosecution, but right now, Robes, we don't have a court date. I haven't seen one just yet, and I'm not sure if we will because the ten year old is charged with murder, first degree murder. However, Robes in juvenile court don't believe actually, because the child is under twelve or thirteen in the state of Missouri, it cannot go over to adult courts. So I don't know if Robes we'll get a lot of access to information because the child.
00:07:23
Speaker 2: Of an age probably not so this. We do know that this is going to be adjudicated in juvenile courts, and that is because of the law. As you pointed out, ten, I believe is the youngest you can actually be charged with murder, but it has to go through the juvenile court system if he had been twelve. In some states sometimes it's fourteen, but there is an age requirement for it to then be considered, or at least for prosecutors to be able to consider charging a juvenile as an adult. We've certainly seen that in other cases, but we're usually talking about teenagers at that point, not ten year olds. And so it does a peer that this is all going to be handled in juvenile courts, which means there will be protections afforded to the ten year old in terms of anonymity just because of his age, because of state law, but because of the nature of this crime and the violent nature of it, the first degree murder charges. I don't know what they're going to do with this case, Like, how do they handle that? Because if you are processed in a juvenile court, even if it's first degree murder, from what I understand, when you're twenty one, you're free. So that's a very disturbing thought to even consider. And I can't imagine how prosecutors, how lawmakers are going to handle this situation that they've never had to consider before.
00:08:42
Speaker 3: Rose first degree. Look, we may it's possible. I didn't think about itu ttil we started recording here. We really might not hear much about this case. We have so many questions, but we might never know who this kid kid is. I've seen some reporting sometimes about kids who were charged and convicted of something when they were under age, even after they become adults and go out into the world and there's reporting about their case. News organizations still don't name them because they were a child where that happened. So this is probably one of those cases, is it not?
00:09:14
Speaker 2: Yes? And actually did you read because I actually am seeing the full statement that came from officials talking about his juvenile detention, and they say that the ten year old was ordered to be placed in the protective custody of Missouri Children's Division and is currently at a hospital where he is being psychiatrically evaluated. And that does make sense. And then it goes on to say, as he is under twelve years old, the juvenile will not be subject to certification proceedings and therefore cannot be certified to be tried as an adult. The Missouri state legislature, they have a law that says juveniles twelve years of age and older can only be certified as adults for specific serious or dangerous felonies, while juveniles under the age of twelve cannot be prosecuted as adults for any reason. Therefore, the murder allegations pending in this juvenile's case must be proceeded on exclusively within the juvenile court system.
00:10:18
Speaker 3: No, what if it gives them though? Do they have the ability police to release details about their investigation. Do they have the ability to release some documents and still keep this kid's name out of public view. It's just there's going to be a lot of interest in this case and Robes you were talking about it literally a historic prosecution for the state and for the country. I like some information.
00:10:44
Speaker 2: The reason why I think we actually will get some information is because there is an adult being charged in this case in connection to the case, and so through perhaps the adult being charged, we might learn about what happened in those moments that led up to this shooting.
00:11:01
Speaker 3: And this adult that we didn't mention earlier. The kid that was yes arrested in police custody did tell authorities, according to the police report, that they was a gun in the house, it was stored under a mattress, and that the kid knew exactly where it was, had access to it at times, and even had accessed it before. So the kid told the police all of this, and this leads us to the adult who has been arrested.
00:11:26
Speaker 2: Yes, his name is Samerian Pawnell, nineteen years old, and he is the father of this baby girl. Kiomi Parker, So the nineteen year old father of the seven month old who was shot and killed. He is now in custody as well, behind bars, and he is being charged with second degree felony murder, endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, and endangering the welfare of a child creating substantial risk, meaning he left that gun in a place where it was easily accessed by this ten year old, and he knew this ten year old, knew where it was, and knew how to use the gun. I wouldn't even know how to use a gun.
00:12:09
Speaker 3: What a mess.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: It's a horrific tragedy.
00:12:11
Speaker 3: What a mess. Then, and you can argue, these are all kids, These are all children in that house. A nineteen year old. Yes, you see his mug shot and you might think something else, But bro just is really really really.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: He looked to me, the dad, the nineteen year old, he looks so young to me.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: These are just what a tragedy in that house robes But as we were going through, we were trying to find similar cases, other cases, like really, this is historic in Missouri, but is this the youngest person ever in the country's history to be charged with murder. We were shocked to find out.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: No welcome back everyone, as we continue to discuss this horrific, unprecedented crime story coming out of Missouri. And it's unprecedented in Missouri because this is the youngest person ever charged with murder, a ten year old charged with first degree murder for shooting his baby niece, a seventh month old little girl in the head and killing her. And so yes, this is making history in the state of Missouri. But my goodness, to think that there were killers, murderers younger than ten in this country, not many, obviously, this is exceptionally rare. But you found TJ. The youngest ever person charged and convicted of murder. Give us the age of that child, six six And it wasn't an accident.
