List of youngest killers

This is a list of youngest people confirmed by reliable sources to have deliberately killed another human being. Individuals in this list are documented to be younger than age 13.

List

Name	Age at time of killing(s)	Date of killing(s)	Country	Location	Killed	Injured	Note(s) and citation(s)
Carl Newton Mahan	6 years, 7 months, 26 days [1]	May 18, 1929	United States	Paintsville, Kentucky	1	0	Mahan shot eight-year-old Cecil Van Hoose. [2] He was sentenced to 15 years in a reformatory, but his sentence was later overturned. [3]
Unnamed boy	6 years	February 29, 2000	United States	Mount Morris Township, Michigan	1	0	He shot his six-year-old classmate, Kayla Rolland, at Buell Elementary School. His uncle, the gun owner, was charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Lizzie Cook	6 years	February 27, 1899	United States	Birmingham, Alabama	1	0	Cook intentionally set her two-year-old brother's clothes on fire while she was babysitting. The fire burned through the fabric and he died. [4]
Unnamed boy	6 years	June 2, 1910	Norway	Oslo	1	0	[5]
Unnamed boy	7 years	January 2022	United States	Smiley, Texas	1	0	He shot 32-year-old Brandon Raspberry. He was not charged due to his age, but was instead sent to a psychiatric hospital. [6]
Virginia Hudson	7 years	July 23, 1887	United States	Butler Township, South Carolina	1	0	Hudson beat a one-year-old child to death with a board. She was charged with murder. [7]
Robert Robertson	7 years, 6 months	June 1907	Australia	Forest, Tasmania	1	0	Robertson beat his two-year-old brother with a piece of wood while he was babysitting. He was charged with murder, then put into state care. [8]
Unnamed boy	8 years	2007	India	Begusarai	3	0	He killed his eight-month-old sister, his nine-month-old cousin, and an unrelated six-month-old baby. He was not charged due to his age, but instead sent to a remand home in Munger. [9]
Unnamed girl	8 years	July 4, 1867	United States	Cassville, Missouri	1	0	She killed her four-year-old brother and was declared insane. [10]
Unnamed boy	8 years	February 7, 2014	Chile	Padre Hurtado	1	0	He stabbed his seven-year-old cousin. He was not charged due to his age. [11]
Patrick Knowles	8 years	May 1903	United Kingdom	Stockton-on-Tees, England	1	2	Knowles buried one-year-old Frederick Hughes and Hughes died of suffocation. Knowles also attempted to drown one-year-old Fanny Lynas, [12] as well as burying another child. [13] He served nine years in prison under His Majesty's pleasure. [14]
Unnamed boy	8 years, 10 months	November 5, 2008	United States	St. Johns, Arizona	2	0	He shot his 29-year-old father, Vincent Romero, and his father's coworker. [15] He was arrested and pled guilty to negligent homicide. He was sentenced to an indefinite stay at a youth treatment center near Phoenix. He later moved to a group home and then a foster home. [16]
Carroll Cole	9 years	1947	United States	Richmond, California	1	0	Cole drowned a nine-year-old boy. The murder was initially ruled an accident until he confessed in adulthood after killing five women. He was executed by lethal injection on December 6, 1985.
Mary Cooper	9 years	1885	United States	Scottsville, Virginia	1	0	Cooper hung and beat her seven-year-old cousin Melville Barrett. [17]
Unnamed boy	9 years	May 6, 2019	United States	Fawn River Township, Michigan	1	0	He shot his 51-year-old adoptive mother. [18]
Cayetano Santos Godino	9 years, 4 months, 29 days – 16 years, 1 month, 3 days	March 29, 1906 – December 3, 1912	Argentina	Buenos Aires	4	0	The first murder was not discovered until Santos Godino later confessed. He was arrested several times.
Unnamed boy	10 years	September 2022	China	Haicheng Township	1	0	He choked his grandmother to death on video. [19]
William York	10 years	May 13, 1748	United Kingdom	Eyke, England	1	0	York attacked five-year-old Susan Matthew with a knife, killing her. He was sentenced to death, but later pardoned. [20]
Hubbard Harrell	10 years	February 3, 1888	United States	Savannah, Georgia	3	0	Harrell burned his six-year-old nephew and two unrelated children with boiling water. [21]
James Osmanson	10 years	April 12, 1994	United States	Butte, Montana	1	0	Osmanson shot his 11-year-old classmate Jeremy Bullock at Margaret Leary Elementary School. [22] He was sent to a residential treatment facility. [23]
