Things have gotten weirder in the balloon story. First, the kid said something about "doing it for the show" in an interview (in between throwing up twice). The father claims he doesn't know what the kid meant, and sure, a 6 year old is liable to say things like that purely stemming from some imaginary narrative in their head.
But now there's video of the balloon being released. The whole time the brothers were the only one who saw the balloon get free, but this video clearly shows that A) The dad released the balloon himself and B) he's pissed because he suddenly realizes no one's holding the tether.
My current theory - dad's pissed because he just lost his balloon. Knowing he wouldn't be able to track it down himself, he tells the kid to hide, and tells the other kids to say they saw him climbing in the balloon. Then he can call the cops and get the whole town to follow his balloon for him.
Link to the new video
here