In yet another horrendous crime, a 15-year-old boy hailing from Pennsylvania was charged with first-degree murder after he had allegedly stolen his father’s gun to kill an unhoused man. Per PEOPLE, it was a .40 Smith & Wesson semi-automatic firearm.
According to the outlet’s review of a criminal complaint, the accused, 15-year-old Thomas James Niarhos of Stowe, was heard by some people allegedly accusing the 39-year-old Jeremiah Waylon Hawkins of sexually assaulting someone he knew before he pulled the trigger on him on Wednesday near railroad tracks in Pottstown.
As per the outlet, the authorities revealed in the complaint that surveillance video caught Niarhos seeking out Hawkins, who had swung a tire at him to “knock the gun out of his hand.” The complaint, however, further continued to unravel that the 15-year-old boy shot Hawkins once in the head, which caused him to fall.
He dropped the weapon after he allegedly fired the gun a second time. When Niarhos started walking away from the scene, the authorities revealed that he was caught by the witnesses and eventually taken to the police.
PEOPLE further elaborated on the complaint, in which it was mentioned that Niarhos shared to his first responders at the scene that “he’s (Hawkins) is a rapist, don’t be sorry for him” and “he raped a 15-year-old girl, don’t help him.”
The young suspect claimed to the police that an unhoused person whom he thought to be Hawkins was the culprit of “raping” someone close to him. The complaint states that he was actually on the lookout for a person called “Jay.”
Hawkins, claimed to be the “unhoused person” by the authorities, was declared dead by Pottstown Hospital. The autopsy unveiled the gunshot to be the cause of his death. Additionally, the outlet revealed that his death was considered to be a homicide.
Referencing the prosecutors’ statement, PEOPLE reported that Niarhos had been charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, possession of a firearm as a minor, and other related criminal offenses. It further revealed that the teen was arraigned on Wednesday and taken to the Montgomery County Youth Center, where he is spending time without bail. The outlet states that his next court appearance will be on November 30. However, it’s not clear whether the boy has entered a plea or retained an attorney.