Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, June thirtieth, and we are
Speaker 1: hopping on because a ten year old child in Missouri
Speaker 1: has just become one of the youngest in this country's
Speaker 1: history to ever be charged with murder. With that welcome
Speaker 1: to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. That first story,
Speaker 1: that first line is shocking enough, and then you hear
Speaker 1: about who the murder victim.
Speaker 2: Is, a seven month old baby girl. That is truly unthinkable. So, yes,
Speaker 2: a ten year old is being charged with the shooting
Speaker 2: death of his seven month old niece, and that makes
Speaker 2: him the youngest person ever charged with murder in the
Speaker 2: state of Missouri's history.
Speaker 3: This is a story that is just crossing. There was
Speaker 3: some court activity because there's another arrest involved in this,
Speaker 3: But the next part of it, Robes is that authorities
Speaker 3: were being asked about motive because when I first heard
Speaker 3: about a ten year old, like, surely this was just
Speaker 3: some crazy accident, a kid playing with a gun. Robes,
Speaker 3: this kid is charged with first degree murder.
Speaker 2: First degree murder. When we saw that headline, I actually
Speaker 2: had to go back and check multiple headlines, multiple sources,
Speaker 2: because you, as just a human being, are thinking that's impossible.
Speaker 2: A ten year old boy would never deliberately go and
Speaker 2: get a gun and with purpose shoot a seven month
Speaker 2: old baby girl in the head.
Speaker 3: This is where we are on this story, folks. We
Speaker 3: are short on a lot of details, but this is
Speaker 3: a history making case right now. Just doesn't happen. This
Speaker 3: just doesn't happen in the US. Robes, it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 3: We have seen accidents before, horrific accidents. Oftentimes an adult
Speaker 3: ends up being charged because they're the one that should
Speaker 3: have kept the gun away from the kid. Some of
Speaker 3: that is in play here, but it's rare, Robes we
Speaker 3: see a kid charged, and certainly not with first degree.
Speaker 3: To the point we're asking about a motive as if
Speaker 3: this was Robes, first degree is intentional.
Speaker 2: Yes, just asking about a motive for a ten year old.
Speaker 2: It just it defies logic. And yes, there could have
Speaker 2: been manslaughter charges, second degree murder charges. A first degree
Speaker 2: murder charge implies premeditation implies, not implies. It says that's premeditated.
Speaker 2: It says it was planned, it was purposeful, it was intended.
Speaker 3: And you're making me think about the next thing there, Robes,
Speaker 3: is that this the next part I would maybe listen
Speaker 3: to is if something got heated and the kid was
Speaker 3: upset and the kid had problems in the past, or
Speaker 3: as if it was taking retaliation against the kid they
Speaker 3: had a beef with a seven month old? What is happening?
Speaker 2: A seven month old can barely sit up, maybe not
Speaker 2: any Yeah, a seven month old might be crawling, might
Speaker 2: be able to sit up on her own. She can't walk,
Speaker 2: she can't talk, she can smile, she can giggle, she
Speaker 2: can cry, and that's about it. And so it's hard
Speaker 2: to get your head around what the motive could possibly be.
Speaker 2: And police certainly haven't given one yet did you see
Speaker 2: one anywhere? Look, it's not like there's ever an explanation
Speaker 2: that would make this make any sense. But again, we
Speaker 2: always look for the why in these cases, and especially
Speaker 2: when something as shocking as this has happened, you have
Speaker 2: to you kind of need to know why, Like what
Speaker 2: could possibly possess a young child ten years old? What
Speaker 2: is that fourth grade? I mean, that is a young kid,
Speaker 2: and that's just it's hard to even imagine how it
Speaker 2: got to that point. And we were also trying to
Speaker 2: do the math because it is a little confusing. He's ten,
Speaker 2: his niece is seven months old. So it seems as
Speaker 2: though his sister, his sibling obviously who's a little older
Speaker 2: than him, had a baby. We don't know where that
Speaker 2: sibling is. That hasn't been mentioned anywhere. But there was
Speaker 2: another adult that we do know that's responsible, or at
Speaker 2: least being held responsible in this heinous crime.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Robes, there's a lot to get to in this case.
