New Details In Case Of Pennsylvania Teen Who Allegedly Killed His 60-Year-Old Grandmother ‘Because He Didn’t Want To Attend School Meeting’
New details have developed in the case of the 14-year-old Pennsylvania teen, Hunter Riley Reeser, who allegedly killed his grandmother, Sandra Orton, at their Harborcreek Township home because he didn’t want to attend a school meeting, according to Erie News Now.
At around 5 a.m. on Tuesday, August 23, Orton went to work at Electric Materials Corp in north-east Pennsylvania, but she returned to her home two hours later to take her grandson to meet with a counselor at his school in the Harbor Creek School District which was scheduled for 8 a.m.
After pulling into her driveway of her home in the 9000 block of Sawmill Road, she exited her 2004 Nissan Xterra and went inside to tell Reeser to “finish getting ready” before returning to her vehicle.
Sandra Orton: Hunter Riley Reeser, 14, Shot and Killed Grandmother Because He Didn’t Want… https://t.co/fEBJsRh2UO pic.twitter.com/nQHfdScNp8
— UJReview (@UJReview) August 25, 2016
Moments later, Reeser reportedly stood on the porch with a 22-caliber rifle in hand and opened fire, “shooting through the windshield of Orton’s car,” striking his grandmother once in the head.
Afterward, the teen allegedly called his grandfather, Bobbie, who was at work at the time of the shooting, intending to conceal the fact that he had just shot his grandmother. He told his grandfather that he found the woman wounded, and he didn’t know how it happened.
However, during a 911 call, the teen confessed to killing his grandmother “because he didn’t want to attend a school meeting,” according to the Daily Mail.
At one point during the 911 call, he placed the phone next to his grandmother’s mouth so that 911 dispatchers could hear her gasping for air. Reeser also mentioned that the passenger window had been “broken out.”
When emergency responders arrived at the scene at around 7:40 a.m., the teen’s grandmother was found dead in her vehicle outside of the home from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Pennsylvania teen accused of killing his grandmother during fight about school https://t.co/XMwcXqk21c pic.twitter.com/ZHum9cB21j
— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) August 24, 2016
Police arrested the teen, and he is now facing a slew of charges including criminal homicide, murder in the first degree, aggravated assault and possessing an instrument of crime for the alleged slaying of his grandmother.
Lieutenant Wayne Kline said, “We brought the suspect in for questioning, subsequently he confessed to the crime.”
During an interview with the teen’s grandfather, he mentioned that the rifle used in the fatal shooting was registered in his name, but he had it locked away in a cabinet with “two padlocks” along with three other guns, and the “ammunition was locked in a separate box” due to the teens’ “behavioral and emotional issues.”
Neighbor Kathleen Walczak told police officials that the day before the teen allegedly killed his grandmother, she heard gunshots coming from the area. Not long after, she witnessed Reeser “carrying a rifle with a brown stock and black barrel, leaving the creek area and heading toward his house.”
However, Harborcreek Township police are unclear if that was the same rifle he allegedly used to fatally shoot his grandmother.
When the District Superintendent, Kelly Hess, learned that Orton and her grandson never made it to the school meeting because he allegedly killed her, she stated that although the school is not set to start until August 30, mental health counselors were on the campus early Wednesday morning for staff.
Pennsylvania teen accused of killing grandmother during fight over school https://t.co/MnVlSSdf95 pic.twitter.com/NbWajZtPw9
— FOX8 WGHP (@myfox8) August 25, 2016
Later that day, the Erie County Coroner, Lyell Cook, confirmed that an autopsy on the grandmother had been performed, but Cook was reluctant to comment any further.
The Pennsylvania teen is being charged as an adult because, in the state of Pennsylvania, children must be charged as adults in murder or homicide cases, although defense attorneys could later try to move the charges to juvenile court.
However, Erie County prosecutors intend to oppose trying Reeser as a juvenile at this point.
Recent reports indicated that the teen does not have an attorney, and as a result, he has not released any comments or statements regarding his charges.
Reeser is being held without bond at the Erie County jail and has been separated from the adult population.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 2.
[Image via iStock Photo/ Getty Images]