A boy of eleven is facing a first-degree murder charge in custody in Tennessee after he allegedly shot and killed an 8-year-old for not letting him see her new puppies.
Maykayla Dyer was with two friends as she walked past the boy’s parents’ trailer. The boy, whose name has been withheld, asked from the window of the trailer to take a closer look at the dogs, but when Maykayla refused, the boy retrieved his father’s 12-gauge shotgun and shot her in the chest.
Jefferson County sheriff GW “Bud” McCoig said optimistically: “It is a sad, sad situation. We hope this don’t ever happen again.”
The boy, who attends the same elementary school as his victim, was initially held in police custody at his home in White Pine, a town of about 2,200 people about 42 miles east of Knoxville, Tennessee.
The girl’s shattered mother, Latasha Dyer, told reporters this wasn’t the first time her daughter had trouble with the boy who would be her killer.
“When we first moved to White Pine, the little boy was bullying Maykayla,” she said.
“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, and then all of a sudden yesterday he shot her.”
