US boy, 11, allegedly shoots father to death after Nintendo Switch taken away

[erronis]

Source: The Guardian

An 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy allegedly shot his father to death after previously having his Nintendo Switch handheld gaming system taken away.

...

Police were dispatched to the family's residence at about 3.20am, after a report of an "unresponsive male". The news site says that officers found a 42-year-old man named Douglas Dietz dead in bed from a gunshot wound to the head.

...

The son then allegedly admitted to "removing the gun from the safe, loading bullets into it and walking over to his father's side of the bed", according to the affidavit. "He pulled back the hammer and fired the gun at his father," the affidavit adds.

When asked what he believed would happen when he fired the gun, the boy responded that he was "mad" and that he had "not thought about that", according to investigators.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/16/boy-allegedly-shoots-father-nintendo-switch

---

Another short quote from the article:

As put in court documents obtained and reported by WGAL News 8, the case illustrates how easily children can access guns in the US, where firearms are ubiquitous.

[hlthe2b]

1. What a sick segment of society we have in this country that worships guns among all things.

Had the child not had access to that gun, how different that incident might have gone. Granted, there are other ways to commit an act of violence, but at least more survivable (and which might afford an option for that child to receive intervention)

[Irish_Dem]

2. Without a gun, it would be much harder for an 11 yr old to kill an adult male.

And why does a minor child have access to the gun safe?

[erronis]

7. At least it was in a safe. The boy found the key in a drawer.

It's hard to safety-proof a home with guns in it. Maybe fingerprint locks - but the US doesn't allow those.

[Igel]

13. My nephew was getting into my brother's gun safe when he was 5 and 6.

It was in his closet. And he figured out he could listen when my brother unlocked it to get his pistols for silhouette shooting, leaving pre-dawn. That, and he had time to just tinker with it when he was supposed to be asleep and didn't feel like sleeping. Don't count sheep, count 00 - 00 - 00 - 00, 00 - 00 - 00 -01, 00 - 00 - 00 - 02 ...

[Irish_Dem]

20. Parents often underestimate their child's intelligence and perseverance.

Your nephew is scary smart.

[Polybius]

37. What do you meant by "he could listen when my brother unlocked it?"

Let's say the code was 4-3-1-2. Did your brother whisper to himself "4-3-1-2" when putting in the code? Or did you mean that your nephew can hear the distinct numbers the sound makes on each press (for example, a 2 might sound different than a 4)?

[Old Crank]

42. back with pushbutton phones

there was a different note for each number.
with row tzpe combinations most people change one number awaz from the combination.
if combin is 0000, they close it and roll the end number one, 0001.

[sl8]

44. The tones made sense for telephones.

The generation of audio tones was the method chosen to transmit the numbers from your phone to a location many miles away (the telephone company's switch) over a piece of copper wire. There's no need to generate audio tones when you're entering numbers directly into a lock.

The dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling scheme was a pretty clever development. Wikipedia article regarding same:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTMF_signaling

[Old Crank]

45. I have no idea what the gun safe locks are like.

Not needing one. All I know is that a lot of electronic things beep when the buttoms are pushed. Feedback that you have entered something sucessfully.

At least this guy had his gun in a safe. Although he didn't seem to have the ammo separately stored.
We also don't know if this was a spare key. Keeping killing machines around is dangerous and teh statistics bear that out.

[Irish_Dem]

19. This is still parental abuse/neglect/negligence.

There is no point to a locked safe if the child can unlock the safe.

The parent was totally irresponsible and paid for it with his life.
And now his child will face some harsh penalties perhaps and have to live with the fact
he killed his own father.

[iemanja]

21. There is something disturbed about the kid

He doubtless presented himself as violent long before this. I do wonder how he knew the combination to the gun safe.

[chouchou]

23. Absolutely. This child is not your usual...ect, ect.. He shouldn't be in society.

I have no answers, just questions.

[Irish_Dem]

24. Yes of course. An 11 y/o child does not kill his father in cold blood without a back story.

Of course there were some red flags and problems in the past.
All the more reason there should be no guns in the home at all.

[Polybius]

38. There may have been a reason for him keeping guns

Maybe he was law enforcement, or was threatened in a violent neighborhood.

[Irish_Dem]

43. If there were red flags with this child, the family had some choices to make.

For example if I was a therapist for this family:

They would have to promise to make sure the guns were secured at ALL times.
In writing.