Speaker 3: The dad is nineteen, right, that's a really really young guy.
Speaker 3: There's a gun in the house. Why it's his Why
Speaker 3: Let's go back to Friday as where this started, and
Speaker 3: this kid, ten year old is at home with the
Speaker 3: nineteen year year old and the seven month old. Apparently
Speaker 3: here ropes and authorities do get a call about a shooting.
Speaker 3: And then again we haven't said the location. This is
Speaker 3: in the Saint Louis area, just north of downtown, is
Speaker 3: the way it's explained in this neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Yes, and so police recalled in the afternoon about a shooting.
Speaker 2: I cannot imagine that they ever in their wildest dreams,
Speaker 2: thought that they'd be walking into a scene like the
Speaker 2: one they did, Because, yes, they find a seven month
Speaker 2: old with a gunshot wound to her head, her name
Speaker 2: is Komi Parker and reading the reports of what police did,
Speaker 2: they said they literally scooped her up like a ball
Speaker 2: and crushed her into their vehicle, into their car, and
Speaker 2: they were performing CPR on her. I mean, they were
Speaker 2: doing everything they could to save this baby's life. They
Speaker 2: get her to the hospital and she dies at the hospital.
Speaker 2: But I'm just imagining. I get chills thinking about these
Speaker 2: police officers walking in. I don't I cannot imagine. I
Speaker 2: can't imagine how you I mean, you could never unsee that.
Speaker 2: To see a seven month old baby shot in the head.
Speaker 2: Forget even that the perpetrator, the person who had been
Speaker 2: holding it done, was a ten year old. Anybody who
Speaker 2: could shoot a seven month old baby in the head
Speaker 2: is pretty much monstrous. I mean, you just this is
Speaker 2: a defenseless, little, beautiful bundle of joy, this sweet innocent
Speaker 2: baby that had a whole life ahead of her, and
Speaker 2: so who could how could anyone shoot a sweet, little
Speaker 2: innocent baby in the head. And then to find out
Speaker 2: that a ten year old is the person being charged
Speaker 2: with first degree murder. Again, I have never heard of
Speaker 2: anything like this, and to that point, this is the
Speaker 2: first time anything like this has ever occurred as far
Speaker 2: as we can find in that entire state's history.
Speaker 3: The youngest ever, this is a historic right now charge,
Speaker 3: we don't know if we will get to a prosecution,
Speaker 3: but right now, Robes, we don't have a court date.
Speaker 3: I haven't seen one just yet, and I'm not sure
Speaker 3: if we will because the ten year old is charged
Speaker 3: with murder, first degree murder. However, Robes in juvenile court
Speaker 3: don't believe actually, because the child is under twelve or
Speaker 3: thirteen in the state of Missouri, it cannot go over
Speaker 3: to adult courts. So I don't know if Robes we'll
Speaker 3: get a lot of access to information because the child.
Speaker 2: Of an age probably not so this. We do know
Speaker 2: that this is going to be adjudicated in juvenile courts,
Speaker 2: and that is because of the law. As you pointed out, ten,
Speaker 2: I believe is the youngest you can actually be charged
Speaker 2: with murder, but it has to go through the juvenile
Speaker 2: court system if he had been twelve. In some states
Speaker 2: sometimes it's fourteen, but there is an age requirement for
Speaker 2: it to then be considered, or at least for prosecutors
Speaker 2: to be able to consider charging a juvenile as an adult.
Speaker 2: We've certainly seen that in other cases, but we're usually
Speaker 2: talking about teenagers at that point, not ten year olds.
Speaker 2: And so it does a peer that this is all
Speaker 2: going to be handled in juvenile courts, which means there
Speaker 2: will be protections afforded to the ten year old in
Speaker 2: terms of anonymity just because of his age, because of
Speaker 2: state law, but because of the nature of this crime
Speaker 2: and the violent nature of it, the first degree murder charges.
