Cheyenne Teen's Murder Case Against Mother Now a Juvenile Matter

A 14-year-old boy accused of shooting and killing his mother in March is no longer being tried as an adult, shifting the case into the confidential confines of the juvenile justice system. Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl confirmed that the proceedings against Havoc Leone are now treated as a juvenile matter, meaning the public can no longer access updates or court documents regarding the case, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported.

Originally facing a felony charge of first-degree murder—a crime that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison—Leone now falls under a legal framework designed for rehabilitation rather than lifelong incarceration. For the community and the family, it means the details of a domestic tragedy that began over a stolen tablet have moved from the public record behind closed doors.

A dispute over a tablet ends in homicide

The events leading to the shooting occurred on March 7, 2026, at a residence in the 2300 block of Pine Avenue in Cheyenne. According to court documents, Havoc Leone and his mother, Theresa McIntosh, engaged in an argument centered on a stolen tablet. During the confrontation, Leone alleged that his mother called him “retarded,” a comment that triggered his anger.

The situation turned lethal when McIntosh asked for the password to the tablet. Leone reportedly grabbed a piece of paper containing the password and his mother’s Taurus 9mm handgun. When he threw the paper at McIntosh, she leaned to grab it, and the weapon discharged. McIntosh was found unconscious in an upstairs bedroom; she was transported to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center and later to UC Health in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she died from her injuries.

The initial scene was reported as a suicide, but medical personnel quickly flagged inconsistencies. Investigators noted the absence of a contact wound or an exit wound, which typically accompany self-inflicted gunshots. This forensic analysis pivoted the case into a homicide investigation.

The contradiction of intent and accident

The legal battle over whether this was a premeditated act or a tragic accident centered on Leone’s prior actions and his own admissions. During a preliminary hearing on March 18, Laramie County Sheriff’s Detective Miles DePrimo testified that Leone had stolen the handgun from his mother’s car a week before the fight. More damningly, DePrimo stated that Leone admitted to thinking about killing his mother at the time he took the weapon.

Cheyenne Teen's Murder Case Against Mother Now a Juvenile Matter

The defense attempted to frame the relationship as a complex “love-hate” dynamic, arguing that the state’s evidence relied heavily on hearsay. Leone’s attorney, Emily Williams, pushed for the charges to be lowered to second-degree murder, asserting there was insufficient evidence to prove the act was premeditated. The state countered that the evidence was not hearsay, but based on the defendant’s own confessions.

The role of the father, Thomas Leone, added a layer of familial grief and conflict to the testimony. Thomas, who was gaming in the basement with headphones on during the shooting, told police he heard a “pop” and found his son claiming the gun had simply “gone off.” In a moment of raw transparency, Thomas told Detective DePrimo, “It’d be a lot easier to accept that she killed herself than my son tried to kill her.”

The tension between public safety and juvenile rehabilitation

Judge Robin Cooley previously denied a request to lower Leone’s bond from $500,000, stating that the community was safer with the defendant in jail.

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Silence in the records

With the case now confidential, the legal trajectory of Havoc Leone is a black box. There is no public timeline for a trial, no public record of a plea, and no way to track the disposition of the charges. Unless his attorney or his father chooses to speak, the resolution of this case will remain unknown to the public.

It remains unclear whether the case has been formally closed or if it is simply proceeding through the juvenile system’s private channels. The only certainty is that the public’s window into the Pine Avenue shooting has officially closed.