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00:02check how many times I've been arrested in the last eight years but nobody tried to kill me
00:07because all the tried to kill me they were all trying to kill me now I was shooting at anything
00:14I said no one's gonna help me I'm gonna have to take care of this myself
00:20and this is I still feel guilty about this part and I pray to God my son never sees this
00:27but I was gonna shoot him in the back of the head I had in my mind this is the
00:33only way to stop him
00:38I was gonna take him out to the woods and I was just gonna put one in his head
00:43and leave and I was going to be okay with going to jail I knew it was wrong but I
00:52had to do it
01:07Cleveland Heights police officer Jason West was shot and killed while responding to a street
01:12fight police say the shooter is 27 year old Timothy Halton
01:18oh my god
01:38oh my goodness
01:44oh my god
02:03oh my god why why why why
02:16oh my god
02:18oh my god
02:19oh my god
02:21oh my god
02:31oh my god
02:33oh my god
02:33oh my god
02:33oh my god
02:33oh my god
02:34oh my god
02:34oh my god
02:35oh my god
02:36oh my god
02:37oh my god
02:37oh my god
02:51Timmy was my big, sweet teddy bear that morphed into a monster.
02:58I love my son dearly, but if I would have killed him, Jason West would still be alive.
03:14I don't know how bad this is going to sound, but if it were Timmy that was killed, I would
03:24have preferred that.
03:28You did what I thought you were going to do, and I couldn't stop it, and it's hard.
03:36It's hard to wrap your head around it because he's still my baby, he's still my baby, and
03:41now he's a murderer.
03:44As a parent, you always blame yourself.
03:46You always question, did I do enough?
03:48What could I have done different?
03:50I mean, he was just so adorable, and those cheeks that he had, you know, growing up with
03:56his cheeks, everybody would just squeeze.
03:59I have a lot of happy memories.
04:01I just have a lot of sad ones, too.
04:30I had no desire to have children.
04:34None whatsoever.
04:35It was not in my plans.
04:38I just wanted to go to school.
04:41I didn't tell anybody at first that I was pregnant.
04:46My mom wanted to know by whom, and I told her the ordinance at the church.
04:52And so I had to get married to save the church embarrassment, to save me embarrassment.
04:58There was nothing to be happy about.
05:02The way I looked at my unborn child is, how am I going to love this baby when I don't
05:06want
05:07kids?
05:07I'm a kid myself.
05:09But then they put that baby on my chest, and it just, I felt the joy of motherhood then.
05:18I did.
05:19I just instantly loved him.
05:22And I told him, I want to protect you.
05:25I'm going to protect you with everything I can.
05:29Nobody's going to hurt you.
05:30You're my baby.
05:47I felt this love, and I had never felt before, and I was so happy with this part of my
05:57life.
05:59I devoted all my time to him.
06:17Married at 16, two kids by 17, divorced at 18.
06:22I didn't know how to do this thing.
06:23I didn't know how to raise children.
06:27They were being raised along with me.
06:32I just knew I had to love them.
06:34I knew I had to protect them.
06:48I go upstairs, you know, and check on them, and he's not in the bed.
06:54I was scared.
06:56I was like, what happened?
06:58And I ran all over the house looking for him.
07:02I ran everywhere, checking the bathrooms.
07:04I had never been so scared in my life, because I'm thinking the worst.
07:08And then, I don't know, in a voice, I'd look in the closet.
07:14And I looked, and I see my clothes are pulled down, and then I see his hand sticking out.
07:27He was all curled up with, but the clothes, he had pulled my clothes down to make a blanket, so
07:33he was covered up.
07:36And I felt such a relief.
07:40I wake him up, make sure he's okay.
07:42And I'm trying to talk to him, and it's like he's looking past me.
07:48And I'm like, what is wrong with him?
07:52I don't know how to explain it, but I had the weirdest feeling.
08:00Eventually, it just became an every night thing.
08:03I would see him walking down the hallway, and I would follow him, and I would talk to him.
08:09He wouldn't say anything.
08:11And his face, it was just a blank stare, just a blank stare.
08:16And it made me question, is there a demon in there?
08:20You know, I know there's God, and I know there's the devil as well.