Joseph McVay	10 years	January 2, 2011	United States	Big Prairie, Ohio	1	0	McVay shot his 46-year-old mother Deborah McVay. He was charged with "delinquency by virtue of committing murder." [24] He was sentenced to a juvenile detention center, then a residential treatment facility. [25]
Unnamed girl	10 years	September 18, 2010	United States	Sandy Springs, Georgia	1	0	She beat two-year-old Zyda White, who she was babysitting. White fell unconscious and later died. [26]
Jane Walker	10 years	1886	United States	Aiken County, South Carolina	1	0	Walker poisoned the younger relative she was babysitting. She was charged with murder. [27]
James Arcene	10 years	1872	United States	Fort Gibson, Oklahoma	1	0	Arcene, alongside a man named William Parchmeal, shot and beat William Feigel. Arcene was convicted of robbery and murder, then executed.
Robert Thompson	10 years, 5 months, 20 days	February 12, 1993	United Kingdom	Liverpool, England	1	0	Thompson and Venables abducted two-year-old James Bulger from a shopping center in Bootle. They tortured Bulger before laying him across railway tracks, where he was hit by a train. They both spent eight years in a young offenders' institution. In 2017, Venables was re-incarcerated for possessing child sexual abuse material.
Jon Venables	10 years, 5 months, 30 days
Unnamed boy	10 years	August 21, 2013	Canada	Broadview	1	0	He beat six-year-old Lee Bonneau to death. [28] He was not charged due to his age. [29]
Joseph Hall	10 years, 10 months, 12 days	May 1, 2011	United States	Riverside, California	1	0	Hall shot his 32-year-old father, neo-Nazi leader Jeff Hall. He was sentenced to juvenile detention until the age of 23. His stepmother Krista McCary was charged with criminal storage of firearms and child neglect.
Mary Bell	10 years, 11 months, 30 days – 11 years, 1 month, 7 days	May 25 – July 31, 1968	United Kingdom	Newcastle upon Tyne, England	2	0	Bell strangled four-year-old Martin Brown and three-year-old Brian Howe, killing them both. She served 12 years in prison under Her Majesty's pleasure.
Anton Wood	11 years	November 1892	United States	Denver, Colorado	1	0	Wood shot Joseph Smith. He was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to either 25 years of hard labor or life in prison. [30]
Nellie Cornelison	11 years	January 15, 1902	United States	Wichita, Kansas	1	0	Cornelison slit the throat of her sister Laura Cornelison. She was not charged due to her age. [31]
Nathaniel Jamar Abraham	11 years, 9 months, 10 days [32]	October 29, 1997	United States	Pontiac, Michigan	1	0	Abraham shot an 18-year-old man. He was tried as an adult and convicted of second-degree murder. [33] [34]
Andrew Golden	11 years, 9 months, 27 days	March 24, 1998	United States	Jonesboro, Arkansas	5	10	Golden, alongside 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson, shot one of their teachers and four of their classmates at Westside Middle School. They were both imprisoned until the age of 21, with Golden serving 9 years and 2 months.
Unnamed girl	11 years	June 1, 2004	Japan	Sasebo	1	0	She killed her 12-year-old classmate Satomi Mitari at Okubo Elementary School. She was not charged, instead being institutionalized in a reformatory.
Nathan Daniel Faris	12 years, 10 months, 10 days [35]	March 2, 1987	United States	De Kalb, Missouri	1	0	Faris shot his 13-year-old classmate Timothy Perrin at De Kalb High School. He then committed suicide. [23]
Unnamed boy	12 years	January 2000	United Kingdom	Bristol, England	1	0	He stabbed his six-month-old brother, cutting off his left hand. He was charged with manslaughter but found unfit to stand trial. [36]
Piedad Martínez del Águila	12 years	December 4, 1965 – January 4, 1966	Spain	Murcia	4	0	Martínez del Águila poisoned her four brothers. [37] [38]
Mary Maher	12 years	August 21 – September 8, 1906	Ireland	Dunkitt, County Kilkenny	3	1	Maher poisoned her three sisters. She then committed suicide. [39]
Jose Reyes	12 years, 3 months, 19 days	October 21, 2013	United States	Sparks, Nevada	1	2	Reyes shot one of his classmates and one of his teachers at Sparks Middle School. He then committed suicide.
Lionel Tate	12 years, 5 months, 28 days	July 28, 1999	United States	Broward County, Florida	1	0	Tate battered his six-year-old cousin Tiffany Eunick to death. He was charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. The sentence was later reduced to one year of house arrest and 10 years of probation. As an adult he was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for armed robbery.
