Sandy teen who 'couldn't take it anymore' accused of killing father after years of abuse

SANDY — A 15-year-old boy who told police he "couldn't take it anymore" is accused of shooting and killing his father following years of him and his brother allegedly being abused.

The teen was charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court with manslaughter, a second-degree felony. KSL is not naming the teen at this time.

On Sept. 27, Sandy police were called to a house near 9700 S. 1200 East. They found a deceased man in the basement with a gunshot wound to his head and another juvenile with a gunshot wound to the knee.

"As (the 15-year-old) was being taken into custody, he made several excited utterances, stating, 'I just couldn't take it anymore,' 'I did it' and 'The bullet went through his head and hit my brother,'" according to charging documents.

Detectives interviewed the brother, who "detailed that he and (the teen) had endured years of verbal and physical abuse from their father. (He) described how (the father) would yell at them if they ever cried or giggled, telling them it was not manly. (He) described his father as an extremely angry man, comparing him to the Incredible Hulk, because he was enraged by the smallest things," the charges state.

The boy told police that the abuse began when the family lived in Montana. He told investigators that even though he has diabetes and needs insulin, "his father never paid attention during the hospital training about diabetes management and acted like he already knew everything he needed to know. (He) detailed an incident where his blood-sugar was high, and (he) was eating something after administering insulin. (The boy) states that his father yelled at him, hit him and grabbed his candy and threw it away. (The boy) states that his father came downstairs and began hitting him again because his blood sugar level had not dropped," according to the charges.

The boy said his father forced him to administer more insulin while hitting the boy when he tried to tell him how injections work.

"(The boy) states his father made him administer a near lethal dose of insulin for his blood sugar level, and believes he would have died (if he hadn't) been secretly eating candy he hid in his room because he worried something like this could happen," the charges state.

The boy further described how he and his brother were verbally abused by their father and how he told them that they were embarrassments, according to the charges, in addition to more physical abuse.

On the day of the shooting, the boy said his father's "mood changed the instant their mom left for work," and he began yelling at the boys and "throwing things around the bathroom because he was upset that had not cleaned the bathtub correctly" and then "repeatedly struck him in the head by slapping and backhanding him because was not cleaning the bathroom the way his father expected it to be cleaned," the charges state.

It was at that point the 15-year-old confronted his father. His brother says he "heard a bang" and that his father continued to be angry even after he was shot "and believes that if (his brother) had not shot their father a second time, he would have killed them both," charging documents state.

Investigators also questioned the 15-year-old arrested, who gave a similar story of his brother being yelled at that day by their father as soon as his mother left the home.

"(He) states that you could hear his father yelling throughout the entire house, and although his father wasn't yelling at him, he felt like it could have turned on him at any second as his father hits him too," the charges state. "(The teen) states that his father continued to yell, and he could hear his father hitting (his brother), who was crying. (He) states that is when he couldn't take it anymore and was at his last straw, and went to get his father's gun," the charges state.

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