A 14-year-old Cheyenne boy has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder, accused of shooting his mother in the head from behind after they argued about an item he stole from a client of her cleaning business.
Havoc Leone initially reported to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office investigators Friday that his mother, Theresa McIntosh, had killed herself.
But the teen later detailed how he shot his mother from behind while she was on the floor of his room putting together a puzzle, Deputy Miles DePrimo wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed Tuesday in Laramie County Circuit Court and publicly available Wednesday.
“He was angry right before he shot McIntosh and couldn’t tell her how much he hated her because she doesn’t understand him,” DePrimo wrote about what Leone told investigators. “He was mad McIntosh was calling him names.
“Leone has thought about killing McIntosh in the past, specifically when she would make him do things he didn’t want to do.”
McIntosh was alive when emergency responders arrived and was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. She was then airlifted to UCHealth in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she died later that day, the LCSO previously reported.
The Stolen Tablet
The buildup to the shooting began about 90 minutes before McIntosh was killed when she and her common-law husband — Leone’s biological father — argued with the teen about an electronic tablet he stole from the home of a cleaning client of his mother’s, the affidavit says.
At first, Leone told deputies a very different story than what he allegedly admitted to later, according to the affidavit.
“Havoc had been home at the time of the shooting, and after (an) initial interview stated there was a struggle over a firearm, and he may have accidentally pulled the trigger on the firearm, but was not sure,” DePrimo wrote.
The affidavit also says the teen admitted to fighting with his parents over the tablet, during which time his mother allegedly called him “retarded” and a “thief.”
Leone then said that “he wasn’t sure if he was retarded, but was upset with the accusations from McIntosh,” the document continues.
The argument happened in Leone’s room, where his mother was completing a puzzle on the floor, he told deputies.
He then said that, at some point, a firearm was pulled out, “but that Leone was not initially clear where the firearm came from and who possessed the firearm at the time of the shooting,” the affidavit says.
He Got The Gun
As investigators continued talking with Leone and his father, they learned that the gun — a black Taurus 9mm — was McIntosh’s that she usually kept in her car, the affidavit says.
Leone said he retrieved the gun from his mother’s car about a week before when he was mad at her about something, then hid it in a boot in his closet.
“He had stolen the gun out of McIntosh’s vehicle’s glovebox compartment approximately one week prior, but wasn’t sure exactly when he took it,” the affidavit says. “Leone stole the firearm from McIntosh after a ‘big fight’ which began after Leone had received a ‘D’ in math.”
When arguing with his mother over the tablet on Friday, she asked him for the password to the device, which he said was written in a notebook that he kept in his closet, according to the affidavit.
When he went for the notebook, he also got the gun, the affidavit adds.
“He retrieved the firearm from his boot … and positioned it down by his side,” DePrimo wrote. “While holding the firearm concealed from view, he threw the notebook to McIntosh.”
Keeping the gun concealed from his mother’s view, he told a detective that when she bent down to pick up the tablet or notebook, she was still yelling at him, and “he shot her in the back of the head, holding the firearm with both hands,” the affidavit says.
Father Heard A ‘Pop’
Leone’s father was also home at the time of the shooting, but after the argument over the tablet had retreated to the basement to play video games, according to the affidavit.
He said the issue of the stolen tablet had been an ongoing conflict with Leone, to the point he and his common-law wife were considering calling law enforcement to report the teen for theft.
At about 11:30 a.m., the father said he went to play video games, while he believed Leone was going to complete his homework at the kitchen table, and McIntosh was doing the puzzle in the upstairs bedroom, the affidavit says.
“While still gaming, (the father) heard a ‘pop,’ which he initially thought may have been a balloon popping,” the document says. “He was wearing noise suppressing headphones and said he couldn’t hear well while wearing them but got up anyway since he heard it through his headphones.”
When he went upstairs, the father said he saw his son standing outside his bedroom “panicked,” DePrimo wrote. When asked what happened, his son answered, “I don’t know, it just went off.”
That’s when the father retrieved his cellphone and called 911 at about 12:46 p.m., then went to render aid to McIntosh.
“(She) was unresponsive with blood and ‘brains’ all over the place,” he told investigators, the affidavit says. He “applied pressure to McIntosh’s head where the injury was using a towel.”
That’s when the father said he noticed the gun on the floor of the room, but “was confused” because he knows his wife keeps it in her car, the affidavit says.
Also, the safety of the gun was engaged, which would be inconsistent with a suicide, as well as the position and nature of the wound.
‘I Don’t Want To Think What I Think Happened’
When asked what he thought happened to McIntosh in Leone’s room, his father told investigators he couldn’t mentally go to where the evidence was pointing him.
“I don’t want to think what I think happened,” he said, according to the affidavit. “I don’t even want to put it into words. I don’t want to think that because it’s a really f***ed up thing for a parent to think.
“I understand, but I don’t want to f***ing say it,” he continued. “Yes, I understand that it’s a possibility, but I really hope it’s not. It’d be a lot easier to accept that she killed herself than my son tried to kill her.”
A preliminary hearing for Leone is set for March 18 at the Laramie County Circuit Court, according to court records.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Leone faces a penalty of life in prison.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
