Sheriff: Boy killed at random in Idaho mobile home shooting

HORSESHOE BEND, Idaho (AP) - A young boy was shot and killed in his Idaho home Sunday night in what investigators are calling a random act of violence.

The man suspected in the shooting was yelling about the end of the world before opening fire in the small town mobile home park, witnesses told Boise television station KTVB.

The Boise County Sheriff's Office says 44-year-old Benjamin Michael Poirier of Emmett was arrested shortly after the shooting. He has been charged with first-degree murder and has not yet been appointed an attorney, according to court documents.

Poirier has no known connection to the boy or his family, investigators said.

Jon Dufresne, who owns the mobile home park in the small town of Horseshoe Bend about 30 miles north of Boise, said the man was firing his gun at random and pounding on doors.

"Just an outsider - not from town, doesn't know anybody in the park, just chose this place. Left his car down the road, walked around with a gun shouting, 'It's the end of the world,' 'It's time to die,' things like that," Dufresne said. "Eventually one family answered the door, and opened the door, and he shot inside."

Boise County Chief Deputy Steve Dorau said one of the bullets struck a child inside, killing him. He was a fifth-grader at a local school, under the age of 12. The child's name was not released.

"He was the sweetest, most polite little boy," Dufresne said. "His family was one of the nicest families I know of."