08:24I was terrified.
08:35One day, I smell something really foul, and I'm looking around, looking around.
08:39Finally, I check under the bed, and it's just a shoebox, and the smell is stronger.
08:45And I open up the shoebox, and there's a bird inside, dead, cut open.
08:54Oh, it disgusted me.
08:56That disgusted me.
08:59It really freaked me out, because it's like, why is there a dead bird in a box with a knife
09:04under my son's bed?
09:05What is he doing?
09:12And so finally, I called him in, and I asked him, what is this?
09:17And he didn't answer me at first.
09:20And I said, Timmy, this bird is dead and cut open.
09:25I said, did you do this?
09:28And he said, yes, I did it.
09:30I was just putting it out of its misery.
09:34I just did not want to think that my son could be cruel.
09:39I was totally freaked out, because this is not normal.
09:44I don't know what it is, but it's not normal.
09:51It kept happening.
09:52It kept happening.
09:57So, of course, I'm like, oh, this is bigger than I thought.
10:00And I did not have a clue of what to do, and I was frightened.
10:08I just knew something was wrong with my son.
10:14Because I had heard that, like, psychopaths, they start off by killing animals.
10:21I never asked if he regretted it or felt bad.
10:26I was really scared to talk about it with him.
10:30I was afraid.
10:32I didn't want to hear what the answer was really going to be.
10:38But I didn't want him to say, oh, I have fun doing this.
10:41I like doing it.
10:42I like the bloods, you know.
10:43I didn't know what was going to be said.
10:45So I just didn't ask.
10:49I knew something was wrong with my son, but I didn't know what.
10:53And it was like, well, maybe it is a demon.
10:56I made every excuse up you can.
10:58That's what parents do.
10:59That's what mothers, especially.
11:00That's what we do.
11:01We will make up an excuse and stick with it.
11:05We love our babies so much, and we want the best for them.
11:11We don't want to think the worst.
11:13But I didn't know what was coming next.
11:24Halton is accused of shooting and killing Cleveland Heights Police Officer Jason West.
11:28Officer West never pulled a gun on Halton.
11:31He did not have the chance.
11:33Halton shot Officer West as he arrived on scene.
11:43I do still cry about it because it wasn't the life I had planned for my child.
11:49I mean, no one wants their child to be a killer.
11:53It's kind of shocking to the system and something I'll never get over.
11:58You see the light we're approaching is right after the next light.
12:04There's a sign in memory of investigator Jason D. West.
12:12I drive past it going to work and coming from work.
12:19As he lived in one of these houses here, you know, that sign may not mean anything to a lot
12:26of people.
12:28And it means a lot.
12:30That sign is there because my son killed him.
12:34And I say a quick prayer and drive right past it.
12:57Oh, my babies.
13:01Oh, my God.
13:04So adorable.
13:06I mean, this little suit, her and a little dress.
13:08I used to love dressing them up.
13:13He was such a happy kid.
13:15So happy, so polite, so loving.
13:21He and his sister were so close.
13:25I mean, she loved her brother.
13:27They were best friends.
13:29They were.
13:31But then he changed.
13:48I'm getting her ready for her bath, and she has a bunch of marks on her thighs.
13:55I asked her, what is this?
13:57Did you get bitten by something?
14:00And she's just like, no, no, no, no, no.
14:02And she tried to cover her up real quick.
14:04And after a long pause, she said, Timmy made this shocking toy, and he shocks me.
14:12I'm like, what do you mean shock you?
14:14He burns me.
14:15And he told me if I tell you, he was going to get me.
14:20He had tied her to the chair, and I don't know how he did it, but he would take wires
14:26out of a radio, and he would shock her.
14:31It became real in that moment, because now you're hurting your sister, physically abusing her.
14:45I didn't want to whoop my children, but there was no stopping me.
14:49You've been whooped.
14:51Even whooping him, he had no emotion.
14:55He had no emotion.
14:57You spank him, and it's not one of those things where I'm going to keep spanking you harder just to
15:01make you break.
15:03But no, he was very emotionalist.
15:10After I whooped him, I just went to my room and cried.
15:14It was really hard for me to handle that I gave birth to someone that could be so cruel as
15:28to do this, and I just couldn't understand it.
