Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016

BURKE COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A judge has ordered a 12-year-old boy to stay in a Youth Detention Center after trying to shoot his mother.

The judge made that decision in a hearing on Sept. 16, saying the boy needs a mental evaluation as he is a danger to himself.

The judge also appointed a guardian ad litem to look into the home situation, especially after he said this is the first time the boy has been in any trouble.

According to Sergeant Dedric Smith, the 12-year-old fired three shots with a .357 handgun at his mother inside their Burke County home on Sept. 14 around 5:30 p.m. The mother and the boy were the only two home at the time.

The boy wrapped a towel around the barrel of the gun to try and muffle the sound, according to Smith. At the time the first shot was allegedly fired, the boy was in a bedroom and the mother was sitting at the kitchen table. He fired a shot through the door and it went just a little above the mother's head, according to Dedric Smith.

The judge will also have a court appointed attorney for the boy's trial. It is still unknown when the next hearing will be.

News 12 NBC 26 / Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016

BURKE COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A mother has to beg for her life after investigators say her only child tried to shoot and kill her. Her son is only 12 years old.

In three shots a child loses his innocence and a mother loses her trust. Now, the Burke County Sheriff's Office is trying to figure out why a 12-year-old with no criminal history decided to pick up a gun and shoot at his mother three times.

It happened inside a Burke County home off of River Road around 5:30 Wednesday afternoon. Officers think the child did it over some type of disagreement about his behavior, but now thanks to his actions, he'll be facing harsher punishments than his mother could ever give.

"She pleaded with him for about 20 minutes begging him not to kill her before he finally gave her the gun," lead investigator Sgt. Dedric Smith said.

Officers say the gun was his father's. It was stored in his parents' room. That's where investigators say the boy fired his first shot.

"I guess it was by the grace of God that it was an inch or two upward instead of downward. If it would have been more downward, it would have hit her in the back of the head because she was sitting at the table eating dinner," Sgt. Smith said.

The two weren't even in the same room. She would have never seen it coming.

"He shot through the door, the bedroom door," Sgt. Smith said. "He was in the bedroom and she was in the kitchen area sitting at the table, and the shot basically just went over the top of her head."

Investigator Smith says the boy wrapped a towel around the gun to try to muffle the sound. He says then the boy opened up the bedroom door and fired another shot. That one missed, too.

"She turned to see what was going on and he opened the door and fired another shot at her, and that shot missed," Sgt. Smith said.

They ended up outside where the child fired a third time before the mother convinced him to give her the gun.

"She continued to beg him, and then he fired another shot. Then she just continued to beg him and finally she was able to get the gun away from him," he said.

There were three shots total. Sgt. Smith says the mother is shaken up but physically OK. Miraculously, none of the bullets hit her. Officers say she only has a small nick on her arm probably from a fragment that went flying, so she didn't even go to the hospital. How she's doing mentally is another story.

"This is her only child, and for her to have to plead and beg her child not to take her life, that's traumatizing in itself outside of your own child taking a firearm and basically trying to kill you," Sgt. Smith said. "It could have easily been a murder charge."

Luckly, the boy's only 12, and all three bullets narrowly missed his mom, so instead he's at the Youth Development Center (YDC) facing aggravated assault and possession of a weapon during a crime charges.

With no history of criminal behavior, investigators hope he can get help before he ends up in the adult system.

"If he's acting like this now, when he turns 17, what is he going to do?" Sgt. Smith said. "You're talking about aggravated assault. The next step up from that is murder."

Since he's a juvenile, law enforcement is not releasing his name or the name of his parents. The punishment is also a little different for a juvenile. According to the DA's office, a juvenile aggravated assault charge could still face the equivalent of jail time should the court decide on restrictive custody at the YDC. That could be anywhere from 0 to 60 months depending on the facts of the case.

Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016

BURKE COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A 12-year-old boy has been detained on aggravated assault and weapons charges accused of trying to shoot his mother.

According to Sergeant Dedric Smith, the 12-year-old fired three shots with a handgun at his mother inside their Burke County home Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. The mother and the boy were the only two home at the time.

The boy wrapped a towel around the barrel of the gun to try and muffle the sound, according to Smith. At the time the first shot was allegedly fired, the boy was in a bedroom and the mother was sitting at the kitchen table. He fired a shot through the door and it went just a little above the mother's head, according to Dedric Smith.

The 12-year-old then opened the door and fired a second shot and missed and allegedly fired a third shot outside their home in the River Road area near Plant Vogtle. Eventually, the mother told investigators she got the child to hand her the gun after pleading for her life. The mother was not hit by any bullets but has a small nick on her arm, which is likely from a piece of wood or splintering, according to the Burke County Sheriff's Office.

The boy faces aggravated assault charges and having a weapon during the commission of a crime, he was taken to the YDC. Investigators have learned the handgun belonged to the father and was in the parents' room.

According to the sheriff's office, the 12-year-old has no history of violent or criminal behavior. His name was not released due to his age.