SANDY, Utah — The 15-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting his father at their Sandy home last month told police he "couldn't take it anymore" before killing the man whom his brother claimed had repeatedly physically and verbally abused his sons.
The teen, whose name FOX 13 News is not sharing because he is a minor, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter following the shooting on Sept. 27. Officers who entered the home after receiving a call found the father shot dead.
Immediately after being taken into custody on the front lawn of the home, the boy told police, "I just couldn't take it anymore," adding that he had shot his father in the head, with the bullet hitting his brother in the leg.
During an interview with a Sandy Police Department detective, the boy's brother described his father as an "extremely angry man" and compared him to the Incredible Hulk. The boy said he and his brother suffered years of verbal and physical abuse from his father, who he claimed would yell at his sons "if they ever cried or giggled" because it was "not manly."
Juvenile in custody following fatal shooting inside Sandy home:
On the day of the shooting, the boy said his father yelled at him and "repeatedly struck him in the head" while yelling at him as he "explained how the bathroom should be cleaned." The boy said his father struck him at least 40 times over five minutes while cleaning the bathroom.
The 15-year-old suspect told police that he heard his father yelling at his brother in the bathroom and could hear his father hitting him. He told detectives that he "couldn't take it anymore and was at his last straw," leading him to get his father's gun.
During the episode in the bathroom, the brother said he heard a bang and watched as his father, who seemed angry "even after he had been shot," moved toward the 15-year-old. The boy said that if his brother had not shot his father a second time, the man would have killed them both.
In the documents, the suspect's brother described being kicked three times in the back by his father, who was wearing metal-toed shoes, and that he would remember to take off his glasses as his father "always went for his face first," and had previously broken six pairs of his son's glasses.
The boy shared how the first memory of alleged abuse at the hands of his father came when the family lived in Montana, and that his father hit him, which caused his head to hit a guardrail.
According to the documents, the boy, who is diabetic, said his father never paid attention to diabetes training in the hospital, and yelled at him when he ate after administering his insulin. During one incident, the teen claimed his father hit him when his blood sugar level hadn't dropped, even after explaining how that was something he could not control.
Following that incident, the father allegedly forced his son to administer more insulin and hit him when the boy attempted to explain how the injections worked.
During the interview, the teen said he had recurring nightmares about his father "getting mad, hitting him and killing him."