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May 08, 2019 06:58 PM
A mother in Michigan is dead and her 9-year-old son is charged with her murder, according to multiple reports.
Authorities allege Pauline Randol was fatally shot by her son Monday morning at their Fawn River Township home, Fox17, WWMT and WOOD-TV report. The boy allegedly used a rifle and has been charged with open murder and felony firearms. He has not been identified due to his age.
Neighbors told Fox17 they heard screaming coming from the home minutes before deputies arrived at the scene.
“My wife and I both, when we heard that the woman was shot, we both looked at each other and said ‘I bet it was him,’” Joseph Lancaster told the station. “The little boy, because I have grandkids. I have one the same age and I’ve got smaller ones. And he would stand in the tree line over there and point his BB gun at him and shoot at them.”
Family told WOOD-TV that Randol’s body was found in the living room.
“I want people to know that he’s not a bad kid,” the boy’s sister, Harley Martin, told the station. “He loved his mom. I don’t want people to think he did not love his mom.”
She had adopted the child two years before and had expressed concern for his mental health and the safety of others.
“She had told her doctor one time she was so scared she was raising the next serial killer,” Martin said.
The boy reportedly has a history of mental health problems and was on new medication when the shooting occurred.
“He doesn’t know what he did. He doesn’t understand what’s going on right now at all,” Martin said. “He doesn’t understand why he can’t come home or anything.”
“He told her that he wanted to get a knife and stab her and watch her die, and watch her mother cry,” Alecia Pieronski said, WWMT reports. “My want was to remove him from the school and protect the children. I do feel in my whole heart the teachers and principals did everything they could do.”
She continued: “Maybe this a wake up call to other schools, when you have that troubled child screaming for help to do something.”
Sturgis Public Schools Superintendent Arthur Ebert called Randol’s death a “tragedy,” WWMT reports.
In a statement to WOOD-TV, the boy’s attorney, T.J. Reed, said it is “important to allow this case to properly move through the legal process and not to pre-judge this child based on partial or unknown facts.”
He continued: “Based on the severity of the charges and the age of the accused it is important to keep focused of the future and long term impact these proceedings and charges may have on a child of this age.”
PEOPLE’s calls to the school district, the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office were not immediately returned Wednesday. Reed could not be reached for comment.
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Siblings defend 9-year-old boy who shot his mother, say he had ‘snapped’ but ‘didn’t mean to do it’ — (MEAWW)
(Source : Getty Images)
Elder sisters of the 9-year-old boy who shot their 51-year-old mother, Pauline Randol, dead with a rifle in Michigan have come out in support of their adopted sibling. Both sisters feel that their little brother needs help with his mental health treatment and that he didn’t intentionally harm their mother.
23-year-old Reagan Martin told MLive that their mother wouldn’t want him to be “labeled a murder”. “Her whole world revolved around him,” she said. She shared that her brother had been diagnosed with a mood disorder and that it became worse after his medication was switched two weeks ago. She said that he started “hitting, kicking and throwing stuff” and that when Randol kept the child home from school on Monday, he had “snapped”. She also said that they had no idea how he got hold of the rifle, adding that they kept the hunting rifles locked up at home.
Reagan also said that he seemed fine on Sunday when she spent time with their mom and him. “He was playing with my kids,” she said. “He was happy. My mom was happy. I don’t think he meant to do it. I think was probably a scare tactic. I’m angry, don’t get me wrong,” Reagan said. “But he’s my little brother and he needs help. I hope he gets it,” Reagan said.
In this Monday, May 6, 2019 photo, a St. Joseph County Sheriff deputy photographs the site where a woman was fatally shot in Fawn River Township, Mich. Authorities say a 9-year-old is suspected in the shooting of a woman in her southern Michigan home. (Corky Emrick/Sturgis Journal via AP)
Harley Martin, the boy’s other sister had earlier spoken to 24 Hours News 8 saying that her mother had adopted the boy about two years ago, from a troubled situation. Martin said his biological mother used meth during her pregnancy and added the boy has a history of mental health issues. She too had observed that he had “just recently started snapping” after being on a new medication. “He doesn’t know what he did. He doesn’t understand what’s going on right now at all,” Martin said. “He doesn’t understand why he can’t come home or anything,” she said describing the boy’s state of mind after he was detained.
Martin, however, mentioned that even her mother had some inclination about his dangerous tendencies. She said her mother had expressed concerns about the boy’s mental health and that he might hurt someone. “She had told her doctor one time she was so scared she was raising the next serial killer,” Martin said. But no one in the family expected him to hurt Randol, she said. “My mom begged to get help from the doctors,” Reagan said.
The boy has been charged with the murder of his mother and he is facing a felony firearm charge as well. Documents filed Tuesday in St. Joseph County Circuit Court reportedly show the woman was shot with a rifle. It is still unclear if the child will be tried as an adult or a juvenile. He is currently undergoing psychiatric evaluations at a state-run juvenile justice facility, while St. Joseph County Sheriff Bradley Balk said that forensic experts are evaluating his state of mind.