Vincent Romero & Timothy Romans: Romero & Romans killed by boy?
By Therese Lisieux on November 7th, 2008A boy, 8, has been charged with murder in eastern Arizona. The boy allegedly shot and murdered his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39. An 8 year old boy killed his father and lodger!
On Wednesday, police found Vincent Romero and Timothy Romans dead in a house in St. Johns, a rural community of about 4000 people, northeast of Phoenix. The boy initially denied any involvement but later confessed to the murders. He is detained at the Apache County juvenile detention center.
The D.A., Benjamin Brewer, suggested that police exceeded limits by questioning the child without representation from a parent/ lawyer. Brewer claimed police did not advise the boy of his rights.
Updated on Nov. 10.
The funerals for the slain men, Vincent Romero & Timothy Romans were planned. The funeral service for Vincent Romero was held on Monday, Nov. 10. About 600 mourners attended the service.
The body of Timothy Romans, a tenant in Vincent Romero’s house, was sent back to his hometown of San Carlos, Arizona. A wake for Timothy Romans is planned for Friday, Nov. 14, 3 pm. The funeral for Romans will be on Saturday, Nov. 15, 10 am.
A priest who had known the boy and his father, Vincent Romero, said that Romero had taught the boy how to use firearms. While the police think that the crimes were pre-meditated and planned, they have to come up with a motive.
Updated on Mon. Nov. 10, after the first court hearing.
Prosecutors said the boy was systematic and precise in killing his father and their lodger. He reloaded the .22-caliber rifle after each shot and fired at least 8 shots. Investigators suspected the boy may have suffered some form of abuse from his father but so far, they could turn up nothing to suggest a motive for the murders.
Mr. Romero was divorced from the boy’s mother and had custody of his son. The whereabouts of the boy’s stepmother were not mentioned. Mr. Romero was shot a least 4 times.
Mr Romans was outside the house, talking to his wife on his cell phone when he heard a commotion inside, he told his wife that the boy was calling him and he had to go in. Romans was on the porch, walking inside when he was shot in his chest and head. Both Romero and Romans were killed after 5 pm.
A neighbor dialled the police at 5:08 pm and police arrived in just 1 minute. The boy was considered a witness initially. He was brought to his grandmother’s house. It was only after a long interview that he was detained in custody as a suspect.
The judge placed a gag order on all the lawyers and police dealing with this case. They can not talk to the press outside of the courtroom.
Updated on Tue., Nov. 18.
The Arizona Attorney’s Office released the video that showed the 8 year old who killed his father answering questions. Initially, he talked about how he found the bodies. He said he had nothing to do with their shootings. Later, in another interrogation, the 8 year old confessed to shooting the men. The face of the boy was masked out to protect his identity but the camera showed a picture of Vincent Romero.
8 year old boy kills father, video is at the link.
Updated.
The 8 year old boy was known to have been beaten by his father in discipline matters. The boy kept a record of his beatings and told that his 1000th beating would be his last. On the day that Vincent Romero was killed, the boy received several hits and the total score now exceeded 1000. Supposedly, it was then that the boy decided to shoot his father, Vincent Romero. No explanation has been offered on why the lodger, Timothy Romans, was killed.
Vincent Romero & Timothy Romans, RIP.
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November 8th, 2008 at 9:44 am
let the boy go!
probably the father and other man were homosexuals and the boy flipped
did what any normal human being would have done at his age and menatl capacity
police and the public officials at large should be ashamed of themselves COWARDS! and will one day face the TRUE jUDGE GOD
and I will laugh once they are all throwninto the lake of everlasting punishement of fire
November 9th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
DM- YOU DON’T MAKE SENSE. HANG THE PUNK KID!!
November 10th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
You guys should not post if you do not know anything about what is going on or about the family. My nephew and his son were well loved in the community and by their family. This is a tragic situation and other people should just sit back and listen as we are doing to try and find out why this happened. And who are we to judge. or you for a matter of fact.
