Attorneys for the teenage boy accused of killing his girlfriend's parents are arguing that he is mentally incompetent, a family source told News4.
Police say the teen, whose name has not been released, entered his girlfriend'snorthern Virginia home three days before Christmas, shot her parents and then himself.
Friends and family say the slain parents, 48-year-old Scott Fricker and 43-year-old Buckley Kuhn-Fricker, intervened in their daughter's relationship with the boy after learning he espoused neo-Nazi philosophies.
Police have charged the teen as a juvenile with two counts of murder.
A judge will likely decide in May whether the teen is mentally competent to stand trial, sources tell News4.
A close relative of the teen suspect said the family knew nothing about reports that the teen repeatedly expressed admiration for Nazis. She said he struggled with mental illness.
Janet Kuhn, Buckley Kuhn-Fricker's mother, said that days before the killings, Kuhn-Fricker had been consumed with concern about her teen daughter's boyfriend. Kuhn-Fricker had discovered the 17-year-old was a Nazi supporter.
"My daughter and her husband found out about a lot of the Nazi stuff just this past week, and they forbid their daughter to see him again," Kuhn said after the killings.
Neighbors told The Washington Post that the teen boy mowed a swastika about 40 feet across into the grass of a community field about two months before the shooting. The neighbors opted to talk to the boy's parents instead of going to police, Penny Potter said.
Buckley Kuhn-Fricker had a law practice and specialized in estate planning and elder law, according to her website. Scott Fricker worked for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"They were a wonderful couple," Kuhn said.
