Richard Myron Ham threw a 9-year-old boy — the son of Lakenya Lavonn Phillips — into this firepit, deputies said. (Mug shot of Ham: Wichita Police Department; mug shot of Phillips and a screenshot of the scene: Highlands County Sheriff’s Office)
A man put his girlfriend’s 9-year-old son in a fire because he believed a demon possessed the boy, according to The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
Richard Myron Ham, 39, attacked responding law enforcement with a metal rod, and one of the deputies fired back in self-defense, authorities said.
The child’s mother, Lakenya Lavonn Phillips, 30, is also accused of playing a role in all this.
The incident happened Tuesday in Sebring at Bay Blossom Drive and U.S. 98.
Authorities claim Phillips and her boyfriend, Ham, were “burning the possessions of Phillips’ 9-year-old son because they believed he was possessed by a demon.”
It escalated to Ham putting the boy into the fire and covering him with an inflamed blanket, the sheriff’s office said.
The child managed to escape serious injury. The Florida Department of Children and Families is taking care of him.
Deputies responded after getting a call about suspects burning debris, such as live ammunition, on the side of the road.
They claim they arrived to find Ham armed with two metal rods.
“Ham refused to follow deputies’ orders and a taser was deployed,” deputies said. “The taser did not appear to have an effect on Ham, who dropped the metal rods and pulled the taser probes from his body.”
Phillips allegedly gave Ham one of the metal rods. Ham then hit a deputy in the head, they said.
“At that point, which was 4:22 p.m., one of the deputies fired his agency-issued firearm at Ham,” authorities said.
Phillips allegedly pushed deputies as they attempted to get help for Ham. They arrested her at the scene.
“Ham was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead,” deputies said. “The injured deputy was taken to another hospital, where he was treated and released.”
The deputies, eight and 16-year veterans, are on paid administrative leave amid an investigation by the 10th Judicial Circuit’s Officer Involved Deadly Incident Task Force.
Authorities said that Phillips and her son were listed as missing and endangered out of Wichita, Kansas, on Dec. 6.
“It still has not been determined exactly when or why they came to Highlands County,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “Multiple firearms and drugs were found in the vehicle Ham and Phillips were driving at the time.”
According to deputies, the child said he had not bathed or brushed his teeth in at least 10 days as they traveled to Florida. His mother and her boyfriend allegedly had not fed him for at least 24 hours.
“He said that both Ham and Phillips had regularly been using drugs and that Ham had earlier threatened him with a large knife, as well as claiming he had used that knife to kill someone,” the sheriff’s office said. “Investigators are working with law enforcement in several states to follow up on that statement.”
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