A septuagenarian Texas man is behind bars after admitting to shooting and killing his son this week, state authorities said.
Michael Vernie Owens78, is charged with one count of murder in the death of Michael Joseph Owens37, according to the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred Wednesday night at a home on 126th Street in Lubbock, according to the sheriff’s office. Around 7:20 p.m. a report of shots fired was received and officers responded after a 911 call made by the alleged murderer himself.
In that emergency call, Owens allegedly told dispatchers that he had shot and killed his own son, according to authorities.
Officers arrived at the residence and found Owens with a fatal gunshot wound to the head, according to court documents obtained by Lubbock’s NBC affiliate KCBD. After the macabre discovery, Michael Vernie Owens approached the agents and explained that he was the victim’s father.according to authorities.
The accused then offered a version to justify the deadly violence, according to investigators. Michael Vernie Owens He told officers that his son had been withdrawing Social Security money from his bank account. for the past few months, according to police. The accused added that his son had threatened him on more than one occasion and had even attacked him on some previous occasions.
None of those alleged assaults — allegedly attributed by the son against the father — were reported, according to the sheriff’s office.
“I’m going to kill you”the son allegedly told the father, according to what the accused told the agents. However, the threat became so common “that it lost its meaning,” the defendant said.
On the day of the murder, Michael Vernie Owens went to open a new bank account and transfer his money so that his son could no longer access the funds, he told police.
But upon returning from the bank, his son approached him in front of a motor home parked on the property and told him he had heard about the trip, according to the defendant. Then, he added, he made the usual threat.
This time, he said, the threat turned into action.
According to court documents, the defendant stated that his son whispered, “I’m going to kill you,” and made a move to attack him. That’s when the older man used his gun and shot his son in the head.
“I think I lost the defend a watch on,” Michael Vernie Owens told detectives. “Either I lost the defend a watch on or I couldn’t take it anymore”.
The defendant is being held at the Lubbock County Detention Center on $250,000 bail, according to sheriff’s office records.
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