Father Slain in a Dispute Over Report Card

A 13-year-old boy has been arrested after shooting his father to death during an argument over a report card the child had hidden, police homicide detectives said.

The report card dispute may have served as the “catalyst” for Monday night’s shooting, National City Police Detective Lanny Roark said, but he emphasized that the violence “did not hinge solely on the one report card incident.”

Investigators did not specify other circumstances surrounding the shooting.

“He obviously had a lot of frustration,” Roark said after interviewing the youth, a seventh-grade student at Granger Junior High School. “He ran the gamut of emotion, both during the incident and later, during the interview.”

The boy was taken to Juvenile Hall, where he was booked on suspicion of murder.

The boy’s father, Lepolious Miller III, 36, of San Diego was hit once in the chest with a bullet from a small-caliber pistol. He was pronounced dead in the living room of his parents’ home in the northeast section of National City shortly after the 8:30 p.m. shooting.

James and Mildred Grier, the boy’s grandparents, fled to their garage after they saw the teen-ager arm himself with a gun that was kept upstairs. The shooting occurred as the Griers were talking to police on the telephone, police Sgt. Tim Darton said.

The boy ran, but returned about 15 minutes later, surrendering to police, Darton said. Police found the weapon in the home.

The Griers had been taking care of the teen-ager and his younger brother for the past year while the father was in Kansas City, Mo. Miller had returned to San Diego recently and visited his children regularly, Roark said. The parents are separated.

“The father appeared to have been acting in a traditional parenting role,” Roark said. “According to what the (son) said, there is nothing to indicate the father expected more than any father would expect from his son.”

The argument began about 4 p.m. Monday, when the teen-ager showed his father a report card that had been issued the week before, Roark said. “The boy received a mild spanking,” Darton said. “Not for receiving the poor grade, but for hiding the report card.”

Only one grade--an F in science--was below average, Roark said.

After the spanking, the boy was allowed to attend a three-hour basketball practice. When he returned home, the argument flared again, this time over how the boy would improve his science grade.

“There was a suggestion that the boy attend remedial classes, maybe on Saturdays,” Roark said. The boy went upstairs for a few minutes and returned with the pistol.