Tennessee boy, 11, shoots, kills girl, 8, after dispute over puppy, reports say

An 11-year-old Tennessee boy has been charged with murder after police say he shot and killed an 8-year-old girl because she would not let him see her puppy, according to news reports.


McKayla Dyer of White Pine, Tenn., died of a wound to the chest from a 12-gauge shotgun, WKRN Channel 2 of Nashville reports. Jefferson County Sheriff G.W "Bud" McCoig tells WKRN the 11-year-old boy fired the shot from a window of a mobile home next door to the girl's home.

Latasha Dyer, McKayla's mother, tells WKRN her daughter had been outside playing when the boy approached, asking to see her puppy. McKayla said no.

Chasity Arwood, manager of the White Pine trailer park, tells KnoxNews.com that McKayla then saw the boy pointing the shotgun at her from a window.

"She told him, 'You need to put that away before somebody gets shot,'" Arwood said.

"He had pointed it at my son's bedroom window. He pointed it at the other girl (McKayla's sister, Kattie) and then shot McKayla," Arwood said. "I don't know if the boy knew it was loaded."

The boy currently is charged as a juvenile. Prosecutors have not decided if they will attempt to charge him as an adult, according to KnoxNews.com. He is being held in a Knox County juvenile detention center until his family obtains a lawyer, Newsweek reports.

If tried as an adult, the boy could be sentenced to life in prison without a chance of parole if found guilty. If found guilty as a juvenile, he could be held until he turns 21 years old.

Charging the boy as an adult would be difficult, Tennessee attorney Nathan Luna tells Newsweek.

"They would have to show that an 11-year-old committed a crime that was premeditated and calculated: That this just wasn't just two kids playing around, not just an 11-year-old who got mad," Luna said.

The shotgun belonged to the boy's father, officials said.

Latasha Dyer tells WKRN.com that the boy had bullied her daughter in the past.

"I want her back in my arms. This is not fair. Hold and kiss you're babies every night because you're never promised the next day with them," Dyer said. "I hope the little boy learned his lesson because he took my baby's life and I can't get her back.cleveland