US: Boy, 12, shot dead trick-or-treating
A convicted criminal who shot dead a 12-year-old boy out trick-or-treating for Halloween told police he feared a robbery at his home.
Quentin Patrick, 22, fired nearly 30 rounds with an assault rifle from inside a house in Sumter, South Carolina, fatally wounding TJ Darrisaw and injuring his father and nine-year-old brother. TJ died later in hospital.
Patrick has been charged with murder and assault and battery with intent to kill. Police say the ex-convict told them he had been robbed and shot before.
Sumter police chief Patty Patterson said TJ's parents and their four children were on their way back from a city-sponsored Halloween celebration and decided to stop at a few homes to ask for chocolate.
Ms Patterson said they chose Patrick's house because the porch light was on. The children's mother waited nearby in a vehicle.
The family thought they heard fireworks, then TJ, his father and brother were hit by the gunfire. The other two children were unhurt.
TJ's father and brother were treated and later released from hospital.
