8-Year-Old Suspected Of Murdering Father Says Parents Exceeded His 1,000-Spank Limit

December 1, 2008 9:13 a.m. EST

Phoenix, AZ (AHN) - An 8-year-old boy who confessed to shooting to death his father and a man renting a room from his father in Arizona earlier this month, had told authorities he kept a log recording the instances his father and stepmother hit him.

According to a search affidavit from a St. Johns, Ariz. Police officer, the boy told Child Protective Services agents that 1,000 spankings was his threshold.

In a statement to police the day after the Nov. 5 shooting, he said he had been spanked the day before for not finishing a homework assignment. He is being accused of shooting to death his father, Vincent Romano, 29, and Timothy Romero, 39, who was renting a room in the Romano house, with a .22-caliber rifle his father had taught him to use.

Prosecutors entered a plea deal in the case last week, but the details aren't clear. Prosecutors had sought to drop one of two first-degree murder charges against the boy.

Police records show family members, including the boy's grandparents, said Romano and his wife were too hard on the boy and they weren't surprised to hear he was a suspect in the shooting.

Police Chief Roy Melnick wrote in his report: "I comforted them as best we could. After several minutes, [the boy's grandmother] shouted out in an angry and loud tone, 'I knew this would happen. They were too hard on [the boy]. I knew he did it, He spent the night in my bed cuddling up to me. I had a feeling he did it. If an eight year old boy is capable of doing this, it's [him]."