November 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
dm….you are a complete idiot. Just another brainwashed sheep, wandering around lost and spewing mindless crap.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Anyone who puts a gun in the hands of a child instead of giving him toys and good education is a real stupid. His father had the results of what he gave to the son. The boy needs to be treated as a child.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:28 am
I have known Vincent and his family since I was a young teen. Vincent,his sisters,and I worked together helping facilitate teen functions with the church. The Romero family is a loving family that has contributed much to their community. This is a tragedy and the assuming rumors & fingerpointing is pointless and cruel. If you dont know them or the facts keep your accusations to yourself. God bless and guide them and his son in this time of tragedy.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
So the State of Arizona fails…miserably! Charging an 8 year old (!) as an adult – pathetic. Of course the pre-conviction develops as I would expect – along with the usual media fed gossip. I have no opinion or accusations for the CHILD(!) or his father, but I know one thing – charging an 8 year old for premeditated murder is P A T H E T I C. Police Chief should be fired and any Judge who would allow this crap-show to go on in an ADULT court should be fired, as well as dis-barred. He knows very little (if anything) about the adult world, but “brownie point” driven public servants think he should be subject to adult laws…ignorant.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Who cares if the police didn’t notify the boy of his rights, he doesn’t deserve them if he killed his father. This case is over a lot earlier (most likely) than it would have been if the police had informed the boy of his rights; someone else might have been falsely convicted. If the boy was INNOCENT and was not informed of his rights, that would be a different story, but this sadistic faggot kid murdered his father. And for people who say “Let the boy go”… are you retarded? If he’s murdering people at age 8 imagine what he could do at age 16.
November 27th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Guns don’t kill people, people kill people…
But guns don’t half make it easy for them.
November 30th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
didnt the boy take diary? father hit the boy 1000 times 1000st time the kid shot his dad.
this is what i read here in newspaper.
sorry for distributing this if this is wrong information.
greetings
December 1st, 2008 at 6:28 pm
There are reports surfacing that the boy’s father and Timothy Romans were involved in a homosexual relationship. Whether that contributed to the boy’s behavior is uncertain at the moment. It is possible that this fueled the boy’s confusion and resentment toward his father, but more investigation needs to be done.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
What people are forgetting here is that this is an 8 year old kid who has no record of behavioral problems. No complaints lodged with child services. A child who by all accounts was “sweet, smart, and polite”.
What drives an 8 year old CHILD to such extremes – and if there was a reason for such a young child to “premeditate” the murders of two adults, what is the motive and why is it being termed first-degree murder? This entire case is wrong on so many levels – from the way the interrogation was handled to the lack of conclusive evidence proving he shot the rifle repeatedly without obstruction of any kind, to being tried as an adult – and the comments from some of these posters here show *adults* can have less-than-exemplary responsibility (Alex especially).
How is an 8 year old supposed to be able to not only plan and execute a double murder of adults AND be able to load/discharge a single-shot rifle repeatedly with no sign of defense from the targets, but know what the consequences would be? Most adults couldn’t competently participate in their own defense (that’s what lawyers are for), how is a child supposed to?
Far too much is inconsistent in the reporting of this story, right from the start, and I fear that this child being interrogated without the benefit of adult representation or even being Mirandized is only the beginning of a long railroading. The circumstances are sad enough – to have people posting comments that show they have the maturity of a gnat is even worse.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I do not think that there is anyway that this boy understood the long term consequences of his actions. Just because he showed no outward signs of abuse that does not mean that it is not there. I was abused as a child for several years and nobody knew anything. Children have a way if hiding things like that because we are scared and if he was being physically abused then his actions make perfect sense. What we do not know is what happend when the tenent went into the house. We do not know what was said. I honestly feel that he was a scared little bot that did a good job of hiding his feelings.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I cant believe your guys Replies, how many of you accually live in St. Johns and had seen or met this family. I live here and I think that some of you that say they were homo’s or he was beat, need to look up your facts. Not saying it isn’t prossible, but don’t be so judegmently, it isn’t your fight.
I really think if he did it, someone talked him into it. I think if he did it, everyone around him is to blam, maybe he didn’t have problems that anyone saw. But not everyone around him (you know who you are) are stable people.
I don’t believe he deserves to go to jail, maybe some sort of counseling and the family included, to find out the real problem to his behavoir.
February 21st, 2009 at 7:52 pm
you f.. americans…you are paying for your own violent policy..you are being devoured from inside..your empire is done, dumb culture..