10-year-old boy kills father on custody visit (Houston)

[Nambe]

HOUSTON, Texas (AP)

A 10- year-old boy fatally shot his physician father after the man arrived to pick him up for a weekend visit, authorities said.

Rick James Lohstroh, 41, was struck several times Friday as he sat in his sport utility vehicle, said Sgt. B.E. Williams of the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

The boy, using his mother's gun, fired through the back seat before getting out of the vehicle and continuing to shoot, Williams said. Lohstroh, a doctor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, died on the way to a hospital.

The shooting happened outside the home where the boy lived with his mother and 7- year-old brother, who were inside at the time, Williams said. Lohstroh and the boy's mother shared custody of the children. ..

Authorities said they had been called to the home before in an ongoing family dispute.

[MrSlayer]

1. I wonder what the full story is.

Perhaps this was justified, perhaps not. Need more details.

[Yupster]

2. It wasn't justified

No one should get the death penalty without a trial.

[nosmokes]

3. i'm sorry, there's no way it's justified.

there may be a whole rash of problems, but the answer doesn't lay in a 10yo shooting his dad in the back.

[Elginoid]

7. I assume you were never repeatedly anally raped by your father....

and threatened with death if you ever told anyone...

if you had, you might have a different attitude.

[kat21]

4. So what if the father was molesting him and told him -

if he were to tell anyone that either he or his mother would be killed?

[alittlelark]

5. I agree. A 10 year old doing that....

there is A LOT more to this story.

[Radius]

6. Sad

A 10 year old should not have access to a weapon, or have to deal with the pycological effect of using one.

Even if it was justafied, it is horrible.
If it is not, it is horrible.

I support death penalty for dna match on adult on child sex assault. Louisiana has a law like this. The cut off is low like 11. There is no lower form of human behavior.

[LisaL]

10. Justified?

For all we know, father didn't want him to eat too much candy, or wouldn't buy him ice-cream.
A 10 year old shouldn't have an access to a loaded gun.

[MrSlayer]

12. I agree, that's why I said we need more details.

Not really enough to go by.

[neomonkey]

8. W.I.T.F.H

What is with all this talk of whether it is justified or not?

A ten-year-old boy shot his father. That speaks volumes, regardless of his motive or the causes.

Sometimes (especially of late), when I think my life has really sunk to a new level of sheep dung, I see what goes on out in the world and I think maybe I never have a right to complain.

[Radius]

9. DSS

Your local social worker could probably tell you of cases of wives and kids of abuse acting out because of ptsd or real self defense.

However the info is short here.

Like I said, bad any way you look at it.

[TheDonkey]

11. OMG that is disgusting and so sad.

That little boy probably has no idea just what sort of cruel crime he just committed.

Wow, the NRA is going to love this.

[lfairban]

18. Guns make men equal . . .

. . . to a ten year old boy!

[DemBones DemBones]

13. I taught a kid who had killed his grandfather by shooting him

in the back. He claimed the grandfather had molested him but there was never a trial because the police messed up. He was 15 when he committed the murder, 17 when I taught him, don't think he was ever in police custody for more than a day. That was a bizarre experience, having a murderer in class. Every now and then I'd look at him and wonder what really happened there.

Like this story, bad news all around.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

14. What role did "Mom" play?

It was her gun. Regardless of the reasons, she should be charged with at least reckless endangerment.

[lazarus]

15. exactly

for all the folks talking about justified homicide, in the case of molestation, etc., look up some info on Parental Alienation Syndrome.

One definition I found online:

"The parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a disorder that arises primarily in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent's indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the target parent. When true parental abuse and/or neglect is present the child's animosity may be justified, and so the parental alienation syndrome explanation for the child's hostility is not applicable."

[politicat]

17. Sorry, but it's not a real diagnosis, and the founder is on shaky ground.

PAS and a couple of other "syndromes" (Vengeful partner syndrome, etc) have come out of the "father's rights" movement (which, while there are cases where custody has gone terribly awry, father's rights is often heavily abused) and are not medically nor legally recognized; there's no clinical background on these issues and they're typically legal issues rather than medical, when they exist at all. Further, you should always be VERY wary of anyone who claims to be an expert in an issue (whatever the case) and then goes on to say that others are trying to discredit him/her by spreading rumors and lies. We call that projection and a persecution complex. Further, the originator of this theory has made some questionable theories in the past, and when others challenge him in the interest of scientific inquiry, he has claimed they're out to do him harm, shut him down... That's not a healthy reaction to skepticism.... Further, this is one of the proponents of the Every Child Is Sexually Abused theory; He's been known to talk about pre-natal sexual abuse (which is mommy and daddy having sex while mommy's pregnant....) and birth trauma memories (when memories are not reliably formed before the age of 18 months....) In other words, he's considered a crackpot by much of the community.

But I digress. Sorry. This is medicalization of a set of typical reactions and behaviors. I'm sorry if you've experienced a child's rejection due to divorce, but please don't bring in these false syndromes; the only solution is long term family therapy and yes, it's expensive. Removing a hostile child from a home and placing said child in an environment where s/he hates the adult is not going to improve the situation - it's become non-functional, regardless of who caused the problem.

Further, do remember that in a divorce, the children have a natural and often strong anger toward the parent they perceive to be in the wrong. While this child should never have had access to a gun, the anger is not uncommon. I'd say 70% of the kids I've seen have had fantasies of murdering the parent they perceive to be in the wrong; fortunately, none of the kids have had significant access to weapons. However, I have had several children admit to poisoning foods or beverages and disposing of them rather than feeding them to the parent for whom they feel hostility. The difference between those children and this one is that they lost their nerve.

If you're in this situation, I'm sorry. It's a terrible one to be in, and there's very little that can be done quickly to remedy the situation. It's a long term pain, and a long term treatment. No one should have to go through it, but it happens. Both parents can be very adept at using the children to get back at the other...

Politicat

[barb162]

16. wait til the details come out on this one.

[0007]

19. I'm with 'ya on that one.

A broken family is bad enough for children.