15:34It's not exactly what I was dreaming of as a parent.
15:49A couple weeks later, I come home early from work, and she's in a chair.
15:56I said, is he shocking you?
15:57Is he doing it again?
15:59And she said, yeah, mommy, yeah, mommy.
16:02And then Chrissy told me, as he was shocking her, the louder she yelled or screeched, the more he laughed
16:13about it.
16:18It was a range of emotions, from fear to hurt that she's going through this, to anger.
16:28So I tried to talk to him, but I was trying to get down to the bottom of it.
16:32Why do you like hurting things?
16:35Why?
16:35Why do you like inflicting pain?
16:38What kind of joy are you getting here?
16:40And he would just look at me.
16:43I don't know why.
16:44I don't know why.
16:46I would never get an answer.
16:48And I was like, this is not normal.
16:52What is wrong with my son?
16:56I was terrified because no parent, first of all, wants their child to be bad, but to be violent.
17:06And for no reason, other than the reason that's in his head.
17:12There was a time where the family could say, oh, we have to pray it away.
17:17We have to pray it away.
17:18We've got to pray that demon away.
17:20You know, but they wanted to do literally an exorcism, you know, in the church.
17:26I know there's a God, and I believe there's hell also.
17:32There was something evil inside of him.
17:45It's my baby.
17:47Okay.
17:50Hello?
17:51Hello.
17:52This is a free call from...
17:55An inmate for the Allen Correctional Institution.
17:59Hey, baby.
18:01Hey, Ma.
18:01How you doing?
18:02I'm doing good.
18:03What's up?
18:05Nothing much.
18:05I miss you.
18:06I miss you, too.
18:07I miss you, too.
18:08I have to get your food box for you.
18:10I haven't forgotten.
18:11Oh, okay.
18:12I love you.
18:13I love you, too.
18:14I miss my hugs.
18:16Yeah, I need you one right now.
18:18You're gonna need one right now?
18:19Okay, thank you.
18:21Yeah, what you been up to?
18:23I haven't been up to nothing.
18:24How you been?
18:25Oh, I've been okay.
18:27Just, I've been good.
18:28Um, just doing little projects, you know, around the house and everything.
18:35Oh, okay.
18:35All right, baby.
18:37I'm gonna get back to work now, okay?
18:39All right.
18:40I love you, too.
18:41Bye-bye.
18:42Talk to you soon.
18:44Go ahead and sleep.
18:45So he knows...
18:46All right, this is take two.
18:47ABC Mark.
18:48He knows what you're doing, right?
18:50No.
18:51He doesn't know what you're doing?
18:52Mm-mm.
18:53So you're gonna tell him now?
18:54Mm-mm.
18:55You're not telling him that you're doing this interview.
19:00Why?
19:05Well...
19:06Hmm.
19:08My son is very sensitive, and I know for a fact he's ashamed and embarrassed of the things
19:18he did.
19:19I know it hurts him, and this will hurt him.
19:22So once again, you're a mother protecting him.
19:25I have to.
19:27I have to protect my baby.
19:28He's gonna be 45 on March 30th.
19:31He's still my baby, though.
19:34You never stop loving them.
19:37You do a lot of forgiving, and hope they forgive you for the things, you know, as a parent that
19:43you might have done wrong, or that they didn't agree with.
19:48But, no, you never stop loving them.
19:52It just breaks my heart that he's in there, and he's never coming home.
20:12I received a call at work.
20:15It was the principal of the school, and they requested that I come up immediately.
20:22And I was like, well, what's wrong?
20:23What's going on?
20:24We'll talk to you when you get here.
20:27By the time I got there, he's sitting in a straitjacket in a chair that's locked down
20:34to the floor.
20:37I just saw a little baby in a straitjacket.
20:40Aren't you serious?
20:42But I'm scared because I'm like, what did he do?
20:49So, apparently, one of the teachers asked him about his father, which was a sore subject with
21:00him, and he just tackled her.
21:07So, security got him off her.
21:10He's kicking, screaming, throwing things, tearing up the desk and everything, and they
21:15ended up putting him in a straitjacket.
21:18Mind you, it's a school for children with behavioral issues, so they're used to seeing things.
