A teenager is asking to be released from detention after shooting his father and fleeing the state following an argument over his bedtime.
The shooting took place on Wednesday, May 11th, at a home in Forest Park, Ohio. Police responded to the residence on Holgate Drive at around midnight after a 17-year-old girl called 911 to report that her 15-year-old stepbrother had shot his father. The girl told police that six people were inside the home at the time of the shooting, including a 5-year-old child. While the confrontation between father and son took place, the rest of the home’s occupants were hiding upstairs, fearful of the armed boy. She also confirmed that her stepbrother shot his dad because he’d given him a bedtime. The father suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach and was rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He is expected to recover.
The 15-year-old fled the home before police arrived and ran on foot to a nearby business, where he then stole a car. He drove to Lexington, Kentucky, where his mother lives. Police tracked him there, where he surrendered peacefully at around 5:00 p.m. Deputies recovered the gun used in the crime inside his mother’s home.
During his court hearing Monday morning, the teen, along with his defense attorney, mother, and older brother, requested that Hamilton County Juvenile Court Magistrate Elizabeth Igoe release him. His mother asked that he be returned to her home in Lexington. He went to live with his father and stepmother six months earlier, though it is unclear why. However, speaking from a hospital bed, his father was adamant that the 8th grader was no longer welcomed in his home.
“He can’t stay with me, Your Honor. It’s pretty much self-explanatory to see where I’m at,” the father stated. He also asked that the judge keep his son locked up due to the nature of the crime. Igoe ruled that the teen could only be released to a guardian in Hamilton County, where the crime took place, ruling out his mother as an option.
Hamilton County Assistant Juvenile Court Prosecutor Jon Halvonik also asked the court to hold the teen.
Igoe set another court hearing for Tuesday, May 24th, to give the family time to produce a stable home for him if he is bonded out. His mother and brother continue to maintain that the boy is not a “bad kid” but that he simply has issues.
