IOLA ? A 10-year-old boy charged in the April shotgun slaying of his father isn’t competent to have his case decided and will remain in state custody, Allen County Atty. Jerry B. Hathaway said.

“In compliance with state statute, the minor child is being remanded to state custody where he will be placed in an appropriate facility and re-examined,” Hathaway said Tuesday in a news release.

The case of the youngster, identified in the statement only as J.H., is before District Judge District Judge Dan Creitz, who ordered the case sealed and told all parties not to talk about it.

The court will be provided with updates on the youngster’s status.

“If it is determined at a later date that he is then competent to come to adjudication, then further hearings will be conducted,” Hathaway said.

Until then, the boy will remain in state custody in an unnamed “appropriate treatment facility,” he said.

The boy was charged with first-degree murder three days after the April 24 death of Robert D. Hamlin, 43. He was shot with a 20-gauge pump shotgun while sitting on a couch watching television at his home in Humboldt, 8 miles south of Iola.

When the boy was charged, Hathaway told reporters that if the boy were found guilty, he could be required to stay in a juvenile facility until age 23.

After the shooting, the boy walked to the house of neighbor Carolyn Moore, carrying the shotgun with one unfired shell.

At the time, Moore said when she answered the front door, she was greeted by a boy wearing only burgundy briefs and holding the shotgun. She said he appeared frightened and told her he had shot his father.