21:24But they said this was extreme.
21:27My son was violent.
21:43Oh, this one.
21:46I think he's about 15 on this picture.
21:52And all of a sudden, he was happier.
21:56He had finished all his high school courses, and the teacher submitted an application for
22:01college, and he was accepted.
22:03Timmy said, don't tell my mom.
22:04I want to tell her.
22:05So, he came home and told me.
22:08He was so excited.
22:09He was on cloud nine.
22:11He was on cloud nine.
22:13He said, finally, I did something right.
22:16I was so proud of him.
22:18And he was so happy that I was proud of him, because he had caused me so much heartache and
22:23pain.
22:26It gave me so much hope.
22:29And it's like, finally, it was the time where I was like, okay, he's getting it together.
22:49He started getting violent, and with each episode, the violence was worse than the last time.
23:00And it just kept escalating and escalating.
23:10Boy, you're really trying to make me cry, aren't you?
23:17Okay.
23:25Okay.
23:26I have here his run-ins with the law.
23:31Bare-chested Timothy Halton Jr., punches and kicks a 60-year-old man who walks past his home.
23:37The man is hit on the side of the head, his jaw, and side.
23:42Halton yells at the bloodied man to get out of here.
23:47At this time, he's 20 years old, and they would hang out at the mall, and he'd just start punching
23:57people in the head for no reason.
24:01This was an incident just the next day, July 9th, 2000.
24:07Police get a call from Halton's screaming sister, who has locked her brother out of the house.
24:13This orally conduct charge is later dismissed.
24:20That was part of the problem.
24:24No matter what he did, no matter who he hurt, they dismissed him.
24:30He just got one slap on the wrist after another.
24:48So I'm sitting there.
24:49And they bring him in, and he's in a straitjacket.
24:54And I thought, what did he do to get back in the straitjacket?
25:00They told me he had been attacking the nurses.
25:04And I'm trying to act like, okay, this is normal.
25:07Okay, I'm just happy to see him.
25:11They kept it at a short visit.
25:13It was time to go, and they said I had to leave first.
25:18So I started walking away, and all of a sudden, I hear all this commotion.
25:24And Timmy's straitjacket and all this, knocking people out.
25:28He was just, like, using his shoulders and his head and kicking and literally attacking everyone.
25:39And I asked the doctor.
25:41He just said, we suspect your child has schizophrenia.
25:47We're not 100% sure, but we believe he might be suffering from schizophrenia.
25:54But I will never forget that face and the way he looked back.
25:59It was not my son.
26:01I swear to God, and it's so hard to make anyone believe, but I was looking at a devil.
26:19I look at pictures of Timmy all the time, especially when he was younger.
26:28I love looking at his baby pictures, because he was so fat and chubby and adorable, of course.
26:39Mothers, we don't think our kids ever grow up.
26:42We still keep them as a baby.
26:44I'm still thinking this is my sweet Timmy.
26:47My son was morphing into something I did not recognize.
26:51It just wasn't Timmy.
26:53It was two people there.
26:56He was always sweet.
26:57He was always polite.
26:58He was always kind.
27:00He would morph into a whole different being.
27:05I mean, the way he walked, the way he talked, the way he looked at you.
27:11It was scary.
27:22You are always on edge, because you know something's going to happen.
27:25You can never let your guard down.
27:28At this time, there were many episodes.
27:32He would walk around the house just screaming.
27:34It was an awful, awful, awful sound.
27:38It was so scary.
27:41He punched holes throughout my entire house.
27:46My daughter was terrified of him at this time, and she had the new baby.
27:51And at this point, she was scared to sleep alone.
27:54So her and the baby would sleep with me.
27:57That's when we started going to the bathroom together.
27:59Me, her, and the baby.
28:00We get in that bathroom.
28:03It was nice that we slept in that bathroom.
28:07Because each episode was worse than the last.
28:15My daughter couldn't stand living with him out of fear.
28:19She's like, Mommy, he's going to get us if we kick him out.
28:23The situation was so hopeless.
28:26I was like, my daughter can't live like this.
28:29I have a granddaughter now.
28:32She's not going to go through what my daughter went through.