Or they would have to go cold turkey on the guns and get them out of the house.

LE can certainly store their firearms at the police barracks or station if need be.

And if they live in a violent neighborhood they need to consider relocation.

I have worked with cases like this with a suicidal or homicidal child or spouse in the family.

The guns must be removed from the home or I have no choice but to report it to the appropriate
authorities, the police, child services, adult (elder) services as the case may be.

A number of professions are mandated reported which means they are required by law
to report dangerous situations to the authorities.

And in this case if the other parent knew the child could get into the safe, charges should be brought against her.
This is child abuse, neglect, etc. Negligent homicide.

[niyad]

26. IPer the article, it was a keyed lock, not combination. The boy knew

where the key was.

[Lulu KC]

34. He found the key n/t

[cab67]

57. he had a record of inappropriate behavior.

This might or might not have been linked to his status on the autism spectrum. I don't know enough about autism to have a meaningful opinion about that.

But several people - including the kid's parents - had asked for resources to help him. They were unable to get them.

The safe used a key, not a combination lock - and the kid may have opened the safe not to get a gun, but to find his confiscated game system.

[iemanja]

59. Oh. The game was in the same safe as the gun?

[erronis]

3. I guess at least one less gun worshiper now.

Sorry - that was mean. But they need to consider the "unintended consequences". Something many RW types don't do.

[DenaliDemocrat]

10. Beyond mean

Borderline mental disorder territory.

[Norrrm]

14. Another gun death approved by Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk: “It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment”

https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirk-its-worth-have-cost-unfortunately-some-gun-deaths-every-single-year-so-we

[Polybius]

39. Not everyone with a gun is a "gun worshiper"

Perhaps 50% of DU has guns in safes.

[3Hotdogs]

48. No need for apology. Even Charlie Kirk would'a supported the guy getting wacked as along as this episode

doesn't lead to more restrictive, lib'ril gun laws.

[Wiz Imp]

4. This happened in South Central Pennsylvania in a very small county (Perry)

For what it's worth, Perry County is ultra right wing (Trump got over 74% of the vote in the county).

[no_hypocrisy]

5. 40 years ago (1986), my friend's son was seven years old.

His mother improvidently put a TV in his bedroom as a pacifier.

Naturally, the kid stayed up all night watching shows and was catatonic in school the next day from lack of sleep.

My friend took fatherly steps to correct this. He removed the TV while his son was at school.

His wife/the kid's mother actually laughed that their son was going to attack his father with a baseball bat in retaliation.

Fast Forward: Last April (the kid was now 45 and still living at home), the son literally attacked his father with a baseball bat after a long Half-Nelson around his neck, nearly killing him.

The story in the OP doesn't surprise me at all. In the minds of some kids/sons, taking out their father solves everything wrong in their lives.

[erronis]

8. Wow - that's horrible - sorry for your friend/family.

It makes me think of some other long-term family issues that lead to real trouble over time.

[DenaliDemocrat]

11. 40 Years ago

Tv ended at midnight and white snow came on after the national anthem. So ???????

[no_hypocrisy]

12. They had cable . . . . .

[DenaliDemocrat]

35. Not 40 years ago

40 years ago
Cable tv was HBO and you had a box with buttons to switch it on. We had cable tv because we live in the mountains and antennas didn’t work. Still only got ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS.

[Wiz Imp]

49. We had cable 45 years ago.

Was about 15 channels total, but it was cable. Included wpix & wor from New York and Wtbs now just tbs.

[Polybius]

36. Not 40 years ago

I was a kid in 1986, there was no National Anthem on TV at midnight, and there was lots of reruns all night too. Perhaps you meant 60 years ago.

[DenaliDemocrat]

46. No.

24 hour tv did not become a thing until the late 80’s and early 90’s

[Polybius]

50. Incorrect

We did not have cable until November, 1987. Plenty of times I snuck TV after midnight before then. What was on was things like 50's and 60's sitcom reruns and old movies.

