Boy Guilty After Armed Standoff

A 10-year-old boy was convicted of assault and kidnapping Thursday for aiming a shotgun at a deputy who brought a truant officer to his home.

Police said the fourth-grader used his 3-year-old niece as a human shield during the seven-minute standoff with a sheriff’s deputy in February. “I’d sooner shoot you than go to school,” the boy shouted, according to police.

The boy was found guilty in Juvenile Court of aggravated assault, armed kidnapping and criminal mischief. He could be held in a juvenile detention center until age 21.

The boy’s lawyer, Ellis Rubin, had claimed the youngster was in a drug-induced trance caused by the antidepressant Prozac during the standoff.

The boy’s mother said he responded well to the drug at first, after a visit to a psychiatrist in January. But when the boy’s dosage was increased, he had violent mood swings.

This was the first known court case to involve a child using Prozac, which is the world’s largest-selling antidepressant.