FILE-- This Nov. 8, 2008 file photo shows the house in St. Johns, Ariz. where Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos, Ariz. were found fatally shot. Police said Romero's 9-year-old son, who was 8 at the time, used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot the men as they returned home from work. The eastern Arizona boy pleaded guilty Thursday to a single count of negligent homicide. (AP Photo/Dana Felthauser, File)

ST. JOHNS, Ariz. (AP) — A 10-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his father’s friend in November 2008 was ordered Thursday to a residential treatment program.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors had pushed for the St. Johns boy to be placed in the private program in Maricopa County, but Judge Monica Stauffer also had the option of sending him to a county facility.

The length of the boy’s stay in the program is unclear, but he’ll also be placed on intensive probation until he turns 18.

The boy was 8 when he was charged in the shooting deaths of his father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero, and his father’s friend, 39-year-old Timothy Romans. He pleaded guilty to shooting Romans and the charges related to his father’s death were dropped as part of a plea deal.

A motive never has been made clear, although the boy told investigators he kept a tally of spankings.

The Associated Press is not identifying the boy because of his age.

The sentencing ends a 14-month saga that created a buzz in legal circles as experts questioned whether the boy had the mental capacity to understand the crimes.

During the hearing in the courthouse in St. Johns, the boy said through his lawyers that he’s sorry for killing his father and apologized for hurting the Romans family and his own family.

The boy’s attorney, Ron Wood, said he made a choice that day between killing himself or killing the two men.

When asked by the judge whether he understood the sentence, the boy replied: “Yes, ma’am.”

He kept his head down through most of the hearing, and only looked up when was asked to address the court.

Talk of a plea deal surfaced less than a month after the shootings, but an agreement wasn’t reached until February.

Arizona law allows criminal charges to be filed against anyone 8 or older. At least one expert who evaluated him later deemed the boy incompetent to stand trial.