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Friday, May 4, 2012 9:45 PM UTC

Teen son charged in Calif. shooting of ICE agent

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Topics: From the Wires,

Teen son charged in Calif. shooting of ICE agentImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents lining the driveway of a home in Carson, Calif. salute as the body of an ICE agent covered by an American flag is wheeled to a coroner's van on Thursday, May 3, 2012. The 14-year-old son of a federal agent was arrested Thursday in the shooting death of his father in their Southern California home, authorities said. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)(Credit: AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors said Friday they’ve charged a 14-year-old boy with killing his father, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was shot in the head with his service weapon after a dispute over the son’s grades.

The boy, whose name wasn’t released because he is a minor, faces one count of murder with an allegation that he used a firearm to shoot Myron Chisem, 42, his father.

Prosecutors said they will seek to have the teen tried as an adult when he appears Monday in Juvenile Court. He remains in custody.

It wasn’t immediately known if the teen had retained an attorney.

Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks said the teen admitted he shot his father after a lengthy interview with sheriff’s investigators.

“Our working theory is apparently there was a dispute of some kind between father and son over grades,” Hicks said.

The teen used his father’s weapon late Wednesday to fire a single round through a window from outside their house in Carson, near Los Angeles, authorities said. The bullet struck Chisem, a U.S. Navy veteran, in the back of his head.

Authorities said the boy then called 911, telling a dispatcher his father had been shot. The weapon was found in the front yard but it wasn’t known how the teen might have gotten it.

It was Chisem’s “practice to bring his weapon home and have it in the house,” said Hicks, who declined to elaborate.

Chisem’s friend, Shawn Butler, said the boy had moved into his father’s house about six months ago.

Butler, who also has a teenage son, said Chisem never indicated there was any tension between him and his son.

Chisem was the second ICE agent killed in Southern California this year.

In February, agent Ezequiel Garcia was killed by a fellow agent after Garcia shot his supervisor at ICE offices in Long Beach. Garcia was being counseled on his job performance when the shooting occurred, authorities said.

Greg Risling

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