Just as the victim's mind might change during a crisis, so would a murderer, and most especially a child of 8 yo. These were two grown men who'd most likely been in peril before on some level, not necessarily life-threatening. But to ASSUME that in a life and death situation this 8 yo child would have more wits about him than these two men, well, sorry, doesn't make logical sense.
No matter what the academic level is of this child, he's not experienced in life at all. If he was forced to reload more swiftly because a victim was coming at him in self-defense, no matter what anyone might say, his first reaction would be to back up while he was still reloading, in his own self-defense, thus increasing the time it would take to reload.
There's indication on both victims that at least one shot each was not critical, ie arm or whatever. At the least, that would have given the victim more time to over-take their assailant.
I don't see any possible way this crime could have occurred except with an automatic or at the least, semi-automatic. There's a reason there weren't any unspent shells on the floor downstairs where the majority of the shooting occurred. IMO, it's because the gun was already loaded with a clip of 10 rounds.
They still haven't been able to place the gun in the child's hands. Fingerprint technology is the oldest of the forensic testing done in this case. Even after four months, they still have UNIDENTIFIED prints on the alleged murder weapon. At the very least, there's no way anyone will ever convince me that not only did this child murder both men in cold blood with a single, bolt action 22, but that he wiped his fingerprints off the gun as well.
This is just not how real life works. This child is not a genious, he's just a typical now 9 yo child.
JMHO
fran