ETHAN THEALL - 3 Months - (2010) Blossvale (NE of Syracuse) NY

Blossvale NY ---- Law enforcement arrived on the scene of
3609 Pine Road in Blossvale to what originally came in as a 911 call
Tuesday morning, only to witness a man named Adam Theall, 21, of Rome,
armed with a long gun, shoot and kill a three month old baby.
New York State Police said the call came in around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday
morning as a domestic dispute call. When they and Oneida County Sheriffs
arrived on the scene to respond, they found Theall in his parents' Pine
Road residence armed with a gun.
Carlo Gennario, of the NYS Police, with six years on the
force, was the first on the scene, with Troopers Thomas Haumann (15
years on the force) and Richard Snyder arriving just seconds later.
Numerous other officials quickly followed and arrived on
scene.
With law enforcement on the scene, Theall shot and killed
his three month old son, Ethan Theall, in front of them. Theall then
turned the gun on police. Authorities then ordered Theall to drop his
gun numerous times, which he refused to do. It was at this point that
authorities immediately opened fire on Theall, with Gennario the first
to fire.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, State Police
Captain Fran Coots said that 911 calls came from both inside the Pine
Road residence where the incident occurred as well as Theall's residence
at 167 Pine Haven Trailer Park in Rome. Coots said that both female
callers stated that Theall was intending on killing his child.
One of those female callers was Theall's mother, but Coots
said he was unaware who the other female was. Coots said Theall was not
married to the other female. Theall's father was not home at the time of
the shooting.
However, Coots said Theall made no statement to police
officers when they arrived on the scene, and instead shot the child the
instant they arrived.
Theall was sent via helicopter to Upstate Medical Center in
Syracuse, where he was undergoing surgery and in critical condition
Tuesday evening.
"He was struck numerous times by several different types of
rounds, both 45 caliber and 12 gauge," Captain Coots said.
Three month old Ethan Theall was transported from the scene
via ambulance to Rome Memorial Hospital and was pronounced dead.
According to New York State Police, there were three kids
total in the house at the time of the incident, including the baby who
was killed. All of those children are less than 5 years old.
It is not the first time Theall has had a brush with the
law. In 2005, Theall was found in violation of a Family Court order and
for disorderly conduct. In 2008, he was charged with DWI, vehicular
assault, and several vehicle and traffic violations, serving three
months in jail for the charges. In 2009, he was charged with assault and
in November 2009 was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare
of a child, and assault.
State Police Officials also confirmed Tuesday that they had
been to the residence for domestic issues numerous times in the past, as
well as to Theall's Rome residence for similar issues. Captain Coots
said they had responded to a domestic incident involving Theall as
recently as four days ago.
When asked if there were drugs in the house at the time,
Captain Coots said he did not know.
Captain Coots said that Theall could be looking at a
second-degree murder charge, but that it was too early to know all the
charges.
"Truly, the actions of the troopers today was what they were
trained to do," Coots said. "Their actions were heroic. They had to
unfortunately witness the death of a very small child."

Three New York State Troopers were the first on the scene at the
shooting of a 3-month-old boy by a Rome man on Tuesday in Vienna.

“The initial responding trooper who witnessed the murder of Ethan Theall is
Trooper Carlo Gennario, he has approximately six years with the New York
State Police,” said Francis Coots, state police captain. “Also
responding was Trooper Richard Snyder, he has nearly three years of
experience with the state police. And Sergeant and Station Commander
Thomas Haumann, fifteen and a half years of state police experience.”

He said all three fired at Mr. Theall when he refused to drop his weapon.

“We did not fire at him immediately after he shot the child,” he said. “We
wanted him to drop the weapon. We wanted to take him into custody. He
refused to do so and after being told to do so several times about
dropping the weapon. After he refused, that’s when we took the action that we took.”

He said there had been no negotiations with Theall
because he shot the child as the first trooper was getting out of his car.

“That was part of the 911 call that if the police showed up
he was going to kill the child,” he said.

Coots explained that the troopers had followed proper protocol in approaching the situation.

“We had an emergency situation that we needed to respond to,” he said. “We
don’t know exactly what we’re going to confront until we get there. This
trooper has no ability to react other than what he did. That was to
seek cover once this child was being shot. Ultimately, to fire his
weapon to take the subject into custody that had just committed a homicide.”

He said the troopers acted exactly as they are trained to do.

“Their actions were heroic,” he said. “Unfortunately,
they had to witness the death of a very, very young child.”

He said there is help being offered to the troopers.

“Our agency is fortunate enough to have an employees’ assistance program with trained
members of the New York State Police that are able to respond directly
to the scene and deal with these three troopers that were involved in
the incident as well as witnessing the murder of this child,” he said.
“We feel confident that we can help these people through this very difficult time.”

The Oneida County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene also.

