Killing to survive

A 10-year-old boy from Marion County ' accused of killing his father ' was charged with voluntary manslaughter Thursday. The judge ordered Wayne Salyers Jr., who fired a single shot with a revolver to his father's chest, to remain in detention after the sentencing in juvenile court.\nThe Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council said the boy appears to be the youngest child charged with killing a parent in at least two decades.\nDetails of the investigation are not being released.\nWhat we do know is that the boy gained possession of his father's .44 caliber revolver from the locked gun cabinet in his parents' room. Wayne Jr. shot and killed his father while they were in the boy's room.\nKim Teegarden, a neighbor of the family, told The Indianapolis Star that the father was a stern taskmaster.\n"I don't have any sorrow for the man," Teegarden said. By her account, Wayne Sr. had shot and killed eight of her cats ' in the past decade ' after they crossed onto the Salyers' property.\nSabrina A. Latorre, of Indianapolis, said she visits her mother ' who is a neighbor of the Salyers ' regularly.\n"They're just arguing constantly … the whole family is arguing," she said\nLatorre's mother, Margarita Thompson, said, "He was just angry with the son. He'd get loud."\nA child as young as 10 can be charged with murder in an adult court in Indiana.\nIn an interview with The Star, Chief Deputy Prosecutor James Luttrell Jr. said the manslaughter charge was necessary.\n"Voluntary manslaughter takes into consideration certain factors such as sudden heat (and) provocation, which would affect the ability of the perpetrator to contemplate the actions they're taking."\nIf found guilty, Salyers Jr. might be locked up in juvenile detention until he is 21.\nThe boy isn't being allowed back into his mother's custody. Imagine just starting the fifth grade and being locked up in prison. Alone. That would be scary.\nBut he did kill his father.\nWhich reminds me of a friend I had growing up in grade school. The boy's father didn't know how to talk in a normal manner; he only knew how to yell. He was stern, ruthless and was the owner of a very limited vocabulary that I can't put into print. He was a miserable man whom I despised.\nI had a limited tolerance to going over there. So did other kids.\nChildren who kill their parents do so for three reasons.\nKathleen M. Heide, a criminology professor at the University of South Florida, has written two books: "Why Kids Kill Parents" and "Young Killers."\nIn her talk with The Star, she said children may be severely abused and kill a parent "out of terror or desperation." They might also be mentally ill or dangerously antisocial and kill for "selfish reasons," such as the parent standing in the way of his or her freedom.\nMy friend once mentioned how he wished his father would die. He never specifically mentioned that he was going to kill him, but he was tired of the beatings, tired of the yelling, tired of the broken home. He was terrified, and his choices were limited: foster care for the next 10 years, or deal with it.\nTeegarden mentioned that she found Salyers Jr.'s schoolwork in her trash.\n"He evidently was afraid to take school papers home, because a lot of the time I would find (them) in my trash with bad grades on them."\nSounds like my friend. All the kids went to him when they needed their "D's" changed to "B's".\nHeide studied 75 adolescents charged with murder from 1982 to 1992. She said when a child commits such an act, nearly everyone is surprised.\nNeighbors describe Salyers Jr. as a polite child who never gave anyone trouble. His father just happened to be the man who pushed him to commit the worst of acts. \nWhen I think back to my friend, had he killed his father he would have done so out of terror for what might happen. Children should not be terrified of their parents. A little fear can't hurt. But when a child feels that he has to kill in order to save himself, that's when there is something very wrong. \nThank God my friend wasn't pushed to the edge. Because if he had been, I would have been the first one there in his corner to comfort him.