Kristen Pittman	12 years, 7 months, 19 days	November 28, 2001	United States	Chester, South Carolina	2	0	Pittman shot her grandparents. She was tried as an adult and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Her sentence was later reduced by five years.
Hannah Ocuish	12 years, 9 months	July 21, 1786	United States	New London, Connecticut	1	0	Ocuish's guilt is disputed. She was hanged for the murder of six-year-old Eunice Bolles.
Evan Savoie	12 years, 3 months, 24 days	February 15, 2003	United States	Ephrata, Washington	1	0	Savoie and Eakin stabbed and beat their 13-year-old friend Craig Sorger to death. Savoie was convicted of first-degree murder and Eakin was convicted of second-degree murder. Both Savoie and Eakin have since been released.
Jake Eakin	12 years, 3 months, 1 day
Jasmine Richardson	12 years, 6 months, 2 days	April 23, 2006	Canada	Medicine Hat	3	0	Richardson and her 23-year-old boyfriend Jeremy Steinke stabbed three of her family members. Richardson was charged with first-degree murder. In 2020 her criminal record was expunged.
Unnamed boy	12 years	December 2, 2018	China	Yuanjiang	1	0	He stabbed his mother. He was not charged due to his age. [40]
Curtis Jones	12 years, 1 month and 6 days	January 6, 1999	United States	Port St. John, Florida	1	0	Jones and his 13-year-old sister Catherine Jones were charged with second-degree murder. They were both sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Unnamed boy	12 years	September 29, 2019	Brazil	São Paulo	1	0	He was sentenced to three years in prison. [41] [42]
Alex King	12 years	November 26, 2001	United States	Cantonment, Florida	1	0	King and his 13-year-old brother Derek King killed their father. Alex served six years of his eight year sentence.
Danny Preddie	12 years	November 27, 2000	United Kingdom	London, England	1	0	Preddie and his 13-year-old brother Ricky Preddie attacked 10-year-old Damilola Taylor with a glass bottle. Danny was sentenced to eight years in prison, but served four additional years for violating his parole.
Unnamed girl	12 years	July 15, 2024	United States	Humboldt, Tennessee	1	0	She smothered her eight-year-old cousin. She was charged with murder and tampering with evidence. [43]
Unnamed boy	12 years	October 18, 2019	Brazil	Curitiba	1	0	He stabbed an elderly woman and was temporarily detained for 45 days. [44]
Howard Lang	12 years	November 18, 1947	United States	Chicago, Illinois	1	0	Lang killed seven-year-old Lonnie Fellick. [45] He was sentenced to 22 years in prison. His sentence was later overturned due to his age. This case was cited in Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent . [46]
Edwin Carl Debrow Jr.	12 years	September 21, 1991	United States	San Antonio, Texas	1	0	Debrow shot a man. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison and released in 2019. [47] [48] [49]
Bailey Kurariki	12 years, 3 months, 28 days	September 12, 2001	New Zealand	Papakura	1	0	Kurariki killed 40-year-old Michael Choy alongside seven accomplices. He was charged with manslaughter and released on parole in 2008. In 2011, he was sentenced to 14 months in prison for assault and domestic violence.
Jonah Louis Iverson [50]	12 years	August 29, 1995	United States	Laredo, Texas	1	0	Iverson shot his 12-year-old classmate Lizzy Rivera at Memorial Middle School. He served ten years, firstly in a Texas Youth Commission facility and then in a state prison. [51]

See also

• Age of criminal responsibility
• Capital punishment for juveniles in the United States
• Gun violence in the United States
• Gun violence in U.S. schools
• Murder in United States law
• Trial as an adult

References

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2. "Kentucky Boy Silent on Killing Playmate; Father Says Mahan Lad Spoke of It Only Once and Then Told of Using Gun to Frighten". The New York Times. New York City, New York. May 27, 1929. p. 11. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
3. Segal, Alfred (June 2, 1929). "Juvenile Court Psychologist Finds Carl Mahan, Given 15 Years for Killing Playmate, Just Like Other Boys and Didn't Realize Wrong He Committed". Messenger-Inquirer. Owensboro, Kentucky. p. 22. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
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