28:35And I bought a gun because I needed to protect my daughter.
28:43It was going to be Timmy or Chrissy.
28:55I just rushed home.
28:58And when I got there, I see blood on the wall.
29:02And I got my gun out my purse.
29:06And I was listening at the same time as I was walking up the steps.
29:10I didn't know if he was still in the house.
29:12I just knew there was blood on my wall.
29:15And so I go to the bedroom.
29:19And I'm at the door.
29:21And I don't want to twist this door now.
29:23But I know I have to.
29:24Because I didn't know what I was going to see behind that door.
29:30So my hand was on the door for what I'd seen before eternity.
29:35And I just twist it and open it.
29:41I didn't see anything.
29:43And I'm like, Chrissy, Chrissy.
29:47She's like, Mommy, I'm in here.
29:49I'm in the cubby hole.
29:50We made a cubby hole.
29:57And so I slid the fake wall away.
30:02And she's like, I don't know where Timmy is, Mommy.
30:04I don't know.
30:05He was howling.
30:06He was acting strange.
30:07He kept saying he was coming after me.
30:10And so I had me and the baby hid in here.
30:12At that time, she had already called 911.
30:15When the police got there, they searched the house.
30:18They searched around the house.
30:19They couldn't find Timmy.
30:20But they found a cut-up cat.
30:22And that's where the blood came from.
30:27I was beyond words.
30:29It's not getting better.
30:30It's worse.
30:31And you have no conscience about it.
30:34That scared me in itself.
30:55It got to the point where I was so powerless.
30:59I felt like I am losing my mind.
31:02And I said, no one's going to help me.
31:04I'm going to have to take care of this myself.
31:09Tell him, come on, let's go for a ride.
31:11And we're driving and we're talking and everything.
31:14And my plan was to just go sit.
31:18It's a park called Forest Hills.
31:21And we were just going to go sit there as we did often.
31:26And I was going to, Timmy, look over there.
31:29Look over there.
31:32I couldn't face him and do it.
31:35Not that it made it any better.
31:40I was going to shoot him in the back of the head.
31:50This isn't something I wanted to do.
31:51This is something I felt I had to do.
31:55I got a picture of my daughter and picture of my daughter.
32:00But I literally had it pointed at him, and I was a good shot.
32:06My hands were trembling.
32:07I just dropped it.
32:12I fell to my knees.
32:17And we were letting out this horrible, horrible, horrible scream.
32:21I mean, it just came out of me.
32:25And he runs back, and he's like, Mommy, what's wrong?
32:27What's wrong?
32:28What's wrong?
32:30He didn't understand why I was crying.
32:34I mean, I never told him.
32:37But at that point, I couldn't, I just couldn't do it.
32:41I couldn't do it.
32:54Even in the best circumstances, parents always question, did I do the right thing?
32:58Did I make a mistake by doing this?
33:00Why couldn't you stop him?
33:05You don't know what you're going to do until you're in that position, until you have to
33:11address something.
33:13And at times, you still don't know what you're going to do, but you try to make the best decision.
33:19It seemed like no matter what I did, I was wrong.
33:23It's not getting better.
33:25It's worse.
33:27I could have stopped it.
33:29If I would have killed him, then Jason would still be alive.
33:48That's when the judge put him on probation, a four-year probation, where he had to stay
33:56medicated, monitored, stay off drugs, alcohol, see his psychiatrist, social worker, counselor,
34:04whoever, you know, take a drug test.
34:07And if you didn't, and if he didn't do that, he was going to jail.
34:10That would be a violation of his probation, and he would go straight to jail.
34:17And that was a miracle.
34:22And I noticed the big difference.
34:25He worked six days a week.
34:27He was so proud of himself.
34:28He bought a brand new car.
34:31He finally moved out of my house.
34:33He bought clothes, bought clothes, had a girlfriend, and it just made me feel so good.
34:39I was like, finally.
34:41After one year, he came home.
34:47He was like, they took me off probation.
34:50And I said, well, what does that mean?
34:54So I called the probation officer, and I said, what do you mean he's off probation?
35:00He's thriving on probation.
35:02He's finally got somewhat of a life.
35:05And she said, well, that's why.
35:06He's doing so good.
