(Milwaukee, WI) –A 10-year-old boy has been taken into police custody after he reportedly shot his mother because she would not buy him a virtual reality headset.
The mother was found dead inside of the laundry room her home in the 7400 block of North 87th Street on Nov. 21.
Officials say when they first spoke to the woman’s child, he told them that he was woken up around 6:00 a.m. and went into a closest to grab her gun.

He then went in the basement where he found his mother in the laundry room. The boy reported that he began swinging the gun around his finger when it went off and struck his mother.

Believing the shooting was an accident, authorities placed the child in the custody of another family member as they worked on the case.
The family member, however, later contacted the police stating that the child admitted to purposely shooting his mother.
When authorities questioned the child again, he told them that he purposely shot his mother because she woke him up at 6:00 a.m. when he normally sleeps until 6:30 a.m. He also reported that he was mad at her because the day prior, she refused to buy him an Oculus Virtual Reality Headset.

The child says that he originally retrieved the weapon from a locked box and an intended on scaring his mother with it by shooting the wall. His mother then walked towards him with the gun and told him to put it down, and that’s when he shot her in the face and woke up his sister.

It was also revealed that the day after the shooting, the child logged on to his mother’s Amazon account and ordered the system anyway. He then asked his grandmother if the game system arrived yet, showing little remorse for the death of his mother.

The family also told authorities that the child has mental health issues and detailed incidents where the child picked fights and seemed unempathetic towards others.

The child’s sister told investigators that he had been meeting with a therapist who have him a “concerning diagnosis.”

The child was also said to have admitted that “he has 5 different imaginary people that talk to him.”

The child has been taken to a juvenile detention facility but is being charged as an adult. His attorneys, however, are fighting to have the case heard in juvenile court:
“This is an absolute family tragedy,” said Angela Cunningham, one of the boy’s attorneys. “I don’t think anybody would deny or disagree with that … The adult system is absolutely ill-equipped to address the needs of a 10-year-old child.”

If convicted, he faces a maximum of 60 years in prison.