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29th July 2023
09:33am BST
An 11-year-old boy has been charged with killing his mum after she allegedly refused to buy him a virtual reality headset.
The Wisconsin youngster, MailOnline reports, has been found competent to stand trial as an adult over the death of 44-year-old Quiana Mann.
Mann was shot at her home in Milwaukee in November 2022.
Her son, who was 10 years old at the time, has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
Prosecutors say the boy shot Mann after she refused to buy him a $500 Oculus VR headset, and then used her credit card and Amazon account to buy the device.
According to the Mail report, the boy told investigators that he pointed the gun at his mum, but had only intended to shoot the wall to "scare her".
She had then, he claimed, walked in front of him.
During a second interview, however, he said he intentionally aimed at his mother before shooting her at their home on 87th Street near Hemlock at around 7am on November 21.
After the shooting, he put the gun in the closet and told his older sister Brianna Moore, 26, that their mother, who worked in behavioural health, was dead. Moore then called 911.
The boy is being held at a juvenile justice center ahead of a preliminary hearing on 5 September.
The case has received some pushback from activists who called for the boy to be moved to juvenile court. State law in Wisconsin requires children as young as 10 to be charged as adults for some serious crimes, such as homicide.
Family members who spoke out after the shooting said the boy seemed more preoccupied with his gadgets than facing murder charges.
The boy's aunt Rhonda Reid told WTMJ-TV in December that when she talks to him in custody, he claims not to remember the shooting and quickly shifts the conversation to his favourite topic.
"When he calls, he's just like, 'Make sure all my tablets and laptop and everything of mine is properly packaged,'" Reid said at the time.
According to family members the boy has "rage issues" and hears imaginary people.
Wisconsin state law dictates that children as young as 10 will be charged as adults for serious crimes, such as murder.
The boy's aunt and sister said he never cried or showed remorse and had also physically attacked his seven-year-old cousin the same day.
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