35:07He doesn't need to be on probation anymore.
35:09And I said, well, what about his medication?
35:12What about his shots?
35:13Oh, that ends, too.
35:16I was like, are you serious?
35:17Don't you?
35:18You have his records.
35:19If you don't get his records.
35:21I said, look, get over.
35:22Reconsider, please.
35:24Reconsider.
35:26You're going to keep letting my son go until he kills somebody.
35:28And that's exactly what's going to happen.
35:30He's going to kill somebody.
35:41His childhood friend called me, I think it was around 8.30, that Saturday morning.
35:49And he's like, Timmy shot a cop last night.
35:52Timmy shot.
35:52I'm like, what?
35:53Timmy shot a cop.
35:54We don't know where he is.
35:55We don't know where he is.
35:57He ran off.
35:57We don't know.
35:58And I, I let out this scream.
36:05The news said that he was still at large.
36:09And so I called Cleveland Heights Police.
36:15And I told them who he was.
36:18You know, I said, that's my son, Timothy Halton.
36:25And I called the police station to turn my son in because it's murder.
36:32I mean, he killed someone and it may not have stopped there.
36:39And there was no way I could deny that at that point, I'm the mother of a cop killer.
36:49And my son killed someone.
36:52I just started crying on the phone.
36:54And I said, sir, I'm sorry for your loss.
37:01He said, I'm sorry for yours, too.
37:05It was chilling.
37:06It was, I could still feel the chills now.
37:08It was, it was very chilling.
37:10And that was it.
37:11He just hung up.
37:13I'm sorry for yours, too.
37:22And y'all said that I tried to kill a cop who just ran into my, tried to run into
37:25my truck,
37:26pulled me in the driveway, blocked me off, jumped out and pulled his gun on me.
37:30All crazy for no reason.
37:31Halton at times saying he didn't do anything.
37:34Other times saying he acted in self-defense.
37:36Then admitting his crime.
37:38I let all three in the mother face.
37:40Is that what you want to hear?
37:41Hell yeah.
37:53What do you see when you look at that picture?
37:57How about looking at this picture of this grown man, and I just see my baby.
38:03I still see my little baby in his eyes.
38:08A lost life.
38:13I know people are going to hate me when I say this, but I see a victim as well.
38:18I do.
38:19And I don't care who gets mad.
38:23But I shouldn't have had to have begged and pleaded and ran all around the city to try
38:31to get a shot to prevent him from hurting people.
38:35How is that acceptable in society?
38:51After the incident, I was fearful of retaliation for my whole family.
38:59I mean, he's behind bars, and we're still out here.
39:05And I would be so ashamed.
39:09I would walk with my head down, hoping they didn't recognize me, because my face was plastered
39:14everywhere, you know, and I couldn't sleep at night.
39:19I was terrified.
39:20I was scared for him as well.
39:25He's the monster.
39:26I'm the monster's mother.
39:33It's an awful feeling.
39:37It's something that you never get over, you know, for the family, for Jason's family.
39:46You know, I remember his birthday, February 10th.
39:49I grieved for his mother on Mother's Day.
39:52His sister, he had one sister, just like my daughter.
39:55I feel for them, because there's nothing I can say or do to bring Jason back.
40:02It's just an awful feeling.
40:06It's not a day that goes by that I don't think about it, them, what happened, my son, and his
40:13situation.
40:14I'll always question what was in his mind, because I've never gotten a clear answer.
40:21Is my son evil, or is he mentally ill?
40:26And can you explain the difference?
40:30No one wants their child to murder anyone.
40:33You never think of that as part of the possibilities when they grow up and become a teenager, get a
40:38girlfriend,
40:39get married, have children themselves.
40:43As awful as it sounds, I wish that Timmy had died that night instead of Jason.
40:57That would have been a better outcome.
41:00That would have been a better outcome for everybody.
41:07And I'm not proud to say that, but it's the truth.
41:19I used my hands to suffocate my kids.
41:22Who did you use the belt on?
41:25Babies.
41:27I can understand why people look at me the way they do.
41:30That I raised the monster.
41:31That I raised the monster.
41:32That I raised the monster.
41:32That I raised the monster.
41:35I raised my Jews
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