An 8-year-old Arizona boy charged with premeditated murder in the deaths of his father and another man shot each victim at least four times with a .22-caliber rifle, methodically stopping and reloading as he killed them execution style, prosecutors said Monday.

Although investigators initially said they thought the boy might have suffered severe physical or sexual trauma, they have found no evidence of abuse, said Roy Melnick, the police chief in St. Johns, Ariz., where the shootings occurred. Psychologists say such abuse is often a factor in the extremely rare instances in which a small child murders a parent.

An investigation found no evidence that the boy had had disciplinary problems at school or shown signs that he was troubled, Chief Melnick said. “That’s what makes this case somewhat puzzling,” he said, adding that the court had ordered a psychological evaluation for the boy. “Our goal is to get him some help.”

...Prosecutors said the murder weapon was a single-action .22-caliber hunting rifle that requires reloading before each shot. “He had to eject the shell from the rifle and put in a new shell each time he fired,” Mr. Carlyon said.

This is missing:

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona (AP) -- A man who police believe was shot and killed by his 8-year-old son had consulted a Roman Catholic priest about whether the boy should have a gun and had taught him how to use firearms, the clergyman said.
The Very Rev. John Paul Sauter said Vincent Romero consulted him on whether his son should have a gun.

The Very Rev. John Paul Sauter said Vincent Romero consulted him on whether his son should have a gun.

The Very Rev. John Paul Sauter said the man, Vincent Romero, 29, wanted his son to learn how to hunt, but the boy's stepmother, Tiffany, suggested that he have a BB gun.

Police say the boy used a 22.-caliber rifle Wednesday to kill his father and another man, Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos.

Romero was an avid hunter who taught his son how to use a rifle to kill prairie dogs, said Sauter, of St. Johns Catholic Church.

"He wanted to make sure the kid wasn't afraid of guns, knew how to handle it," the priest said. "He was just too young. ... That child, I don't think he knows what he did, and it was brutal."

Leave out this fact--a boy was taught how to kill with a gun--and what you get is the mystery and the bewilderingly mists of why an average kid with no history of bad behavior or abuse would murder two adults.

Two conclusions:
1) Teaching him how to shoot a gun was the abuse!
2) The dead father, and not the boy, should be in jail because he committed his own murder and the murder of his friend.

Emerging Obama doctrine: A new approach for the war in Afghanistan.

Sasha Obama: Youngest White House occupant since the Kennedy kids lived there.

Minnesota Senate race: Still going, and getting ugly.

Howard Dean: Stepping aside.

The long winter: Mars lander obituary.

Weak coffee: Starbucks profits down 97 percent.

Storm! For those who follow local TV news hyperventilation.

Parts not included: The toll story.

The Gregoire stimulus package: $300 million.

And once again, just for kicks:

Post-election secret: Only a few more months of these (at least under Bush).

First order of business on Jan. 20: Reversing up to 200 executive orders.

Credit where it's demanded: Victory has a thousand fathers.

What next for Obama's online army? Lots of ideas.

Got a few hours? Seven chapter Newsweek report reconstructs the campaign, with lots of new and interesting details.

Got another hour? Ryan Lizza on how Obama won.

Octopus expressway: And other wonders of the underwater census.

And in the interest of ecumenical annoyances:

Ours Is Bigger: China's $586 billion stimulus package.

Daily Palin: Palin blamed by Secret Service for spike in Obama death threats.

More Prop 8 Protests: Over 20,000 protesters, yesterday, in California.

Waiting For Obama?: Iraqi political elite divided.

Franken's Chances Improve: In Minnesota, judge denies Coleman's request.

Gingrich is Moses: Apparently.

Living With The Dead: 90 years old and living with three dead siblings.

Daily Palin Redux: Palin now thinks Sen. Stevens, a felon, can keep his job.

Pierce County Swung For Gregoire: Friday's numbers.

Daily Palin: Homeward bound.

Turkey Doesn't Want IMF Band-Aid: Resisting aid package.

