{"id":90826,"date":"2026-01-19T15:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/90826\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:12:14","slug":"pennsylvania-boy-11-facing-homicide-charges-after-shooting-father-dead-when-he-took-his-nintendo-switch-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/90826\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania boy, 11, facing homicide charges ‘after shooting father dead when he took his Nintendo Switch away’"},"content":{"rendered":"

An eleven-year-old Pennsylvania<\/a>\u00a0boy is facing criminal homicide charges after authorities allege he shot his father dead in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

Investigators allege the killing was sparked after the child became angry when their Nintendo Switch<\/a> was taken away.<\/p>\n

The shooting happened just after 3am on Tuesday inside a home in Duncannon Borough, near Harrisburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania State Police say the boy used a gun taken from a bedroom safe to fire a single shot into his father’s head while he slept.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Troopers were dispatched to a residence on South Market Street for reports of an ‘unresponsive male’\u00a0<\/p>\n

The victim, 42-year-old Douglas Dietz, was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n

Court records paint a disturbing scene inside the family home – one that had began hours earlier with what investigators described as the child’s birthday celebration.<\/p>\n

According to the criminal affidavit seen by WGAL<\/a>, Dietz was found lying in the bedroom he shared with his wife, which was connected to their son’s bedroom by a closet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The victim, 42-year-old Douglas Dietz, was pronounced dead at the scene\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pennsylvania <\/p>\n

Pennsylvania State Police say the boy used a gun taken from a bedroom safe to fire a single shot into his father’s head as he slept<\/p>\n

Police said the boy, Clayton Dietz, was later identified as a suspect in the shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Troopers later reported that the boy told his mother, \u2018I killed Daddy,\u2019 according to the affidavit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investigators say the boy’s mother told police she was asleep when a loud noise jolted her awake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She initially thought she smelled fireworks. When she tried to wake her husband and got no response, she noticed what sounded like water dripping.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Turning on the light, she realized it was blood, according to court records.<\/p>\n

According to court records, the boy later entered the bedroom and told his mother that his father was dead.<\/p>\n

Troopers later reported hearing the boy tell his mother, ‘I killed Daddy.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police said the shooting occurred on the child’s birthday. The family had gone to bed shortly after midnight after singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.<\/p>\n

According to investigators, the boy told police he had a good day with his parents, but became angry after his father told him it was time to go to bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Investigators <\/p>\n

Investigators allege the shooting followed an argument after the child became angry when his Nintendo Switch was taken away (file photo)<\/p>\n

Court documents state that the boy said he was upset because his gaming console had been taken away.<\/p>\n

When questioned by investigators, the child allegedly said, ‘I shot somebody,’ and admitted he had someone specific in mind – his father.<\/p>\n

Investigators said the boy’s mother told police there was a gun safe in the bedroom but claimed she did not know where the key was kept.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the affidavit, the boy told troopers he found the key inside his father’s drawer.<\/p>\n

Police allege the child unlocked the safe while searching for his Nintendo Switch, removed a firearm, loaded it with ammunition, and walked to his father’s side of the bed.<\/p>\n

The affidavit alleges the boy pulled back the hammer and fired a single round into his father’s head while he slept.<\/p>\n

When asked what he believed would happen after pulling the trigger, investigators wrote that the child said he was angry and ‘had not thought about that.’<\/p>\n

State police took the boy into custody and charged him with criminal homicide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was denied bail and is being held at the Perry County Prison. A court hearing is scheduled for this Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Dietz <\/p>\n

Dietz was found lying in the bedroom he shared with his wife, which was connected to their son’s bedroom by a closet<\/p>\n

Authorities noted in court records that the boy had been adopted by the couple in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A nearby resident described the family as quiet and kind, saying the violence was impossible to imagine.<\/p>\n

‘I didn’t expect this,’ the neighbor said, adding that while the street once felt tightly knit, many residents no longer know each other well.<\/p>\n

‘They’re very kind. I mean, I didn’t talk to them much. They kept to themselves over there and just seemed pretty nice,’ said lifelong Duncannon resident Jesse Weldon.<\/p>\n

The Susquenita School District released a statement Wednesday acknowledging the impact of the killing on students and families.<\/p>\n

‘We recognize that in a close-knit community such as ours, events like this can affect our students,’ the district said. ‘Our school counselors and psychologists are available to provide support to any students in need.’<\/p>\n

A GiveSendGo <\/a>page has been set up for Jillian Dietz following her husband’s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An eleven-year-old Pennsylvania\u00a0boy is facing criminal homicide charges after authorities allege he shot his father dead in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7269,139,6696,28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-90826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-nintendo-switch","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","13":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}