UPDATE:
CENTREVILLE, Mich. (AP) — A judge has dismissed a murder charge against a 9-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting his mother in their southern Michigan home.
St. Joseph County Family Division Judge David Tomlinson made the ruling Friday. Under state law, the boy was presumed incompetent for trial because he's not yet 10.
The third-grader hugged his father and cried after the ruling.
The boy was accused of the May 6 shooting at the family's home near Sturgis.
Tomlinson criticized a state law that bars him from ordering help for the boy.
St. Joseph County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Josh Robare told the judge he fears the boy could kill again without treatment.
The Associated Press is not identifying the victim because to do so would identify the boy.
PREVIOUS POST:
FAWN RIVER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The adult sister of a 9-year-old boy who is charged with killing their mother says he has mental health problems and that he probably just "snapped" on the day of the shooting.
Reagan Martin says she doesn't know how the boy got access to a gun. The 23-year-old, who has a different last name than her mother and brother, says hunting rifles are usually locked up in the home in southern Michigan's St. Joseph County. She also says she believes her brother wanted to scare their mother, not kill her.
Police say the boy killed his 51-year-old mother at their home on Monday. Martin says her brother was adopted in 2016 but has lived with the family since he was very young.
The Associated Press is not identifying the mother because to do so would identify the boy.
The boy's attorney, T.J. Reed, declined to comment about the case.
PREVIOUS POST:
Court records show a 9-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his mother with a rifle in their southern Michigan home.
The documents show the child is also facing a felony firearm charge. It isn't clear if he is charged as an adult or a juvenile. The Associated Press is not identifying the victim because to do so would identify the child.
Authorities have not released the circumstances of the killing or details of why the child is considered a suspect.
ORIGINAL POST:
FAWN RIVER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a 9-year-old is suspected in the fatal shooting of a woman in her Sturgis area home.
The St. Joseph County, Michigan, Prosecutor John McDonough said the woman was found early Monday morning in Fawn River Township. The woman's name hasn't been released.
McDonough declined to say if the child and victim were related. The circumstances of the killing and details of why the child is considered a suspect have not been released.
Sheriff Bradley Balk says the youth was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation at a state-run juvenile facility.