BIG PRAIRIE, Ohio — A 10-year-old boy suspected in his mother’s shooting death argued with her beforehand about whether to carry firewood into their home, his uncle said Tuesday.
The boy, who had a gun rack mounted to his bedroom wall, has been charged with murder as a juvenile and entered the equivalent of a not-guilty plea in court. His mother, 46-year-old Deborah McVay, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head Sunday night in Big Prairie, a tiny rural town of rolling hills and fields in central Ohio.
McVay’s brother, Tony Miller, said his nephew argued with his mother just before she died because he didn’t want to carry in the firewood. “He had anger issues, and she overlooked those anger issues,” said Miller, who lives in Louisville, Ky. “It was her son. She loved him very much.”
Four weapons were found in the boy’s bedroom after the shooting. On his bed were the .22-caliber rifle believed to be the weapon that killed his mother and a 12-gauge shotgun.
A neighbor who called 911 Sunday said the boy came to her home to report the emergency. On a recording of the call, a voice in the background says: “I shot my mom. I shot her with a gun.” McVay had separated from her husband two weeks ago, Miller said. The Associated Press
