Judge Rules 11-Year-Old Boy Accused of Killing Mother Over VR Game Fit To Stand Trial

ABC News reports that a judge in Wisconsin ruled an 11-year-old accused of killing his mother is fit to stand trial.

The district attorney’s office seeks to try the boy, who is being charged with first-degree intentional homicide, as an adult. However, authorities have not released his name as he may still be tried as a child.

Court records show the murder happened in November 2022 when he was 10. Milwaukee Detective Timothy Keller testified in court on Sept. 5 about what the boy told him about his mother’s death. “Originally, he informed me that he wasn’t sure what had occurred. That he had just found his mother in the basement, believed she was deceased,” Keller said.

The next day, during questioning, the boy admitted to shooting his mother, identified as Quiana Mann, but it was an accident. “The boy stated that he took up a shooting stance and was pointing the gun at her as she was walking towards him and asking him to put it down,” Keller testified. “And that’s when he indicated that he fired the gun with his intent to scare her by shooting the wall behind her.”

Police found the 44-year-old’s body with a gunshot wound to the head, and according to WISN 12, family members believe they know the motive.

A criminal complaint claims the boy and his mother argued over purchasing a virtual reality game. “He had made a purchase on his mother’s Amazon account for some virtual reality goggles the morning after this homicide occurred,” Keller said in court as the child played with a toy and colored. “They were concerned because he had had an argument with her about whether he could have these prior to the homicide.”

The child remains in custody at the Juvenile Detention Center on $50,000 bail.