Boy charged with killing father

An 11-year-old Kalispell boy arrested in connection with the shooting death of his father was charged Wednesday with mitigated deliberate homicide, a felony.

Prosecutors allege the boy, Joshua Patrick Gretsch, walked into his bedroom, loaded a double-barreled 20-gauge shotgun and twice fired it at his 47-year-old father, Patrick Gretsch.

According to court documents, Josh Gretsch first fired at his father in the hallway of the family's trailer home, but missed and hit the hallway ceiling. The second shot struck his father in the chest.

Kalispell police responding to the Gretsch home, located in the 300 block of College Avenue, found Patrick Gretsch's body on the living-room floor shortly after 6 p.m. Monday. The shotgun, with one shell in the barrel, was found nearby on a couch cushion.

Investigators believe the shooting occurred during an argument Patrick Gretsch was having with his wife. Detectives have been unable to find any reported history of domestic violence, but aren't discounting that it occurred, said Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset.

The family had recently moved from the county into the city limits, and Kalispell police have had 'very little" contact with them, Nasset has said.

The boy's mother, however, told police at the scene her son shot his father because he didn't want her to get hurt anymore, according to officers' statements included in the court records.

"Josh didn't mean to do it, he was just trying to keep me from getting beat up again," she reportedly said.

Later she told officers: "Josh will never be able to forgive himself for this."

The boy's mother also told officers the shotgun had been a Christmas present and she that hadn't known the youth had ammunition in his bedroom.

Through interviews with family members in the home when the shooting occurred and physical evidence collected at the scene, investigators determined the incident was not accidental as initially reported.

As officers approached the home, Josh Gretsch and his sister were outside in driveway. Both told police their father "accidentally shot himself," according to court papers.

One of the couple's adult children, the 29-year-old man who made the 911 call, also had said the shooting was accidental.

During a hearing Tuesday afternoon, Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart E. Stadler set Gretsch's bail at $25,000 after finding probable cause to detain the boy.

According to an affidavit of probable cause briefly referred to during the hearing, Gretsch - whose mother denied investigators permission to interview him - has not admitted to pulling the trigger.

Court papers say Gretsch, who has had no prior contact with Youth Court services, is cognitively delayed. He will next appear in court on May 22, when he will admit or deny the allegations.

By statute, youths under 12 who are charged with certain crimes, including mitigated deliberate homicide, must be prosecuted in Youth Court.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com