My mom, huh? You shot your mom? Yeah. Okay. The little boy shot his mom. I have a little boy here down at my house. His mom got there. He shot his mom with a gun, too. Joey, what's your last name? It's Joey. Hi. Hello. [Music] Hello. Kind of harsh. I'm Deputy Striker. Yeah. This is Captain Ranker. Okay. Mhm. All right. What's your name? Joey McVey. Joey McVey. Okay. What happened, Joey? I shot my mom. Okay. What happened? What transpired to get up to that point? Her every day just making me so mad. Okay. How old are you? 10. Okay. These are the moments after a 10-year-old boy's life changed forever. He just admitted to shooting his own flesh and blood in a fit of rage. Caught in the throws of this earthshattering moment. Young Joey McVey is clearly still in shock. So, where did you get the gun from? My room. Your room? Yeah. Okay. What kind of gun did you have? 22. A 22 rifle, handgun, or what? Okay. Landing on my bed. Landing back on your bed. Yeah. Okay. So, what did mom do to you to go and obsess to that? He's gorgeous. Every is every I'm Grandma McVey and Debbie was on the phone talking to me just prior to this and I don't know she was sending the DR and saying all this to him and then I heard so much screaming going on. The screaming she heard could have been the argument that led to this unlikely scene. It was a cold January night in 2011, not even 48 hours into the new year. 46-year-old Deborah wanted Joey to get some firewood from outside. That was the mundane task that somehow escalated into a fiery argument. Unhinged, Joey said he was tired of the fighting. He went into his room, retrieved a firearm, and came back into the living room. His sister Shauna begged him not to shoot their mother, but it was too late. Joey had made up his mind and shot Deborah in the head before leaving the house. alerting neighbors next door. In a panic, several of those neighbors dialed 911, calling Holmes County deputies to the scene. The neighbor here just came down. I guess there's an emergency up at his house in the cops up there and a squad. 911. What is your emergency? We just got shot and head. I think you guys already got the call. I'm not sure. Joey had recently been on Christmas break from school, spending a great deal of time with his best friend, a neighbor next door, away from this tiny rural home. To any healthy family, the story behind this end to Deborah's abbreviated life would be unfathomable, and soon police will learn all the details which go much deeper than the story implies at its surface. Okay. Myself and unit 5 are out with the uh suspect. Unit 22 is at secure the scene. Uh I'll give you the address where we're at if you can just go ahead and log this. They scour the scene, marking the floors for DNA evidence. The area is sectioned off and the questions on everyone's mind will be asked out loud. Okay, this is what we need you to do. Uh, give a written statement. Write out everything that you saw and everything you did and maybe even something that led up to this. Go ahead and get statement. Okay, I'll get more. The answers to those questions would come in audio recordings, some of which you'll soon hear. Grandma McVey was there for one of those eerie sound bites with her grandson. You can hear the panic in Joey's voice as the reality of the situation unfolds. Are you all right, buddy? Yeah. I mean, I know I know you're not okay. You know what I'm saying? But as much as to be expected, I guess. I just want to get a better feel on what happened and, you know, maybe why it happened. Well, I told all the other people had asked me. Okay. So, I didn't know anyone else even asked you any questions. One of the counsel asked me, but is there any way I could like how long do you think it would take until I could like be with her? Joey's primary concern right off the bat seemed to be leaving the house and living with his grandma. What's the um whatever? I can't even think what it's called. Like what is it called? You're not they're going to take you. No, the attorney guy like helps you and stuff like Yeah, that's attorney. Yeah. I don't know what they can help you regardless whether you talk to me or not. We don't expect you to know. Joey, how old are you? 10. You're 10 years old. You know, I'm not going to treat you like an adult like you know everything. That's basically why we're taking longer to see if you want to sign this or not. What happened today in particular while you got Saman like she calls me lazy. I hate when she calls me lazy because I'm the only one. I was there when my dad was there. Mhm. And I do a lot of things but there I'm lazy ones. So you do your chores around the house and Yeah. Today a piece of wood hit me behind the shoulder and she's like, "Okay, well, just go get some wood in." Is that what it