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Frantic 911 call details moments after 9-year-old allegedly shot father

Posted at 1:52 PM, Mar 19, 2024
and last updated 2024-03-20 00:20:43-04

TOOELE, Utah — A frantic 911 call made to police after a 9-year-old Tooele boy allegedly shot his father last month details the moments that came immediately after the shooting, with newly-released police documents also offering up information on the incident.

The 9-year-old Utah boy was arrested after the Feb. 16 shooting at the home located in a Tooele neighborhood.

In the 911 call, a woman requests emergency service after finding the father "bleeding severely from his head, his ears and his mouth. He is in a pool of blood in his bed," she is heard saying.

While the man was alive at the time of the 911 call, he later died after being taken to the hospital.

FOX 13 News is not identifying the father due to the age of the boy who has been charged with his death.

WATCH: What's next for 9-year-old arrested in fatal Tooele shooting?

Eight people were believed to be living at the home during the time of the shooting, including the victim, his son, two adult roommates and their four young children.

Later in the 911 call, the woman is heard using a cloth to try and stop the man's bleeding while officers responded to the home.

WATCH: Did video games lead to 9-year-old Tooele boy shooting father?

The woman told dispatchers she had no idea what had happened, saying, "His son came in here to check on him, he works graveyard, and he's in a pool of blood." She repeated later in the 911 call that she didn't know what caused the injury, but said there was a lot of blood.

It was later determined the father was shot in the back of the head and hit with an edged weapon. Officers confiscated a gun and a tomahawk at the scene.

The documents released Tuesday show the woman on the 911 call left the Tooele home with her husband to pick up a washer and dryer before returning home and learning the victim was "bleeding from his head and needed help."

In a police interview, one of the other children said she first learned something was wrong when she heard "someone fall" and went to go find out what happened. Eventually, the girl learned the man was bleeding and alerted her mother to the situation.

Investigators also spoke to the 9-year-old child, who said he, "heard a loud bang and looked up to see his dad bleeding."

"The doctor said that the wounds did not appear to be self-inflicted," documents state. "Some were to the back of the head and there were fresh and bleeding cuts to the side, fingers and arm, which the doctor said appeared to be defensive wounds.

Detectives also learned more about the dynamic between the father and his son, with the adult roommates explaining that the boy had been grounded multiple times for bringing a knife to the park, telling inappropriate jokes to the other children, not doing chores and other "typical child behaviors."

Previous roommates of the man echoed similarly concerning behaviors of the child, describing him as "destructive and "sneaky" in the police report.

One roommate told investigators the child "choked her when they were playing on the trampoline," the police report states. "There was another time when [name redacted] was caught lighting things on fire in the basement and sticks outside. The biggest concern ... was when they found that one of their dogs had been stabbed."

Roommates also described the man's parenting style as "rough," and "there wasn't very much 'nurturing' in his parenting style." The father was also described as having a "'tough shell' and "not expressive but giving ... he was a good friend."