The grandparents of a young Arizona boy charged in the shooting deaths of his father and another man told police the eight-year-old was capable of the crimes.
In documents released on Wednesday, police Chief Roy Melnick said Liz Romero, also known as Liz Castillo, shouted out angrily when she was told the boy would be arrested in the Nov. 5 killings.
“I knew this would happen,” she said, adding she had a feeling he had done it and “If any eight-year-old boy is capable of doing this,” it was him.
The boy’s grandfather, Leroy Romero, echoed the statement and pushed his former wife to tell police more, but Melnick said she was overcome with emotion and the officers were asked to leave.
Police have said the boy planned and methodically carried out the killings of his father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero, and 39-year-old Timothy Romans, who rented a room in the family’s two-story home in a small community in eastern Arizona.
A status conference in the case is scheduled for Dec. 8.
In a police interview released last week, the boy said he had been spanked five times the night before the shootings because he did not bring home some papers from school.
The boy told a state Child Protective Services worker that his 1,000th spanking would be his last, the documents said.
In an affidavit for a search warrant, Sergeant Lucas Rodriguez writes that the boy tallied the spankings on a piece of paper.
The child’s defense attorney, Benjamin Brewer, said on Wednesday that his grandmother likely was stressed and that he planned to interview her.
In the documents, officers describe a quiet boy, who initially was not considered a suspect in the case. In the police interview, the boy admitted to firing at least two shots at each of the men.
Documents show that Romero was shot four times and Romans six times.
Judge Michael Roca granted a 48-hour furlough for the Thanksgiving holidays to the boy last week over the objection of prosecutors.
The boy is to return to custody by noon on Friday or an arrest warrant will be issued for the boy and his biological mother, Eryn Bloomfield, Roca has said.
Roca has stipulated that there be no guns, knives, video games or cable television in the home where the boy is staying.
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