started over? You were supposed to carry wood in and didn't? I guess I can't remember. What brought you to the point where you felt you should go in the bedroom and get the gun? I don't know. Did she scream or? No, she Have you ever been that mad before? Yeah. A lot. Listen to this telling interview with Joey's father, Michael. Michael says Deborah allegedly grabbed him by the hair in her bid to kick him out just weeks before the shooting would take place, adding fuel to an already raging fire of angry exchanges, arguments, and toxic fighting. When did she grab you by your hair? The day that she asked me to leave. What was the reason for when you left the last time here? About a week or week and a half before this happened. The doctor should be able to tell you, but she had been on for anxiety and all kinds. [Music] Remember when I was out there yesterday and was talking to you and we were talking about uh discipline with the kids. I know when I asked you about discipline, you said that you you always heard her yelling and screaming at the kids. Did you ever see her strike the kids at all? No. I even saw her 6 years ago. She got her Josh, the big Josh. I had to get her off of him that time. Is that Josh Mike? Yeah. She had him in the corner and pl the [ __ ] out of him. She had anger issues best. Mhm. You know, I mean, this is really hard to say stuff about her that other people are going to think I'm saying. She was mean to the kid to me off and on. So you're saying Deb has two sides with it. Everybody does. Meanwhile, Joey had been spending a great deal of time with his friend Austin in his bid to escape the arguments. Joey spent the night with you last night? Yes. Did he say anything to you about his mom? I guess she offered to do laundry and got home and they started arguing and he picked up the gun and shot her. Joey had been showing signs of lashing out for years before the incident. in 2006 getting into an altercation with a bus driver and then a year later at just 6 years old using a dustpan to hit an administrator at his school and by his own account. This wasn't the first time he'd been this angry. Have you ever been that mad before? Yeah, a lot. How do you feel now that things are the way they are? Bad. Do you feel bad that it happened? That you actually shot her? Do you think it was worth it even though you were mad? No. Should anyone be shot or die over an argument? No. They were close, but they argued and yell and she yelled very much. Grandma McVey seemed quite certain that Deborah was over the top with Joey. But remember, Joey wasn't the only child in the household. There was also Shauna. And Shauna's interview doesn't paint Deborah quite the same way as she reflects on the ominous night in her own haunting words. We were like normally mom and daughter. We'd have our fights here and there, but it wasn't bad as Joey and Joey and mom argued a lot. A lot. When we got home, he was supposed to bring in a fire and he he didn't ask him over and over. So, he brought like one and asked him to bring in, but then he started arguing. When he shot her, she just like dropped her and she was like sort of sitting like on the couch. She was like leaning up against the arm and then she just fell and then he pointed it at me. I told him not to. So I would check on mom and I put the gun down first and he put it on the couch. I don't know what the officer put it in on his bed. Now he said it on the couch and he moved it but I'm not sure. I checked mom and there was no pulse and he was yelling and screaming probably like confused and stuff. What happened? Did you feel that he was going to shoot you? Yes, cuz after he shot mom, I was scared. When he looked at me, he looked like he was like evil. Like the look in his eyes. When he looked at me, I was like scared. Okay. And that's not normal. Mm-m. You don't normally see that in him every day or even every time he's mad. That response reflecting on the look in Joey's eyes was an unnervingly strong description and could lead anyone to believe Joey may have been mentally ill. The latest reports show a therapist testifying that years later, Joey still wouldn't talk about the shooting in therapy as the incident caused him great psychological distress. Two psychologists dug into Joey's background, finding he suffered from anxiety and depression as well as a learning disability. He was sentenced to remain in confinement indefinitely. He's currently being held in an unnamed facility by the Ohio Department of Youth Services. Soon, he will be transferred to an adult facility pending a reintegration evaluation, which essentially means he can be kept in an adult jail until he is deemed ready to be reintegrated into society. If that occurs, he would then be put into intensive parole or probation.