GRANGER — The 11-year-old boy charged with shooting his father, an Indiana state trooper, used his dad’s service weapon and was upset because his parents had confiscated his video games, records show.
On Feb. 22, the boy shot his father, Indiana State Police officer Matt Makowski, in the buttocks with the officer’s .45-caliber duty weapon, according to court documents. The boy got the gun from Makowski’s locked police vehicle, parked outside the family’s home on Conover Drive in Granger, the records show.
Makowski later told police he kept his weapon locked in his vehicle because he did not want his kids to have access to it.
Police arrived at the family’s home about 11 p.m. on reports of a shooting. The boy surrendered without incident and police found his mother and father in the master bedroom. Makowski was transported to the hospital, and police have said his condition is “steadily improving.”
The boy’s mother told police she and her husband were asleep when she heard a loud “gong” sound and her husband began screaming in pain. Realizing her husband had been shot, she went to look for her son and found the service weapon on the floor outside the room. As she secured the gun and called 911, she saw her son walking up the stairs with a BB gun and Makowski’s duty taser, according to court records.
She locked the bedroom door until police arrived, the records show.
The boy later told police he wanted a Play Station, an Xbox and a computer, and that he was “going to get these simple things, or there would be a Part 2,” court documents say.
The boy also said he tested the taser out on the family’s dog prior to the shooting, according to the documents. The boy told police he intended to shoot his father in the head but couldn’t do so because of the way his dad was lying in bed.
Court documents say the boy has a history of behavior problems at school. His parents had recently taken his video games and removed them from the home.
St. Joseph County prosecutors have filed a petition against the boy alleging delinquency — the juvenile equivalent of a criminal charge — for attempted murder.
Last year, St. Joseph County police logged a report indicating the boy was involved in a “possible battery” that injured an 8-year-old neighbor boy, who was treated in the emergency room at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center. Police have not released further information on the incident.
