OCR Text |
Show Young Man Slays Step Father to Aid Mother In defease of his mother, Edison Ricord, 13, of Heber, shot and killed his stepfather last Friday according to word received by friends here. The youth is being held In the Wasatch Was-atch county jail in connection with the fatal shooting late Friday of Jack Sweat, 55, operator of a service station on the highway midway between be-tween Duchesne and Heber. According to reports, the boy told officers his mother and stepfather had been arguing over the name in which a mining claim was to be filed. "I fired in defense of my mother," the lad was quoted by the sheriff as saying. "He (referring to his stepfather) had been drinking I and was choking her. I was afraid he would kill her." According to the sheriff, Mrs. Sweat upheld her son's story that her husband choked her, stating that they had disputes several times, but had always made up. Young Ricord attended school in Lehi two years ago, making his home here during that time and is well-known by local school students and a number of local citizens, iie was a brilliant student and is well respected by his Lehi friends. According to some of Heber City residents, the sympathy is with the boy. Ricord assertedly used the same .303 caliber rifle with which he had killed a deer earlier in the day to shoot his stepfather, sheriff's officers offi-cers reported. The shooting allegedly alleg-edly occurred in living quarters of Sweat's service station. After the shooting, Mrs. Sweat ran out onto the highway to stop the first automobile, an eastbound machine. She asked the driver to stop, at the nearest telephone and call the sheriff. The sheriff said he found SVeat crumpled up where he had fallen. After a preliminary investigation the inquest was called by Justice of the Peace R. C. Buys and conducted by County Attorney Stanley. Members Mem-bers of the jury held Sweat came to his death from a ".303 caliber -rifle in the hands of Edison Ricord, who fired in defense of his mother.'' Ricord attended Uintah high, school at Vernal last year. r . |