Eleven-Year-Old Boy Accused of Murdering Little Girl Who Wouldn't Let Him Play With Her Puppy
An 11-year-old boy is facing first-degree murder charges after he allegedly shot and killed a child because she wouldn’t let him pet her puppy.
The horrifying story comes by way of White Pine, TN where the 11-year-old and his alleged victim, eight-year-old McKayla Dyer, lived next door to one another.
Dyer’s family says it’s not the first run-in McKayla had with the boy, whose name has been withheld from press reports.
“When we first moved to White Pine, the little boy was bullying McKayla,” her mother tells WKRN. “He was making fun of her, calling her names just being mean to her. I had to go the principal about him and he quit for a while.”
But cops say the last straw came when McKayla refused to let him play with her puppy. Via the Washington Post:
Each of the children had a puppy, the sheriff said. The 11-year-old “wanted to see the 8-year-old’s, and she said no, and then he went and retrieved a gun,” McCoig said.
The boy fired the 12-gauge shotgun from inside of his house, striking the girl as she stood in her yard, according to the sheriff. The gun, which was stored in a closet without locks, belonged to the boy’s father, McCoig said.
McKayla was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The 11-year-old is currently being held in a juvenile detention facility but, according to the Washington Post, the case could be transferred to adult criminal court.