Speaker 2: I don't know what they're going to do with this case, Like,
Speaker 2: how do they handle that? Because if you are processed
Speaker 2: in a juvenile court, even if it's first degree murder,
Speaker 2: from what I understand, when you're twenty one, you're free.
Speaker 2: So that's a very disturbing thought to even consider. And
Speaker 2: I can't imagine how prosecutors, how lawmakers are going to
Speaker 2: handle this situation that they've never had to consider before.
Speaker 3: Rose first degree. Look, we may it's possible. I didn't
Speaker 3: think about itu ttil we started recording here. We really
Speaker 3: might not hear much about this case. We have so
Speaker 3: many questions, but we might never know who this kid
Speaker 3: kid is. I've seen some reporting sometimes about kids who
Speaker 3: were charged and convicted of something when they were under age,
Speaker 3: even after they become adults and go out into the
Speaker 3: world and there's reporting about their case. News organizations still
Speaker 3: don't name them because they were a child where that happened.
Speaker 3: So this is probably one of those cases, is it not?
Speaker 2: Yes? And actually did you read because I actually am
Speaker 2: seeing the full statement that came from officials talking about
Speaker 2: his juvenile detention, and they say that the ten year
Speaker 2: old was ordered to be placed in the protective custody
Speaker 2: of Missouri Children's Division and is currently at a hospital
Speaker 2: where he is being psychiatrically evaluated. And that does make sense.
Speaker 2: And then it goes on to say, as he is
Speaker 2: under twelve years old, the juvenile will not be subject
Speaker 2: to certification proceedings and therefore cannot be certified to be
Speaker 2: tried as an adult. The Missouri state legislature, they have
Speaker 2: a law that says juveniles twelve years of age and
Speaker 2: older can only be certified as adults for specific serious
Speaker 2: or dangerous felonies, while juveniles under the age of twelve
Speaker 2: cannot be prosecuted as adults for any reason. Therefore, the
Speaker 2: murder allegations pending in this juvenile's case must be proceeded
Speaker 2: on exclusively within the juvenile court system.
Speaker 3: No, what if it gives them though? Do they have
Speaker 3: the ability police to release details about their investigation. Do
Speaker 3: they have the ability to release some documents and still
Speaker 3: keep this kid's name out of public view. It's just
Speaker 3: there's going to be a lot of interest in this
Speaker 3: case and Robes you were talking about it literally a
Speaker 3: historic prosecution for the state and for the country. I
Speaker 3: like some information.
Speaker 2: The reason why I think we actually will get some
Speaker 2: information is because there is an adult being charged in
Speaker 2: this case in connection to the case, and so through
Speaker 2: perhaps the adult being charged, we might learn about what
Speaker 2: happened in those moments that led up to this shooting.
Speaker 3: And this adult that we didn't mention earlier. The kid
Speaker 3: that was yes arrested in police custody did tell authorities,
Speaker 3: according to the police report, that they was a gun
Speaker 3: in the house, it was stored under a mattress, and
Speaker 3: that the kid knew exactly where it was, had access
Speaker 3: to it at times, and even had accessed it before.
Speaker 3: So the kid told the police all of this, and
Speaker 3: this leads us to the adult who has been arrested.
Speaker 2: Yes, his name is Samerian Pawnell, nineteen years old, and
Speaker 2: he is the father of this baby girl. Kiomi Parker,
Speaker 2: So the nineteen year old father of the seven month
Speaker 2: old who was shot and killed. He is now in
Speaker 2: custody as well, behind bars, and he is being charged
Speaker 2: with second degree felony murder, endangering the welfare of a
Speaker 2: child resulting in death, and endangering the welfare of a
Speaker 2: child creating substantial risk, meaning he left that gun in
Speaker 2: a place where it was easily accessed by this ten
Speaker 2: year old, and he knew this ten year old, knew
Speaker 2: where it was, and knew how to use the gun.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even know how to use a gun.
