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.
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| 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] | 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 | 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 | 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 | Oslo | 1 | 0 | [5] | |||
| Unnamed boy | 7 years | 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 | 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 | 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] | |||
| Boy child | 8 years | 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] | |||
| Carroll Cole | 9 years | 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. | |||
| Unnamed girl | 8 years | Cassville, Missouri | 1 | 0 | She killed her four-year-old brother and was declared insane.[10] | |||
| Unnamed boy | 8 years | Padre Hurtado | 1 | 0 | He stabbed his seven-year-old cousin. He was not charged due to his age.[11] | |||
| Patrick Knowles | 8 years | 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 | 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] | |||
| Mary Cooper | 9 years | Scottsville, Virginia | 1 | 0 | Cooper hung and beat her seven-year-old cousin Melville Barrett.[17] | |||
| Unnamed boy | 9 years | 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 | – December 3, 1912 | Buenos Aires | 4 | 0 | The first murder was not discovered until Santos Godino later confessed. He was arrested several times. | ||
| Unnamed boy | 10 years | Haicheng Township | 1 | 0 | He choked his grandmother to death on video.[19] | |||
| William York | 10 years | 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 | Savannah, Georgia | 3 | 0 | Harrell burned his six-year-old nephew and two unrelated children with boiling water.[21] | |||
| James Osmanson | 10 years | 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 | 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 | 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 | Aiken County, South Carolina | 1 | 0 | Walker poisoned the younger relative she was babysitting. She was charged with murder.[27] | |||
| James Arcene | 10 years | 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. | |||
| 10 years, 5 months, 20 days | 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 | 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 | 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 | – July 31, 1968 | 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 | 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 | 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] | 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 | 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 | 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] | De Kalb, Missouri | 1 | 0 | Faris shot his 13-year-old classmate Timothy Perrin at De Kalb High School. He then committed suicide. | |||
| Unnamed boy | 12 years | 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 | – January 4, 1966 | Murcia | 4 | 0 | Martínez del Águila poisoned her four brothers.[37] [38] | ||
| Mary Maher | 12 years | – September 8, 1906 | Dunkitt, County Kilkenny | 3 | 1 | Maher poisoned her three sisters. She then committed suicide.[39] | ||
| Jose Reyes | 12 years, 3 months, 19 days | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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, 4 or 3 months | Ephrata, Washington | 1 | 0 | Savoie and Eakin stabbed and beat 13-year-old developmentally disabled Craig Sorger to death. Savoie was convicted of first-degree murder and Eakin was convicted of second-degree murder. Both Savoie and Eakin have been released after serving less than their initial sentences required. | |||
| Jake Eakin | 12 years, 3 months, 1 day | |||||||
| Jasmine Richardson | 12 years, 6 months, 2 days | 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 | 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 | 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 | São Paulo | 1 | 0 | He was sentenced to three years in prison.[41] [42] | |||
| Alex King | 12 years | 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 | 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 | 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 | Curitiba | 1 | 0 | He stabbed an elderly woman and was temporarily detained for 45 days.[44] | |||
| Howard Lang | 12 years | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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] |
