Boy Who Shot Neo-Nazi Dad Says He Was Abused

A 10-year-old boy has told investigators that he shot his neo-Nazi father because he was tired of the man beating him and his stepmother. The boy, charged with murdering National Socialist Movement regional leader Jeff Hall, told police that "he thought his dad was cheating on his mom and thought he might have to choose which person he would live with," according to a court declaration obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The boy described to investigators how he shot Hall as he slept with a gun his parents kept in a closet. Investigators described the Hall home in the Los Angeles suburbs as filthy and littered with empty beer bottles and National Socialist flags. Three of the couple's five young children knew where the family guns were kept, police say. The boy's stepmother has been charged with child endangerment and criminal storage of a gun, and the boy has been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. (More Jeff Hall stories.)