00:13:56
Speaker 3: Six got into a fight with an eight.
00:13:59
Speaker 2: Year old over who got to sell some scrap of iron, goes into his home, pulls out a shotgun and shoots the kid in the chest and kills him on the spot.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: Kid dies, they say, pretty much instantly, but robes this kid, Carl Newton man when he went and retrieved the gun robe, they said he actually had to get a chair and move it over to the cabinet and step up like this was part of the case in that how are you gonna say this kid shouldn't be charged with a serious crime when he gave thought to this, This was a legit fight, and he retaliated exactly. But they go ahead, oh, go ahead, No no, but they came back later. The other side of that is this kid is from a poor community. He's from this mining town. He's surrounded by violence all the time and doesn't understand necessarily what the result was going to be. But he understood he was gonna do harm. But they didn't blame the kid ultimately, so yes, we were. He was convicted and what fifteen years in the reform school essentially juvie whom you could say. But they end up overturning the conviction. He got out five years later.
00:15:12
Speaker 2: Isn't that amazing? Guess he actually had? Can you a six year old a jury is convicting him. They came back with the guilty verdict and folks who were in the courtroom and this goes back by the way, it was so fascinating to read an article online from the New York Times from nineteen twenty nine, but they're describing a kid who was playing in the courtroom. I mean, he really didn't understand what was going on, but it was interesting because his mother. His defense was that he didn't know it was loaded. He was just going through the motions of what he had seen, but he had no idea it was loaded. And the neighbor testified, uh uh, I heard him threatened the kid, I'm going to go get my gun, shoot and kill you. And then he went and got the gun and shot and killed him. And so that is why the jury came back with a guilty verdict for a six year old for murder.
00:16:02
Speaker 3: It's fascinating to heares even that that's possible. That story is certainly interesting to hear that, like it sound like the kid knew what he was doing. But just it's hard to comprehend folks this young having a real conscious idea, And if you do, how is it possible the kid that young has that much violence and malice in their heart. I can't remember the town, but the six year old. The trials we were just watching recently where the six year old shot the teacher, came in and shot the teacher. We saw the trial of the assistant principle.
00:16:37
Speaker 2: You're right, I totally forgot about it.
00:16:39
Speaker 3: They said that kid knew exactly what he was doing, was angry and was mad. Who are these six year olds? I guess you get them every once in a while. It's just hard to imagine any six year old I've never met. I've met some terrible kids.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: Never one that I thought, actually I needed to sleep with one eye open.
00:16:58
Speaker 3: No good point.
00:17:00
Speaker 2: That, And that is just shocking and scary. And then there were also there's a Catherine and Curtis Jones twelve and thirteen years old back in nineteen ninety nine, killed their dad's girlfriend.
00:17:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, those twos, I think they got out as adults, but yeah, siblings actually did that one. So it's it's rare to find something under twelve and thirteen fourteen in this case, it's just so so rare. But when you go down to ten, you're talking ten years old and under you're talking about a handful of just it just doesn't happen. So we're witnessing something and something it's taking place right now that I'm desperate to try to understand, and we all should be interested in beyond just the headline. This is fascinating, rope. How is this possible. I don't want to say there's some epidemic. These are just big headlines right now. But yeah, the six year old was in the headlines a lot.
00:17:51
Speaker 2: It's scary stuff, and I absolutely totally forgot about that. I am interested though, because when we talk about these other cases, including the six year old who shot the teacher who just luckily survived, but the six year old who killed a playmate, I guess that was an eight year old, and then the other ones were shooting adults. I also just want to say, this is a whole other level because for a ten year old to shoot an innocent baby, for a ten year old to shoot an infant, a helpless infant that couldn't have done anything actually that would have angered him, that would make any sense, where he wasn't getting into a fight with a seven month old, he wasn't angry about being punished by an adult. And so that is a whole other level of evil that I don't wish upon in terms of the folks who have to decide what happens to him, where he goes, if he can have any sort of rehabilitation, and what do you do when he's twenty one. These are all questions that I think are going to have really difficult answers, and none that are certainly clear at this point. But to know he's going under a psychiatric evaluation right now is at least heartening. They're trying to find out why, trying to figure out what was going on with this kid. But we just wanted to hop on and let you know this frankly, disturbingly historic headline taking place in Missouri, and we'll follow. We'll follow any of the details. If we get any information about the story, we'll certainly pass it along to you all. But in the meantime, thank you for listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you so much.