Speaker 3: What a mess.
Speaker 2: It's a horrific tragedy.
Speaker 3: What a mess. Then, and you can argue, these are
Speaker 3: all kids, These are all children in that house. A
Speaker 3: nineteen year old. Yes, you see his mug shot and
Speaker 3: you might think something else, But bro just is really
Speaker 3: really really.
Speaker 2: He looked to me, the dad, the nineteen year old,
Speaker 2: he looks so young to me.
Speaker 3: These are just what a tragedy in that house robes
Speaker 3: But as we were going through, we were trying to
Speaker 3: find similar cases, other cases, like really, this is historic
Speaker 3: in Missouri, but is this the youngest person ever in
Speaker 3: the country's history to be charged with murder. We were
Speaker 3: shocked to find out.
Speaker 2: No welcome back everyone, as we continue to discuss this horrific,
Speaker 2: unprecedented crime story coming out of Missouri. And it's unprecedented
Speaker 2: in Missouri because this is the youngest person ever charged
Speaker 2: with murder, a ten year old charged with first degree
Speaker 2: murder for shooting his baby niece, a seventh month old
Speaker 2: little girl in the head and killing her. And so yes,
Speaker 2: this is making history in the state of Missouri. But
Speaker 2: my goodness, to think that there were killers, murderers younger
Speaker 2: than ten in this country, not many, obviously, this is
Speaker 2: exceptionally rare. But you found TJ. The youngest ever person
Speaker 2: charged and convicted of murder. Give us the age of
Speaker 2: that child, six six And it wasn't an accident.
Speaker 3: Six got into a fight with an eight.
Speaker 2: Year old over who got to sell some scrap of iron,
Speaker 2: goes into his home, pulls out a shotgun and shoots
Speaker 2: the kid in the chest and kills him on the spot.
Speaker 3: Kid dies, they say, pretty much instantly, but robes this kid,
Speaker 3: Carl Newton man when he went and retrieved the gun robe,
Speaker 3: they said he actually had to get a chair and
Speaker 3: move it over to the cabinet and step up like
Speaker 3: this was part of the case in that how are
Speaker 3: you gonna say this kid shouldn't be charged with a
Speaker 3: serious crime when he gave thought to this, This was
Speaker 3: a legit fight, and he retaliated exactly. But they go ahead, oh,
Speaker 3: go ahead, No no, but they came back later. The other
Speaker 3: side of that is this kid is from a poor community.
Speaker 3: He's from this mining town. He's surrounded by violence all
Speaker 3: the time and doesn't understand necessarily what the result was
Speaker 3: going to be. But he understood he was gonna do harm.
Speaker 3: But they didn't blame the kid ultimately, so yes, we were.
Speaker 3: He was convicted and what fifteen years in the reform
Speaker 3: school essentially juvie whom you could say. But they end
Speaker 3: up overturning the conviction. He got out five years later.
Speaker 2: Isn't that amazing? Guess he actually had? Can you a
Speaker 2: six year old a jury is convicting him. They came
Speaker 2: back with the guilty verdict and folks who were in
Speaker 2: the courtroom and this goes back by the way, it
Speaker 2: was so fascinating to read an article online from the
Speaker 2: New York Times from nineteen twenty nine, but they're describing
Speaker 2: a kid who was playing in the courtroom. I mean,
Speaker 2: he really didn't understand what was going on, but it
Speaker 2: was interesting because his mother. His defense was that he
Speaker 2: didn't know it was loaded. He was just going through
Speaker 2: the motions of what he had seen, but he had
Speaker 2: no idea it was loaded. And the neighbor testified, uh uh,
Speaker 2: I heard him threatened the kid, I'm going to go
Speaker 2: get my gun, shoot and kill you. And then he
Speaker 2: went and got the gun and shot and killed him.
