A 14-year-old boy from Wyoming is facing charges as an adult in connection with the fatal shooting of his mother at their residence on Saturday. The teenager, Havoc Leone, is accused of first-degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Theresa McIntosh, following an altercation concerning a tablet he reportedly stole, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
Initially, the tragic event was thought to be a possible suicide. Leone’s father expressed his disbelief, stating, “It’d be a lot easier to accept that she killed herself than my son tried to kill her.” However, investigators soon uncovered evidence that clarified the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Emergency responders were summoned to the scene just before 1 p.m. on Saturday, where they discovered McIntosh unconscious but still alive, suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of her head, as detailed in court documents. She was transported to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center and subsequently airlifted to UC Health in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she succumbed to her injuries later that day.
Leone confessed to having stolen the tablet from a client of his mother’s house cleaning business, which led to a heated argument with his parents. During the dispute, McIntosh reportedly called him disparaging names, including “retarded” and “thief,” which allegedly incited his anger.
The boy’s father noted that this was not an isolated incident, as they had previously encountered issues with him stealing electronic devices.
The boy’s father said it wasn’t the first time they’d had issues with him stealing devices.
At about 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, the father said, he went to the home’s basement to play video games. Leone was supposed to be finishing his homework. A few minutes later, the father heard a “pop,” but thought it was a balloon because he was wearing headphones. He later when upstairs and saw Leone standing on the landing. When he asked what happened, Leone said, “I don’t know, it just went off.”
The father ran downstairs for his phone to call 911 and then returned upstairs to help McIntosh. He said he recognized her gun lying near her and was confused since the gun usually stays in her car.
Later, Leone admitted he had stolen the gun when he had previously thought about killing his mother. He said he thought it about frequently, especially when she told him to do something he didn’t want to do.
The father told deputies that Leone knows how to handle guns and specifically “knows not to point a firearm at someone unless he plans to shoot and kill them.”
The father was reluctant to say what he thought had happened.
“I don’t want to think what I think happened … I don’t even want to put it into words,” he said. “ … and I don’t want to think that because it’s a really f**** up thing for a parent to think … ”
He said that McIntosh had received mental health care from a therapist and had medication, but he said he did not know of any recent suicidal thoughts.
Eventually, Leone told investigators that he had been arguing with McIntosh over the stolen tablet and that she had demanded the tablet’s password, which was written in a notebook that he retrieved from a closet — and also retrieved the handgun he’d stolen from his mother’s car. Then he threw the notebook into the room.
When McIntosh bent down to pick it up, he shot her in the head.
He initially told deputies that his mother handed him the handgun but later admitted he had stolen it and had it hidden in his closet.
He told investigators that he hated his mother and couldn’t tell her “how much he hated her because she doesn’t understand him,” apparently thinking there was some justification for stealing items frequently and for murdering his mother.
Leone is being held on a $500,000 bond, Oil City News reported.
