Teen ordered to probation, gun safety training in fatal Henderson shooting
A 14-year-old accused of fatally shooting his brother in Henderson was sentenced Wednesday to nine months of probation, with the possibility of attending Spring Mountain Youth Camp.
The boy, whose name was not released because he was charged as a juvenile, pleaded guilty last month to one count of aiming a firearm at another human being.
The teenager was arrested April 13 after his 10-year-old brother, Dylan Houston, was found dead in their home near South Gibson Road and Paseo Verde Parkway.
A report from the Department of Child and Family Services said the boys were home alone at the time of the shooting.
“A concern is noted as to supervision and how the firearm was able to be accessed,” the report read.
Family Court Judge William Voy reviewed a pre-sentencing report in court Wednesday, which indicated the boy was not likely to re-offend and had no prior charges. The boy is in ninth grade and was involved in ROTC.
Voy ordered the teen to complete 200 hours of community service and undergo grief counseling. Voy and Clark County District Attorney Mike Watson asked for gun safety training, but defense attorney Lance Maningo asked that the boy’s therapist be consulted first.
“Even the sight of guns has an effect on him as you can imagine,” Maningo said. “Part of his counseling is based upon post-traumatic issues.”
Voy asked that the boy be reconsidered for Spring Mountain Youth Camp toward the end of his probation as a way to overcome any guilt he feels in the shooting.
“I’m a firm believer in atonement and to achieve atonement, to be able to go on with the rest of your life, if you don’t overcome that big obstacle in this process, I’ve found placement at the camp for a while does have a tendency to help that,” Voy said Wednesday. “If you don’t go through that process of atonement, feel like you’ve done something to atone, you can never put it to rest and your life has a good chance of ending up with drugs, alcohol or other developmental and mental health issues.”
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