[Wiz Imp]

54. You're wrong. Some stations started broadcasting 24 hours in the early 80's

Even those stations that didn't broadcast 24 hours, few (if any) signed off at midnight. For example, NBC stations all broadcast until at least 2:00 AM. Johnny Carson ran from 11:30 to 1:00 AM, then Tom Snyder from 1:00 AM to 2:00 AM. Starting in 1972, CBS stations aired the CBS Late Movie from 11:30 until 2:30 AM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_CBS_Late_Movie. ABC broadcast the Joey Bishop Show in the late 60's which ran until 1:00 then the Dick Cavett Show in the 70's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_late-night_American_network_TV_programs

[cab67]

58. Depended on the affiliate.

I remember some local network stations signing off at midnight in the mid-80's.

[Bengus81]

47. Yeah...I can remember the sign off still into the mid-60's. I was 13 then.....

[Polybius]

51. 60's that was definitely a thing

But this poster is insisting it went until the late 80's. He's wrong, I was there sneaking TV after midnight as a kid in the early 80's.

[BidenRocks]

6. Why did the kid have the combination?

Dead moron!

[NickB79]

9. Thought the same thing myself

Maybe the father trusted his son enough to have access to firearms; that was clearly a mistake. I take my 15 yr old daughter hunting and target shooting with me, so I trust her with a 12-gauge shotgun in a deer stand. She's a great kid, but even I don't give her a spare key to the gun safe.

[niyad]

27. Key lock, not combination, and the boy knew where the key was.

[cab67]

31. Based on at least some accounts -

- he opened the safe initially not to get a gun, but to see if his Nintendo Switch was in there.

[mwb970]

15. Welcome to trump's America.

[Aussie105]

16. Guns make a scary noise.

And, in the right state of mind, you may think they also solve a lot of problems.

Forgetting they create bigger problems.

But 11 year old boys - and even those up to full male brain maturity, around 25 - don't think that far ahead.

(25 was the age I was at when I got married and had one child on the way, and realized that having multiple guns around the house and a big motorcycle for late night 'clear the head' hoons wasn't too smart.)

[cab67]

17. more information -

The boy has autism, and concerns had been raised about his behavior before this incident.

There should never have been a gun in that house.

https://www.wgal.com/article/family-friend-11-year-old-accused-perry-county-death-autism-close-bond-family/70013984

[erronis]

18. Thank you for that article. It paints a very sad picture. What a horrible loss.

[Lulu KC]

33. I just posted the same thing before realizing you'd done so

Should not have been a gun in the house--even if it was kept under lock and key. Kid found the key! Kids do that. Just a tragic story.

[Collimator]

22. There is going to be a lot of commentary offered by both sides. . .

. . . of many issues that the relate to this event. Or should I say multiple sides? Each person looking on from their position will cite this boy's behavior as "proof" of the validity of their evaluation.

There will be some who will say that the boy should have been disciplined more often, and/or more harshly. A completely different approach to notions of discipline will be touted by some as the only answer.

Others will point to ingrained ideas about autism. Some will insist that toxic masculinity is to blame while others will tell you that men and boys are undervalued in an increasingly "feminized" world.

And there will be many who will claim that it was the video game(s) that made the boy violent, while ignoring the gun. Another that will be ignored will be the family's race if they are White. That will only become germane if the family is Black.

None of it changes anything, of course.

[FakeNoose]

25. The father was careful to keep guns locked in the safe

... so how was the boy able to open the safe and get the gun?
Why bother with a safe if the guns and ammo are available to anyone?
Lots of question here.....

[cab67]

30. He found the key while looking for his video game system.

One article I read suggested the boy opened the safe not to get a gun, but to see if his game system was in there. He found a gun instead.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

28. Yes! This is EXACTLY why guns

are so wonderful. I mean, if there had not been a gun in the house, what would the 11 year old have used? Knife, screwdriver, hammer? They would be so messy, so less kill-reliable.

Oh, wait, I'm sorry. I mean had there not been a gun readily available someone would still be alive, right? Hmm, wonder what difference having a gun or not having a gun in the home would make? Gosh, I can't begin to guess.

[Beartracks]

40. The child probably learned from ICE that that kind of shit is okay when you feel dissed. n/t

[orleans]

41. well, i guess he (kid) showed him (dad)

[bucolic_frolic]

52. This would not have happened if he had whole milk.

[Vinca]

53. If only dad had a gun. Oh . . . wait . . .

[SheltieLover]

55. Little donvict in training having tantrum being told no

[dlk]

56. Psychopaths begin showing who they are when they are children

And, sadly, some children are dangerous.