Prop 8 Protest: 2,000 march in Long Beach.

Boycott Utah: Boycott idea has traction.

Westlake Center For Sale: Yup.

Daily Palin Redux: 64 percent of Republicans want Palin in 2012.

Venezuelan Gold: Venezuela to nationalize country's largest gold mine.

Around 11 pm on November 4th, just hours after Seattle residents took to the streets to celebrate Obama's big win, prosecutors say Danny Rube Fields climbed into a cab outside of the Boxcar Ale House in Interbay and told the driver to head to Ballard.

Minutes into the cab ride, court documents say Fields began shouting "bullshit, idiot, you don't belong in this country. This is not your country" at the cab driver. Records do not indicate the race or the national origin of the cab driver.

As the cab crossed the Ballard Bridge, court records say Fields screamed "go back to your fucking country, you idiot" and began punching the driver in the back of the head.

"We were on the bridge. I was scared he might have a knife or a gun. I was driving, I was afraid, I told him to please stop," the cabbie later told police.

The driver pulled into a Safeway parking lot and called police to report the assault. Coincidentally, police also received an anonymous call from another man who told police he was in the Safeway parking lot and claimed cab driver was threatening to shoot him.

Police arrived and questioned the driver and Fields. Fields denied making the call and no gun was found in the cab.

The cabbie told officers he would be willing to ignore the assault if Fields paid his fare. Instead of handing over the fare, Fields began screaming "I'm not paying that prick a fucking dime."

Police arrested Fields and took him to the North Precinct. On the way, Fields told officers "Yeah, you like helping that nigger. I'm an American."

Obama says "uh" quite a lot—and it's a low, gravelly, croaky smokers "uh." I'm listening to this on the radio and I just realized, when I wished I was watching it on TV, that I was picturing Obama in the White House briefing room. Which he's not in, since he hasn't been sworn in yet. It's going to be a long ten and a half weeks.

News hog: Man buys 10,000 election day papers.

Consolation prize: Migraine sufferers less likely to get breast cancer.

President Obama's first accomplishment: Elevating the level of American comedy.

"D'ja ever notice how much it hurts when Chinese smugglers beat you?": 60 Minutes news crew roughed up in China.

Three cheers for people who do things like this: Entire set of cancer genes decoded.

"I'm snitting next to Borpo!": Whisper-shrieked by Liz Lemon last night, still cracking my shit up this morning.

For my final Morning News video, I'd like to share the second greatest music clip I've ever seen (after that Aretha clip from Monday). I first saw this on MTV Unplugged back in the very early '90s and it gave me something very close to Beatlemania. I wish the sound quality were better, but it remains awesome (3:10-4:00!!!!), and offers a vivid picture of what one forceful African-American man can accomplish, even when backed by a band/cabinet filled with honkies who look like rejects from Phish and Huey Lewis' News. Enjoy.

An Indianapolis man continues to recover in a hospital four days after he was mauled by three pit bulls as he tried to save a woman from the attacking animals on the city’s Eastside. Thomas Wimberly, 48, and Carrolle Bales, 42, both Indianapolis, suffered severe puncture and bite wounds in Monday night’s attack, according to an Indianapolis metropolitan police report.

According to IMPD, Bales was walking in an alley near her home in the 2800 block of Brookside Avenue when three pit bulls bolted out of a yard and attacked her.... Wimberly, who lives in the 3000 block of Forrest Manor Avenue, saw the attack while driving by in his pickup and began honking to distract the animals. He ran to Bales’ aid, at which point the dogs turned on him and dragged him to the ground.... Police said Bales suffered gaping holes in her left arm and leg and torso, and that she may have suffered a broken arm. Wimberly suffered deep puncture wounds to both arms and his face.

