Teen attacked his mom with fire, a knife and a bat, say cops. His reaction? ‘Calm’
Arguments between a parent and a teenager over maturity and social media were followed by a Molotov cocktail and a baseball bat attack, police said.
That attack put Davie mother Harolyn Monroe in emergency surgery Tuesday, according to the probable cause affidavit that also says 17-year-old Hollywood Hills High senior James Monroe was charged with attempted murder and making or possessing a destructive device.
That refers to the Molotov cocktail, a glass bottle stuffed with a rag drenched in alcohol, then lit on fire. The report said Monroe and James had been arguing recently about his immaturity, use of social media and sneaking out at night. In the first minutes of Tuesday, the PC affidavit said, James was home and his mother asleep when he entered her bedroom with the Molotov cocktail.
“James then intentionally threw the destructive device into the ceiling, over his mother’s bed, causing it to explode and drop fire and glass on top of her,” the affidavit said.
The account said James then took a baseball bat to his mother’s body and head and finished by stabbing her in the stomach with a butcher knife.
It said he told police, “He stated he was not trying to kill his mother, he just wanted to hurt her” and “he stopped beating her with the bat because the smoke and smoke detector were bothering him.”
Under “Reaction of Child” on the affidavit, police put, “Calm.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2019 at 7:19 AM.
