Inset: Lincoln Peterson during his sentencing (Las Vegas Review Journal). Background: The Peterson family’s Las Vegas home where the incident occurred (Google Maps).
A Las Vegas teenager will avoid prison time after killing his father last year because he was upset about losing access to digital devices.
Recently, 16-year-old Lincoln Peterson admitted to voluntary manslaughter using a gun for the shooting death of his father, Jeremy Peterson, aged 45.
On December 28, 2024, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department discovered Jeremy Peterson dead in their Tampa Court residence located in the west valley area of Las Vegas.
Following his guilty plea, Judge Tierra Jones of Clark County gave Lincoln Peterson a significant opportunity. He received a probation period of five years along with a suspended prison sentence ranging from three to 7 1/2 years.
When the defendant committed the crime, he was only 15 years old.
On the incident day, law enforcement reacted to a distressing 911 call made by the victim’s daughter, who is Lincoln’s sister, according to recordings accessed by Las Vegas’s CBS affiliate KLAS.
“He shot and killed my dad,” the panicked young woman told the dispatcher, her breath ragged. “This isn’t real. This isn’t real. Help.”
In response, the dispatcher asked about the shooter — angling for a description so police could apprehend him.
In response to the situation, the daughter explained, “He wasn’t wearing a shirt,” referring to her brother, adding, “He was just wearing jeans. I don’t know where he went. I don’t know where the gun is. He shot and killed him.”
In the audio, the young woman chides herself for not telling her parents about a prior firearm incident allegedly involving her brother.
“I always thought he would kill himself but not anybody else,” she said. “He’s pulled a gun on me and I should have warned my parents. I should have told them. I should have told them.”
The caller goes on to say that incident also stemmed from the boy’s anger. After an argument some three weeks before, she said, her brother got upset, punched a hole in the wall and ran outside.
“You’re going to be in so much trouble,” she told him at the time.
Days after Christmas, a similar scenario played out in the Peterson home.
Jeremy Peterson told his son he was cut off from using devices after receiving poor grades at school — and also accused the 15-year-old of “sneaking” access to the verboten electronics anyway, according to court records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In the ensuing argument, Lincoln Peterson’s mother allegedly hit him with a belt and the teen ran off. He grabbed a gun laying atop a dryer and fired back blindly but “denied any knowledge of hitting anyone,” according to an adult certification order obtained by the newspaper.
On Aug. 14, the admitted shooter was reportedly soft-spoken and glum as he told the judge a contrite tale of full culpability.
“None of this was ever my intention,” the boy said. “I regret all of it.”
The judge seemed to accept the allocution as genuine – saying she credited his family’s effusive support for her decision to issue probation.
“Nothing, nothing compares to losing the love of my life, my husband, and knowing that my own son’s action was the cause,” Abigail Peterson, the victim’s widow and defendant’s mother reportedly said during the sentencing hearing. “But unless you’ve stood in my place, you cannot understand the depth of the pain that coexists with forgiveness and love.”
The grief-stricken sister and daughter spoke up on Lincoln Peterson’s behalf as well.
“My father has passed and I will not have him for the rest of my life,” the sister said. “I will not get to have a wedding where he walks me down the aisle. I will not get to introduce my children to him. But as much as my family is torn apart, there is reconciliation and I do believe in forgiveness.”
Then, through tears, Lincoln Peterson’s sister added: “I love you and I’m going to support you no matter what.”
Under the terms of his probation, Lincoln Peterson must avoid alcohol and marijuana entirely, must provide passwords for all of his devices and social media accounts to parole and probation officers, must abide by a curfew, must complete counseling, and must obtain his high school diploma or GED.
