A Las Vegas teenager will not face prison time for killing his father last year because he was upset about losing access to digital devices.
Late last week, Lincoln Peterson, 16, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter with the use of a deadly weapon in the patricidal shooting that killed Jeremy Peterson, 45.
On December 28, 2024, officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department discovered the elder Peterson dead inside his family’s home on Tampa Court in Sin City’s west valley.
After pleading guilty, the younger Peterson was given a second chance at life. Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones sentenced the killer to five years probation and a suspended sentence of three to seven and a half years in prison.
The defendant was only 15 years old when he committed the crime.
According to audio obtained by Las Vegas-based CBS affiliate KLAS, on the day in question, police responded to a harrowing 911 call made by the victim’s daughter, the defendant’s sister.
“He shot and killed my dad,” the terrified young woman told the dispatcher, her breath ragged. “This is not real. This is not real. Help.”
In response, the dispatcher inquired about the shooter, hoping for a description so police could apprehend him.
“He wasn’t wearing a shirt,” the man’s daughter explained, referring to her brother. “He was only wearing jeans. I do not know where he went. I’m not sure where the gun is. “He shot and killed him.”
In the audio, the young woman criticizes herself for failing to inform her parents about a previous firearm incident allegedly involving her brother.
“I always thought he would kill himself but not anybody else,” she told me. “He has pulled a gun on me, and I should have warned my parents.” I should have informed them. I should have informed them.
The caller goes on to say that the incident was also caused by the boy’s anger. After an argument three weeks ago, she claimed, her brother became enraged, punched a hole in the wall, and fled outside.
“You’re going to be in so much trouble,” she warned him at the time.
Days after Christmas, a similar scenario unfolded in the Peterson household.
According to court records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jeremy Peterson told his son that he was barred from using devices after receiving poor grades in school, and he also accused the 15-year-old of “sneaking” access to the prohibited electronics.
During the ensuing argument, Lincoln Peterson’s mother allegedly hit him with a belt, and the teenager fled. He grabbed a gun from atop a dryer and fired blindly, but “denied any knowledge of hitting anyone,” according to an adult certification order obtained by the newspaper.
On August 14, the admitted shooter was reportedly soft-spoken and depressed as he told the judge his contrite story of full responsibility.
“None of this was ever my intention,” the boy explained. “I regret all of it.”
The judge appeared to accept the allocution as genuine, citing his family’s enthusiastic support for her decision to grant probation.
“Nothing, nothing compares to losing the love of my life, my husband, and knowing that my own son’s action was the cause,” Abigail Peterson, the victim’s widow and defendant’s mother, reportedly said at the sentencing hearing. “But unless you’ve stood in my place, you cannot understand the depth of the pain that coexists with forgiveness and love.”
Lincoln Peterson’s grieving sister and daughter also spoke out on his behalf.
“My father has passed and I will not have him for the rest of my life,” she informed me. “I won’t get to have a wedding where he walks me down the aisle.” I won’t get to introduce him to my children. But, as much as my family has been torn apart, there is reconciliation, and I believe in forgiveness.
Lincoln Peterson’s sister then added, through tears, “I love you and I’m going to support you no matter what.”
Lincoln Peterson’s probation requires him to completely avoid alcohol and marijuana, provide parole and probation officers with passwords for all of his devices and social media accounts, follow a curfew, complete counseling, and obtain his high school diploma or GED.