Speaker 2: And so that is why the jury came back with
Speaker 2: a guilty verdict for a six year old for murder.
Speaker 3: It's fascinating to heares even that that's possible. That story
Speaker 3: is certainly interesting to hear that, like it sound like
Speaker 3: the kid knew what he was doing. But just it's
Speaker 3: hard to comprehend folks this young having a real conscious idea,
Speaker 3: And if you do, how is it possible the kid
Speaker 3: that young has that much violence and malice in their heart.
Speaker 3: I can't remember the town, but the six year old.
Speaker 3: The trials we were just watching recently where the six
Speaker 3: year old shot the teacher, came in and shot the teacher.
Speaker 3: We saw the trial of the assistant principle.
Speaker 2: You're right, I totally forgot about it.
Speaker 3: They said that kid knew exactly what he was doing,
Speaker 3: was angry and was mad. Who are these six year olds?
Speaker 3: I guess you get them every once in a while.
Speaker 3: It's just hard to imagine any six year old I've
Speaker 3: never met. I've met some terrible kids.
Speaker 2: Never one that I thought, actually I needed to sleep
Speaker 2: with one eye open.
Speaker 3: No good point.
Speaker 2: That, And that is just shocking and scary. And then
Speaker 2: there were also there's a Catherine and Curtis Jones twelve
Speaker 2: and thirteen years old back in nineteen ninety nine, killed
Speaker 2: their dad's girlfriend.
Speaker 3: Yeah, those twos, I think they got out as adults,
Speaker 3: but yeah, siblings actually did that one. So it's it's
Speaker 3: rare to find something under twelve and thirteen fourteen in
Speaker 3: this case, it's just so so rare. But when you
Speaker 3: go down to ten, you're talking ten years old and
Speaker 3: under you're talking about a handful of just it just
Speaker 3: doesn't happen. So we're witnessing something and something it's taking
Speaker 3: place right now that I'm desperate to try to understand,
Speaker 3: and we all should be interested in beyond just the headline.
Speaker 3: This is fascinating, rope. How is this possible. I don't
Speaker 3: want to say there's some epidemic. These are just big
Speaker 3: headlines right now. But yeah, the six year old was
Speaker 3: in the headlines a lot.
Speaker 2: It's scary stuff, and I absolutely totally forgot about that.
Speaker 2: I am interested though, because when we talk about these
Speaker 2: other cases, including the six year old who shot the
Speaker 2: teacher who just luckily survived, but the six year old
Speaker 2: who killed a playmate, I guess that was an eight
Speaker 2: year old, and then the other ones were shooting adults.
Speaker 2: I also just want to say, this is a whole
Speaker 2: other level because for a ten year old to shoot
Speaker 2: an innocent baby, for a ten year old to shoot
Speaker 2: an infant, a helpless infant that couldn't have done anything
Speaker 2: actually that would have angered him, that would make any sense,
Speaker 2: where he wasn't getting into a fight with a seven
Speaker 2: month old, he wasn't angry about being punished by an adult.
Speaker 2: And so that is a whole other level of evil
Speaker 2: that I don't wish upon in terms of the folks
Speaker 2: who have to decide what happens to him, where he goes,
Speaker 2: if he can have any sort of rehabilitation, and what
Speaker 2: do you do when he's twenty one. These are all
Speaker 2: questions that I think are going to have really difficult answers,
Speaker 2: and none that are certainly clear at this point. But
Speaker 2: to know he's going under a psychiatric evaluation right now
Speaker 2: is at least heartening. They're trying to find out why,
Speaker 2: trying to figure out what was going on with this kid.
Speaker 2: But we just wanted to hop on and let you
Speaker 2: know this frankly, disturbingly historic headline taking place in Missouri,
Speaker 2: and we'll follow. We'll follow any of the details. If
Speaker 2: we get any information about the story, we'll certainly pass
Speaker 2: it along to you all. But in the meantime, thank
Speaker 2: you for listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ. Holmes.
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you so much.