Boy charged with murder; case is sealed


A 10-year-old Allen County boy was charged today with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his father.

The boy, whose name was not released, was charged as a juvenile, said Allen County Attorney Jerry B. Hathaway. Judge Dan Creitz also ruled that it was in the child's best interest to restrict publicity and ordered the case sealed, meaning no court filings or orders can be released to the public.

Edited to comply with copyright - full story can be read here (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/27/national/main691407.shtml)

My God, what is this world coming too?????????

Yes a ten yeaar old boy shot his father I am from Allen county and live close to the town. Many people feel that the mother should be charged in this incident. Here is the story
Bob Hamlin, 42, rural Humboldt, died Sunday evening when his 10-year-old son allegedly shot him in the back of the head with a 20-gauge shotgun.The incident occurred while the boy's mother, Debbie Hamlin, was outdoors "doing chores." Also in the family are three other boys and a young girl. Bob Hamlin, 42, rural Humboldt, died Sunday evening when his 10-year-old son allegedly shot him in the back of the head with a 20-gauge shotgun.The incident occurred while the boy's mother, Debbie Hamlin, was outdoors "doing chores." Also in the family are three other boys and a young girl.

Williams said when officers arrived, two siblings, a brother and sister, were hiding in the Hamlin house. Their father's body -- Williams said the shotgun blast caused immediate death -- was on a couch in the living room.Debie Hamlin fled after the shooting with two of her sons in a pickup truck. They later were found at a neighbor's home.Williams said the 10-year-old boy, a fourth-grader at Humboldt Elementary School, apparently was alone in the house with his father when the shooting occurred. His mother and siblings heard the gunshot from outdoors, but immediately were not sure what had occurred. One brother went to the house, saw that his father was injured -- "He didn't know to what degree then," Williams said -- ran back outdoors and told his mother and siblings
Meanwhile, the 10-year-old left the house with a shotgun and made his way north to the Moore homeMOORE, WHO had been up late the previous two nights and had done a prisoner transport for the sheriff's department earlier in the day, went to bed early Sunday evening."I was tired and had been asleep a few minutes" when the Hamlin boy knocked on the front door, he said.

Wife Carolyn, who was expecting company, answered the door and found the boy, wearing just his underwear, standing outside and holding a shotgun, which he gave to her when she let him into the house.

"Carolyn was carrying the shotgun when she came to wake me up," Moore said.

"The kid was out of it, real agitated," he said. "He asked us not to take him home and not to call the police. I guess he was looking for a place to hide. And he said he was hungry and cold."

The Moores talked with the boy and eventually calmed him some. From what the boy said, Moore suspected he had shot someone, but he didn't know whom or where.The Moores put a T-shirt and socks on the boy, but that didn't stop his shivering. They added a sweatshirt and "turned up the furnace," Moore said. "Carolyn fixed him some pizza and gave him a glass of milk."\
Moore unloaded the shotgun, which contained one shell, and then excused himself to another room and called police dispatch in Iola on a mobile phone.

"I told them we had the kid there, but they didn't tell me what was going on," Moore said, although he was certain something far from ordinary had occurred. "I told them to send just one officer, not a bunch of cars with red lights and sirens. I didn't want to get the kid agitated again."Williams arrived by himself, talked with the boy for a few minutes and then led him away.


Let me say that the mother fled with two children leaving an eleven month old baby behind. No matter what the threat is you don't just eave a baby behind. In all the newspaper articles she never claimed to have been scared for her own life. Second of all you know the sound of a shoot gun whenyou hear it, why would you not go inside and investigate it yourself. What kind of mothe sends a small child inside to see what is happening? Third of all this child had been diagnosed with some mental problems and the doctor had prescribed medication but the parents refused to give it to the child because they refused to have a child who takes drugs. Also this child is ten years old and they said he weighed under fifty pounds. That should be adressed also. What was happening to that child that he shot a parent, that people that had visited earilier that day said the boy clung to them and asked that they take him too. Is in just his underwear at 8 at night, there have been complaints from the other childern that "They" hurt him. They never say who they is. he had become a problem inschool, tried way to hard to please everyone, it had been reported that often the father beat him with a belt. There is just a whole lot more to this case then what the media has let out.

I am heartbroken when I hear this kind of story. Thank you for the additional information.

Ok. First of all it wasn't their son, it was their grandson that they had adopted. Bob was about 8 years older than me and his mother used to work with my mom. I haven't seen him since I left home( about 15-20 years ago) but I remember him and his wife. They were decent people. I think there might have been some issues with the boy and I don't know why they were raising him instead of his mother. What is Ron Moore still doing "making transports" ?? I thought he was retired. He was the sheriff forever in Allen County. His oldest daughter is my age..lol! Let me explain something to the first post..that is the way it is there. We all got "whuppins" plenty of them growing up. People had the spare the rod spoil the child mentality. I got plenty of them and grew up in a house full of guns, no locked cabinet, no gun locks. We would have never thought of doing anything like that. I think it is society these days. We were respectful children who acted like we had good sense. So I feel that trying to put the blame on the boy's grandparents may not be correct. Like I said I don't know how it came that they were raising him.