Posted on 07/30/2007 11:40:05 PM PDT by Pencil
BUENA VISTA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A 13-year-old girl used a shotgun to fatally shoot her father in the head early Monday in a home overrun with animals and filth, police said.
The girl told investigators she used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot 34-year-old Matthew Booth in the face while he was in bed, according to a police affidavit.
A police complaint did not identify a motive in the killing, but her mother, Michelle Fazek, who was separated from Booth, said she had complained several times to county child welfare officials that her daughter and her brother, 14, were living in squalor and that her daughter had been abused.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Too little information at this point.
this is the great great grandson and his family of john wilkes booth who as you all know shot lincoln.
okay, i just made that up.
yep
"The whole street knew about it," said Suzanne Gruber, 20, who lives across the street from the Booth home.
"He abused them both," she said. "Some nights I would hear her screaming, 'No, daddy! No! I'm sorry.' She said she just couldn't take it anymore."
Ya know, I've read articles similar to this before.
I just don't get it. The whole block knows some kids are being abused. They're screaming and yelling bloody murder all night long.
The social workers aren't any use.
The local police department was apparently unresponsive.
How about a Constable or the County Sheriff? The FBI?
Good Lord Almighty it enrages me when adult witnesses act as if they're helpless.
He was shot in the face at close range with a 12 guage shotgun, of course it was fatal. Lacking details I will side with the little girl and hope she didn't bruise her shoulder badly.
This raises even more questions as why the young woman wouldn't tell her mother, and why her mother had lost custody?
The whole story is not out yet.
Dad doesn't sound like much a caregiver to me.
And believe me, I'm much more inclined to give fathers the benefit of the doubt in today's divorce/custody proceedings.
How rotten was the mother that the gave custody to the dad?
I doubt either one was capable of raising her.
Yes, but it doesn't explain why the "police were unresponsive" and "adult witnesses are helpless".
A lot of people dropped the ball here, and this young woman is the youngest among them (except brother).
Sanitation negligent parenting is negligent, and allows the authorities to act. Why did they not?
This family had red flags for years. Was this guy sloppy and unsanitary, (serious) or a pervert (unforgivable) or both. What is the daughters definition of abuse? If the neighbors were suspecting perverted abuse, why the Hell didn't they report?
We need answers before the hanging.
A few beer cans and an untidy house is one thing.
Fleas, animal feces and broken windows in a house with children is not acceptable.
Why didn't the "authorities" act?
Your guess is as good as mine.
What is the daughters definition of abuse?
Living in a home full of fleas, broken windows and animal feces seems to be a reasonable standard of neglect/abuse to me. But then a child may not understand that's a bad situation.
If the neighbors were suspecting perverted abuse, why the Hell didn't they report?
Cause they're cowardly dumbasses?
Well then, there you have it, the young lady was justified in putting a shotgun to her sleeping father's head, death for living in filth. The cops are charging her to hide their incompetence, life for making the cops look stupid, all wrapped up, neatly.
That was easy, thanks.
Depends on the judge, actually.
Death happens when you subject a child to filth and degradation.
If you're thirteen and your father is molesting you and your brother, and you address the situation--not by informing friends, relatives, or authorities--but by plugging him in the face with a shotgun, then you're taking "reasonable action."
If, as a thirteen year old, you're living with a father with whom you have "issues" and your living situation is complicated with the presence of uncared-for animals, your method of "redress" is to plug your dad?
Basic survival rule #1: If you see $$it on the floor, clean it up; otherwise you'll trip on it, in the night, in the dark.
There's more under the surface here, and all we'll probably ever have is the "teaser," about kids killing abusive members of their families.
Mama always gets custody: why in this case did she not? Why didn't anyone re-visit the custodial care arrangement? If the "death penalty" is extreme in terms of law enforcement, why is it "justifiable" in cases of individual duress?
I grieve for these children--they should have had an advocate before she aimed the shotgun.
I did notice that the Humane Society got the dogs and cats out of the place, good on them. </sarcasm>
“Cause they’re cowardly dumbasses?”
There is a history in America of too many cases of well intended people being Prosecuted for their attempts to help others, as well there is abuse of good intentions by Liberals whom just know so much better as to how you and I should live.
Perhaps the fear of helping others is real.
Based only on that article, I don’t think there is going to be a conviction in this case.
Sounds like it was justified. I hope we don’t get a Bradly Baryy/ Mike Nifong/ Johnny Slutton style DA going after her too vigorously.
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