When an 11-year-old boy went to retrieve his confiscated Nintendo Switch gaming system, police in Pennsylvania allege he found a gun, which he loaded and then used to shoot his sleeping father.
Douglas Dietzaged 42, has been identified as the father who was killed on Tuesday 13 January. His adopted son, Clayton Dietzhas been charged as an adult with the death of his father.
According to an affidavit shared with Us WeeklyClayton turned 11 the same day he shot and killed his father.
The first calls about shots fired came in just after 3 a.m. Police arrived at the family’s Duncannon home and immediately took Clayton into custody.
The affidavit alleges Clayton told police he had a great day with his parents on Monday, Jan. 12, as all three celebrated their upcoming 11th birthdays. According to the child’s adoptive mother, Jillian Dietzthey all stayed up until midnight just to sing “Happy Birthday” to Clayton. But then, when his father told him to go to bed and Clayton told the police, he became angry.
Once his parents were asleep, Clayton told police he went into their bedroom, where he found the key to his father’s safe. He believed his Switch, which his father had taken from him earlier for an unspecified reason, was in the safe. But he wasn’t there. Instead, the boy found a revolver and bullets.
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He allegedly told investigators that he loaded the gun, walked over to his sleeping father’s bedside, pulled back the hammer and fired the gun at his father.
Clayton allegedly explained that he “was angry” at his father, “and hadn’t thought about” what would happen if he shot him, the affidavit states.
Jillian told police she woke up to the smell of fireworks, poked at her husband in a futile attempt to wake him and said she thought she heard water dripping. He got out of bed, turned on the light, and noticed that it was blood dripping from the bullet wound in Doug’s head.
She said her son entered the parents’ room from a closet connected to her room and proclaimed, “Dad’s dead!” She then ran down the stairs screaming “My father is dead … I killed my father. I hate myself,” she told police, the affidavit states.
Jillian tried to perform CPR on her husband while her father called 911.
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Officers dispatched to the home recovered the murder weapon and spoke with Clayton, who told his mother in front of troopers about looking for the key, searching the safe and loading the firearm.
Jillian allowed police to speak with the boy, who allegedly said he “shot somebody.” “He admitted he had someone in mind he was going to shoot, whom he identified as his father,” court documents state.
In Pennsylvania, suspects 10 and older are automatically charged as adults with murder. Later, their defense attorneys usually file motions to move the proceedings to juvenile court.
Clayton is being held in the Perry County Jail without bond. Jillian and Doug adopted him in 2018 when he was 3 years old.
Local reports suggest he is one of the youngest defendants charged with homicide in Pennsylvania.