A 11yr.old boy will spend the rest of his childhood behind bars for killing an 8-year-old girl during a front yard argument over a puppy.
Benjamin Tiller was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder for the October for the slaying of McKayla Dyer. Police said the fifth-grade boy used his dad’s shotgun to kill his neighbor after she innocently refused to let him play with her puppy.
Jefferson County Juvenile Court judge Dennis “Will” Roach II sentenced Benjamin to state custody until he turns 19.
“A child who commits first-degree murder cannot be willy-nilly turned loose into society,” stated Judge Roach II.
The 11-year-old and McKayla lived in the same mobile home park in White Pine, Tenn., about 40 miles outside of Knoxville, and both attended White Pine Elementary School. It was reported she had a history of being bullied by the 11 yr.old boy
The third-grade girl, her 11-year-old sister and their friend, another 11-year-old girl, were playing outside on Oct. 3, as Benjamin sat inside, looking out his bedroom window. The boy asked the trio of girls to get their puppies — but the girls refused.
That’s when Benjamin got his 12-gauge shotgun and a BB gun and told the girls he had guns, according to court documents. McKayla laughed at him and said the firearms were not real weapons.
As little McKayla laughed, the boy “then made certain the gun was loaded, cocked the hammer on the gun and shot the victim just above the heart at a downward trajectory,” McKayla fell backwards and immediately lost consciousness and was later confirmed dead.
McKayla’s heartbroken mother said her daughter long had trouble with Benjamin.
“When we first moved to White Pine, the little boy was bullying McKayla,” Latasha Dyer said in October. ““He was making fun of her, calling her names, just being mean to her. I had to go the principal about him and he quit for a while, and then all of a sudden yesterday he shot her.”
Benjamin’s family said they plan to appeal the judge’s decision
