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NEED TO KNOW
- Clayton Dietz, 11, is charged with murder after allegedly shooting and killing his father, Douglas Dietz, 42, in the early morning hours of Jan. 13
- The boy told police he was mad that his dad had taken his Nintendo Switch away from him around midnight because it was so late, authorities allege
- Dietz’s parents had just sung happy birthday to him before they all went to bed that night since he turned 11 on Jan. 13
An 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy who allegedly got mad when his adoptive father took away his Nintendo Switch and told him to go to bed on his birthday is now facing murder charges.
Clayton Dietz, who turned 11 on Tuesday, Jan. 13, was arrested that day and charged with criminal homicide, according to online court records.
Dietz is being tried as an adult, according to online court records.
The incident unfolded in the early morning hours of Jan. 13., when police were called to a home on South Market St. in Duncannon about a report of an “unresponsive male,” Pennsylvania State Police said, ABC 27 News, WGAL 8, and KOMO report.
When officers arrived at 3:20 a.m., they found Douglas Dietz, 42, deceased in his bed with a gunshot wound to the head, according to the outlets.
Jillian Dietz, Clayton’s mother, told police that she and her husband sang happy birthday to their son just before they all went to bed, according to an affidavit obtained by WGAL News 8, KOMO and ABC 27.
Jillian said she was sleeping next to her husband when she was awoken by a loud noise and thought she smelled fireworks, according to the affidavit, WGAL 8 reports.
She heard what she described as water dripping before realizing it was her husband’s blood, it says, WGAL 8 reports.
Jillian Dietz told police she spotted Clayton in a closet, where he said, “he’s dead” before running downstairs yelling, “my dad’s dead,” the affidavit alleges, ABC 27 News reports.
The boy told police that Monday, Jan. 12, went well, but just after midnight, “When his dad told him he needed to go to bed, he got mad at him,” the documents allege, WGAL reports.
The boy said that after his father took his Nintendo Switch away, he found a key to a safe in his father’s drawer and unlocked it in hopes of finding the video game console, the affidavit alleges.
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The boy allegedly told police that after “removing the gun from the safe, loading bullets into it and walking over to his father’s side of the bed, he pulled back the hammer and fired the gun at his father,” the affidavit says.
When police asked him what he thought was going to happen when he pulled the trigger, he said, “He was mad and he had not thought about that,” the affidavit alleges, WGAL 8 reports.
The couple adopted the boy in 2018, officials said, WGAL 8 reports.
Dietz is being held without bail pending his next court date on Thursday, Jan. 22. His public defender did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’’s request for comment.



