A Wisconsin man who shot and killed his stepson earlier this week told police he was trying to “look cool” by displaying his firearms but did not in fact know much about guns.
Steven Merkel, 52, is charged with reckless homicide in the shooting death of 8-year-old Michael Meagher early Monday morning, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Officers responded to Merkel’s call about the shooting after 2 a.m., writing in their report that the stepfather “seemed frantic and was covered in blood,” WITI reported. They found the boy on the floor, and medics attempted life-saving measures while rushing him to a hospital, but he was pronounced dead.
Merkel told Walworth County detectives that “he did something stupid” and that it wasn’t the boy’s fault. He said he was showing the child his guns “because it made the defendant look cool” and that he had taken the magazine out because he didn’t the gun would fire, even with a bullet in the chamber, without it.
According to the complaint, he came out of his bedroom, where he had retrieved the gun, “and pointed it at” the boy, pulling the trigger. He said he expected it to click, but instead it went “boom.”
Then, Merkel said, he called the boy’s grandmother, who told him to call 911.
According to the complaint, Merkel said he’d had “two little drinks of rum and RC that evening,” but there was no indication on the report that police checked him for intoxication.
Merkel is being held on a $250,000 bond. His initial court appearance was set for Thursday but was pushed back until Monday, Law&Crime reported.
