Teen-Ager Held on Suspicion of Killing Father : Crime: The two allegedly argued over a report card the boy had hidden.

By JOHN H. LEE

Oct. 30, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

A 13-year-old boy has been arrested in National City for allegedly shooting his father to death during an argument over a report card the boy had hidden, police said.

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

“He obviously had a lot of frustration,” Roark said after interviewing the youth, a seventh-grader at Granger Junior High School in National City. “He ran the gamut of emotion, both during the incident and later, during the interview. He was very angry . . . and he shared a lot of that.”

The youth was taken to Juvenile Hall, where he was booked on suspicion of murder, police said.

Lepolious Miller III, 36, of San Diego was struck once in the chest with a bullet from a small-caliber pistol. He died at the scene, in the living room of his parents’ home on a quiet cul-de-sac 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 him arm himself with a gun that was kept upstairs, according to police. The shooting occurred as the Griers were phoning for help, Police Sgt. Tim Darton said.

The boy ran away, but returned about 15 minutes later and surrendered to police, Darton said. The gun believed to have been used in the shooting was found in the house.

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 boys’ parents are separated, and the mother, whom police did not name, lives in the San Diego area, police said.

“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. “There was some talking back, typical teen-age rebelliousness.”

The boy went upstairs for a few minutes and returned with the pistol, according to police.

“He just went up to Dad and confronted him,” Darton said. “One shot to the chest. That was it.”

Richard Ballard, 12, a seventh-grade student who sat near the teen-ager in drawing class, said he was an unlikely candidate to get into a fight and occasionally played the jester during class.

The boy had been an above-average student and appeared to have had no disciplinary problems at school, police said. The poor grade was due to his failure to complete a science project, classmates said in interviews.

“He was doing OK in class, but anyone who didn’t do a project got an F,” said Susan Lakoske, 12, a classmate who talked about the shooting with other students outside the Granger school office Tuesday.

Susan said there would have been time to complete a project before the final grading period. But the teen-ager had given excuses for not working on his. “He said he didn’t have the cardboard to get started,” she said.

School officials said grades issued Friday were progress reports that come out every six to seven weeks. They are used to inform parents of their children’s progress, and do not become part of a permanent record.

Because of the apparent arguing over grades, the school principal, Michael Johnson, lamented what appeared to be a lack of communication between parent and child.

“During grading periods, the message we often give our children is: You will be accepted only if you are getting A’s or B’s,” Johnson said. “This may not be the intent, but that’s what is coming across.”

Johnson said he had yet to hear details of the shooting from police, and declined to comment.