Current:Home > NewsFlorida police fatally shot man who burned 9-year-old boy he thought was demon possessed-InfoLens
Florida police fatally shot man who burned 9-year-old boy he thought was demon possessed
View Date:2024-12-23 11:51:39
Florida officers responded Tuesday to reports of a fire in which a child was being burned with his belongings because two adults believed he was possessed by a demon, officials said. The incident left a man dead and a woman facing murder charges.
In a release from Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman, officials said they received a call Tuesday afternoon reporting people burning a pile of debris on the side of the road in Sebring, a town in the middle of the state between Tampa and West Palm Beach.
When deputies arrived alongside fire officials, they found a man later identified as Richard Myron Ham, 39. According to the police, he resisted officers' orders, was tasered, struck an officer with a metal rod, and was fatally shot.
Ham's girlfriend, who is the boy's mother, also became physical with the officers and was detained on the scene, officials said. USA TODAY is not naming the woman in order to protect the identity of her child.
Initial investigations led police to believe that the couple had put a 9-year-old boy in the fire and covered him with a burning blanket, the release stated. The child escaped the fire and was not seriously injured.
The officer who was struck with the rod was treated at at the hospital that day and released. The shooting is being investigated by the 10th Judicial Circuit’s Officer Involved Deadly Incident Task Force. A spokesperson from Polk County Sheriff's Office confirmed one of their detectives is leading the investigation. The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave in the meantime.
Highlands County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Scott Dressel told USA TODAY Thursday that body cameras were not used in the incident. He also said it is unlikely that dashboard cameras captured the incident as one officer, typically a school resource officer, did not have a dash camera.
Highlands County Fire Rescue did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for an incident report.
Murder suspect:She was the face of grief after 4 family members slain. Now she's charged with murder.
Mother, reported missing and endangered, charged with murder
The 30-year-old mother of the boy has been charged with murder while engaged in resisting an officer with violence, resisting an officer with violence, cruelty toward a child without great bodily harm and battery on an officer, according to her jail booking. She is being held in a Highlands County jail without bond. The public defender's office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's emailed request for comment on her case.
According to the most recent update from Highlands County Sherriff's Office, prosecutors told a judge at her first appearance that they would seek a felony murder charge based on the allegations that her actions led to Ham's death. Dressel said she handed Ham the rod he struck the officer with, making her an "active participant."
The woman and the 9-year-old boy were listed as missing and endangered out of Wichita, Kansas on Dec. 6. The Wichita Police Department did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for details on the report.
Boy survived fire, hadn't eaten in 24 hours or bathed in 10 days
Police said the child escaped from the fire and is currently in custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Dressel said the child was in a vehicle on the scene when the shooting occurred.
Officials said the boy told them he had not bathed or brushed his teeth during the ten days they traveled from Wichita to Florida. He also said he had not been fed for 24 hours.
He said the adults he was with had regularly used drugs, Ham had earlier threatened him with a knife, and Ham had claimed to kill someone else with the knife. Officials are working with other state agencies to confirm those allegations.
veryGood! (544)
Related
- Florida education officials report hundreds of books pulled from school libraries
- Suspect in murder of Georgia nursing student entered U.S. illegally, ICE says
- New York Democrats reject bipartisan congressional map, will draw their own
- Caribbean authorities say missing American couple is feared dead after 3 prisoners hijacked yacht
- Residents urged to shelter in place after apparent explosion at Louisville business
- Wild weather’s coming: West readies for snow as Midwest gets a taste of summer
- Military families brace for another government shutdown deadline
- These Cheap Products Will Make Your Clothes, Shoes, Bags & More Look Brand New
- College football Week 12 expert picks for every Top 25 game include SEC showdowns
- Surge in syphilis cases drives some doctors to ration penicillin
Ranking
- Armie Hammer Says His Mom Gifted Him a Vasectomy for His 38th Birthday
- Beyoncé's uncle dies at 77, Tina Knowles pays tribute to her brother
- Legendary shipwreck's treasure of incalculable value will be recovered by underwater robot, Colombia says
- Bye-bye, birdie: Maine’s chickadee makes way for star, pine tree on new license plate
- Lunchables get early dismissal: Kraft Heinz pulls the iconic snack from school lunches
- Raising a child with autism in Kenya: Facing stigma, finding glimmers of hope
- Cam Newton involved in fight at Georgia youth football camp
- 3 charged in ‘targeted’ shooting that killed toddler at a Wichita apartment, police say
Recommendation
-
Gossip Girl Actress Chanel Banks Reported Missing After Vanishing in California
-
Peter Anthony Morgan, lead singer of reggae band Morgan Heritage, dies at age 46
-
Chris Gauthier, character actor known for 'Once Upon a Time' and 'Watchmen,' dies at 48
-
Suspect in murder of Georgia nursing student entered U.S. illegally, ICE says
-
1 monkey captured, 42 monkeys still on the loose after escaping research facility in SC
-
Massachusetts governor faults Steward Health Care system for its fiscal woes
-
When is forgetting normal — and when is it worrisome? A neuroscientist weighs in
-
Surge in syphilis cases drives some doctors to ration penicillin