News

Mom Found Shot Dead After Worrying 9-Year-Old Was Turning Into Next Serial Killer

NewsPublished May 15, 2019
By Kaitlin Stanford
Outside view of the dilapidated home where Pauline Randol's body was found.FOX 17

A 9-year-old boy has been officially charged with murder after allegedly shooting and killing his mother with a rifle in southern Michigan. The details are still scarce but incredibly disturbing, according to WAND-TV.

The suspect's identity is being withheld because the boy is still a minor, but the victim's name has been confirmed as Pauline Randol.

Few other details are known about the specifics of the case, however, other than that the shooting occurred at the victim's home in Fair River Township, and that police were called to the house on May 6, where her body was found.

Authorities were initially unsure of the relationship between the suspect and the victim, but they have since been confirmed as mother and child -- a detail that only serves to make the incident even more heartbreaking, considering it happened just one week before Mother's Day.

It has since been reported that the Randol is not the child's biological mom; she's been taking care of him since infancy and officially adopted him three years ago. Because of his increasingly aggressive behavior, she reportedly made an appointment for him at a mental health clinic -- scheduled for the day after she was killed.

It's unclear if the suspect, who has been reported as a boy, will be charged as a child or adult, but he's also facing felony firearm charges.

According to the Detroit News, the weapon is a hunting rifle that belonged to the child's father. The family, however, reportedly doesn't now how the boy accessed it. Considering just how many firearms are kept in homes where they're accessibly to children, it's not an unlikely assumption that they didn't have to go far to access it. 

In fact, according to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, an estimated 1.7 million children live in a home with unlocked and loaded guns

It's this stat that's often linked to the many disturbing cases of children being accidentally shot or accidentally shooting others after discovering their parent's gun. Although it's not yet known whether the fatal shooting in this case was the result of the child "playing" or something a bit more premeditated and intentional, additional details are painting a troubling picture.

Randol reportedly worried about her child's mental state and behavior. She allegedly even told a doctor about her concerns shortly before she was killed.

“She was so scared she was raising the next serial killer," Harley Martin, one of Randol's biological daughters, told the Detroit News.

Family members also reportedly told the outlet that the child had been diagnosed with ADHD and seemed to be dealing with other mental struggles.

"My brother was lost in his brain, and my mom was lost in watching him sink in his own mental illness," Reagan Martin, another sibling, told WWMT-TV of Kalamazoo.

Randol also reportedly quit her job as a nurse to focus more attention on the "troubled" child. "She would do it all over again if she had to,” Harley added.

And it seems as those who knew the child, including neighbors, aren't entirely surprised by the news. Joseph Lancaster, who lived near Roland, spoke to FOX 17 on Wednesday and shared this chilling detail:

"My wife and I both, when we heard that the woman was shot, we both looked at each other and said 'I bet it was him.' The little boy, because I have grandkids. I have one the same age and I've got smaller ones. And he would stand in the tree line over there and point his BB gun at him and shoot at them."

The neighbor added that he didn't actually know the family well, but that when he spotted the boy playing outside, he was always alone -- never with a friend or anyone else.

In fact, it was Lancaster's son who apparently first heard screams coming from inside the home Monday morning, shortly before deputies arrived.

Other neighbors reported that the boy had pointed a BB gun at other children and that he was known to go through peoples' yards.

"It's just crazy -- scary," Lancaster told Fox 17. "You know, he could have shot anybody around here."

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