And I think we may have a contender for pit bull fancier of the year:

Carolyn Boss, 49, Indianapolis, said she was caring for the animals while their owner—her son—is in prison. Boss, of the 2800 block of Brookside Avenue, told police that someone came to her residence to alert her that her dogs had escaped their enclosure

Carolyn Boss, 49, Indianapolis, said she was caring for the animals while their owner — her son — is in prison. Boss, of the 2800 block of Brookside Avenue, told police that someone came to her residence to alert her that her dogs had escaped their enclosure.... Police said Boss went to the alley, where she found her dogs loose and a person lying on the ground. She confined the animals, and later told police that she thought they had been provoked.

An IMPD officer who responded to the scene reported seeing blood on all three animals, scuff marks and splattered blood in the alley behind where Boss lives.
Police said that two of the dogs had water but lacked proper shelter, and that one of the animals had been tethered to a tree by a 7-foot-long heavy tow chain.

So... Boss finds her son's dogs covered with blood and a person "on the ground," and she puts the animals back in their enclosure and then insists to the police that her dogs must have been provoked somehow. No word on whether Ms. Boss called for assistance for the person she found "on the ground."

The Indianapolis Star provides this insulting sidebar to its story about this pit bull attack. The sidebar is full of instructions about what you can do to do avoid dog attacks. Not one thing on this list would've protected the victims of this unprovoked attack.

Ban these violent, dangerous dogs already.

Terry Bergeson just called to say she'd decided to concede the state Superintendent of Public Instruction race to challenger Randy Dorn.

Bergeson, a former Tacoma schools teacher and counselor and onetime president of the Washington Education Association, said she called Dorn after seeing the latest vote count. She now trails 51.25 percent to 48.75 percent.

"All my pals have said, 'Wait it out, wait it out,' " she said. "But those numbers are not getting better."

On October 25th, McMichael was beaten and robbed on 5th and Mercer. He died at his home two weeks later from injuries sustained in the attack.

Police have already arrested two other teenagers for their involvement in the attack.

Sent in by Meagan: "I was worried about Joan Baez, weren't you?"

In other top headlines: Joni Mitchell Wants a Sandwich; Harry Belafonte: Slightly Put Out; and Kris Kristofferson Feels Nothing But the Suffocating Truth of His Own Mortality.

Craigslist announced today that they will begin charging a fee for those who post ads in the "Erotic Services" section.

The Associated Press, in their story released today, has quotes from such heavyweights as Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

What about those who really matter? The ones most directly affected by this decision?

"That’s crap," says a w4m who claims to be of "Dark Brown Complexxxion." She sounds irritated. "Well, I guess if they do they will start losing people. I don’t feel like I should pay for something that I once had for free."

Someone in our office seconds that argument.

Is this woman with a dark brown "complexxxion" alone in her frustration? I called up the number for an ad labeled: "FROM DUSK TO DAWN I GET MY F**CK ON - w4m (TACOMA)."

"It’s already bad enough that they got cops on there doing stings on girls. I wouldn’t mind if they could guarantee that cops wouldn’t use the site," the erotic service provider/poet says. Her ad also claims that there will be "GUARANTEED SATISFACTION." I couldn't resist. How can my satisfaction be guaranteed when she doesn't even know me?

"Cuz my shit's good," she claims.

Not satisfied, I looked for another service provider to call. "Looking For Excitement Call Me... - t4m - 27 (Tacoma)" caught my eye.

I asked the person who picked up the phone what they thought of Craigslist's announcement to start charging a fee. First, they said, "no comment." Then, perhaps also experiencing dissatisfaction, they continued, "I’m always going to use it. I don’t care. I have money."

Weary from all this reporting work, my eye fell upon one last ad: "RELAX WITH A REASONABLE RATE!! - m4m - 29 (Capitol Hill Area)."

I asked the erotic service provider about the new fee. "I think that’s kind of funny. I guess that’s cool. At the same time they will have to stop using the flagging system. In order to be totally fair, if you are going to be charged for it, it needs to be more protected." He doesn't know if he will continue to use the Craigslist site if a fee is required. "It’s not a steady line of work and there are too many hassles and issues."