The quiet afternoon of March 7 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, ended in tragedy inside a family home. Authorities say 41-year-old Theresa McIntosh was shot in the back of the head while inside the house she shared with her family. Now her 14-year-old son, Havoc Leone, is facing a first-degree murder charge and will be prosecuted as an adult.
Deputies with the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office responded to the home around 12:50 p.m. after receiving a report of a woman suffering from a gunshot wound. When first responders arrived, they found McIntosh unconscious but still breathing. She had been shot in the back of the head.
Emergency crews rushed her to a local hospital. Because of the severity of the injury, she was later airlifted to a medical facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, where doctors attempted advanced treatment. Despite those efforts, McIntosh died from her injuries the following day, March 8.
Investigators quickly detained a juvenile at the scene. Authorities later identified the teenager as Havoc Leone, McIntosh’s son. According to court documents, the boy initially told deputies that his mother had taken her own life. As investigators pressed for details, however, his story reportedly began to change.
Detectives say Leone later admitted he shot his mother while she was on the floor working on a puzzle in his bedroom. According to the affidavit, he fired a single shot into the back of her head.
Court records indicate tensions had been building inside the household for days before the shooting. About a week earlier, Leone had argued with his mother after receiving a poor grade in math. During that dispute, authorities say he secretly removed a Taurus 9mm handgun from her vehicle and hid it inside a boot in his bedroom closet.
On the day of the shooting, McIntosh and her common-law husband confronted the teenager after suspecting he had stolen an electronic tablet from one of McIntosh’s cleaning clients. Investigators say the argument intensified when McIntosh demanded the password to the device, which was written in a notebook inside Leone’s bedroom.
According to investigators, Leone grabbed the notebook and the hidden handgun at the same time. He allegedly tossed the notebook toward his mother as she bent down to retrieve it. While she was turned away, authorities say he gripped the gun with both hands and fired.
Leone’s father told investigators he had been in the basement playing video games with noise-canceling headphones on. When he heard a sound, he believed it was a balloon popping. Only later did he come upstairs and discover McIntosh critically wounded on the floor.
The father immediately called 911 and tried to help her, holding a towel against the wound while waiting for emergency crews. Investigators say he also noticed the handgun on the floor, something he found unusual because the weapon was normally kept in McIntosh’s vehicle.
Medical personnel later told investigators the wound was not consistent with a self-inflicted injury. That observation helped push the case toward a homicide investigation.
During questioning, authorities say Leone admitted he had previously thought about killing his mother during past arguments. He has now been formally charged with felony first-degree murder. A judge has set his bond at $500,000 as the case moves forward in Wyoming’s court system.