One day after Adam Theall shot and killed his 3-month-old baby Tuesday,
the Blossvale man had been scheduled to appear in Rome City Court on
charges that he assaulted his girlfriend in front of their oldest son last year.
It was but the latest of a series of appearances in both criminal and
family courts related to troubles involving the couple, according to
court records and interviews.
But now, as Theall, 21, recovers in a Syracuse hospital after suffering
more than 14 gunshot wounds inflicted by state troopers, the next time
he appears in court will most likely be for murder charges, state police said Wednesday.
Investigators still aren’t confirming whether they know yet why Theall
might have shot baby Ethan when a State trooper arrived at the Pine
Road home of Theall’s parents in Blossvale at about 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Police Wednesday were not commenting on whether it’s been confirmed
that Eithen was Theall’s biological son with his girlfriend, 19-year-old Jamie Baker.
“That is nothing I can speak to,” police Troop D Capt. Mark Lincoln
said. “I've got to make sure that we can go forth with the prosecution.”
Rebecca Wittman, Theall’s criminal attorney in previous cases, said she
has no doubts that such a concern would have upset Theall.
“It would not justify but it would explain a lot in my mind about what
happened,” Wittman said. “I am very surprised and shocked by what is
alleged to have gone on here because I've never seen anything that would
indicate he was anything but very concerned about being involved with
his kids. He was not an absentee father by any stretch of the
imagination.”
Baker could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Wednesday’s scheduled court appearance
Had Theall appeared in court Wednesday as previously scheduled, Judge
Daniel Wilson was supposed to decide whether the assault case involving
Baker could be resolved and whether an order of protection would be made
permanent or suspended, Wittman said.
In the assault case, Theall was charged in November 2009 with
third-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child, both
misdemeanors. Although Theall was accused of striking Baker at their
Pine Haven mobile home in Blossvale in front of their oldest son,
Wittman said there never was any allegation that he injured any children.
“The relationship with the girlfriend was obviously problematic,”
Wittman said. “But he was always concerned about how the order of
protection was going to impact him on being able to see the kids.”
Theall had been excited by the news that Baker was pregnant last year
with Ethan, Wittman said. Whenever Theall appeared in court, he
questioned whether the judge could modify the protective order so that
Theall could accompany Baker to the hospital when she gave birth to
Ethan in March of this year.
Judge Wilson made no such changes, however, and suggested that Theall
handle that matter in Family Court, Wittman said. The outcome of
Theall’s and Baker’s Family Court proceedings could not be determined
Wednesday.
Despite multiple reports of domestic violence between Theall and Baker,
Wittman said Baker would repeatedly backtrack and try to recant the
allegations. In one case in May 2009, Baker was charged in Camden for
filing a false allegation of child abuse against Theall because she was
upset with him, police said.
Baker was supposed to be in court this week to discuss what she wanted
to do with the pending assault charge, Wittman said. But as she had done
many times in the past, Baker seemed to back off from her desire to
press charges, Wittman said.
“She called me a zillion times to say she lied and that he didn’t do
it, and that she really wanted no part of the prosecution,” Wittman said.

‘100 percent me’
Although separate Family Court custody matters might have limited
Theall’s involvement with the two children, Wittman said Theall appeared
to be spending more time with the two boys in recent weeks.
When Theall appeared in Rome City Court last week regarding a traffic
violation involving a scooter, Wittman said Theall had showed up with his older 1½-year-old son.
As Theall held the boy – whom he referred to as “Adam Jr.” – Theall had
expressed concern that a current “stay away” order of protection toward
his girlfriend would prevent him from seeing the two children, Wittman said.
The older boy had white blond hair and beautiful blue eyes, Wittman
recalled, and his skin was very fair just like his mother. When Wittman
commented that the boy must have gotten his complexion from Baker’s side
of the family, Theall agreed and then turned his attention to the
younger son, Ethan, who was not with Theall that day.
“That’s true, but the baby is 100 percent me,” Wittman recalled Theall saying.
“Everybody that saw the baby agreed that he is the spitting image of
him,” Wittman said. “He was talking enthusiastically like a proud parent
and was very proud of the fact of how much the children resembled him.”

Updated 11/18/2010 03:35 PM
Theall gets maximum for shooting death of his three-month-old son




By: Sarah Hagen


The Oneida County man who admitted to killing his infant son has gotten the maximum sentence. Adam Theall will serve 25 years to life in prison for second degree murder. Our Sarah Hagen was in the courtroom Thursday as Theall verbally lashed out at the victim's family.
ONEIDA COUNTY, N.Y. -- Denise Sullivan said, "Baby Eithen is a child of God who, without provocation, was murdered. He is now an angel in heaven."
Eithen Theall was three-months-old when he was killed by his father. In June, police witnessed 21-year-old Adam Theall stand on his parents' porch and shoot his infant son. It was in September when Theall pleaded guilty to second degree murder. Thursday, the case came to a close. Theall was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and the Oneida County District Attorney says he will see to it Theall never gets paroled.
Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said, "I wondered what you thought when you placed him on the end of that shotgun."
Theall responded, "I was high on drugs."
McNamara said, "You were high on drugs. If that is your excuse, I hope the parole board reads this over really good in 25 years."
Theall said, "I don't care if I ever {expletive} get out."
McNamara said, "That's good. I hope they read that, too."
The court proceedings were filed with other expletive-laced outbursts from Theall who called the family members "scumbags" as he was escorted out. The family says they're not at all surprised at his actions.
The victim's grandmother, Sandra Baker, said, "Those are his true colors. That's Adam Theall and he is going where he belongs."
The victim's grandfather, Terrance Corbett, said, "I don't think he showed any remorse for what he's done. He is heartless."
In addition to the sentencing of 25 years to life, the DA also requested an order of protection for Eithen's mother, Jamie Baker, and their other son, Adam Theall Jr.
Sandra Baker added, "He's done. He will no longer control my daughter. And him, I will never forgive."
Jaime Baker was not in the courtroom Thursday. Family members say five months later, she is still struggling to cope with her loss.