Son shoots father who held mother at knifepoint

Prosecutor: Boy acted with 'absolute courageousness'

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SELLERSVILLE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man who had recently left a mental health facility killed his wife after an argument and was shot to death by the couple's 15-year-old son, police said.

"I really can't put into words the tragedy this is for the boys that are involved in this," Pennridge Regional Police Chief David Mettin said.

The 15-year-old son and his teenage brother were awakened Saturday by their parents arguing at their home in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, said Mettin and prosecutor Diane E. Gibbons.

"They came out of their respective bedrooms, they saw that their father had a knife to the throat of their mother," Gibbons said.

The boys got two unloaded shotguns from the house and confronted their father, Andrew Detwiler, "told the father to leave, to get out, to leave Mom alone," Mettin said.

However, Detwiler grabbed one of the shotguns, went to the garage to load it and returned to the house, where he fired through a window and hit his wife, Suzanne Detwiler, on a deck outside, they said.

The 15-year-old, who had loaded his shotgun, then shot his father as he was bending over his wife and raising his gun again, the authorities said.

The boy, who ran to a neighbor's house in tears, won't be charged, Gibbons said.

"Both boys acted with absolute courageousness and heroicism in acting in an attempt to save the life of their mother," Gibbons said.

The boys' names were not released because of their ages.

Gibbons said Detwiler, 44, had voluntary committed himself for mental health treatment but signed himself out sometime last week.