Stepdad kills adult stepson after wrestling gun from 9-year-old, Florida cops say
A 9-year-old upset that he couldn't play a video game grabbed a gun from his mom's bedroom, then a struggle among the family ended in a fatal shooting, Florida authorities said.
The boy's 43-year-old stepdad is now charged with second-degree murder and unlawful storage of a firearm (accessible to a minor) following the death of the man's 26-year-old stepson, according to the Davenport Police Department.
McClatchy News is not identifying the suspect to protect the identity of his minor stepson.
The evening of May 21, the 9-year-old's mother caught him playing Fortnite, which he wasn't allowed to play, in his 26-year-old brother's room, officers said.
The mom took away the 9-year-old's phone as punishment, then the boy walked into her bedroom with her, opened the nightstand drawer and grabbed a handgun, according to police.
The mom and stepdad began struggling with the 9-year-old for the gun, then the stepdad ended up with it as the older brother walked into the room and saw his younger brother 'in an agitated state' with his stepfather holding the gun, officers said.
The 26-year-old began arguing with his stepdad, then the stepdad shot him multiple times in the torso, according to police.
The stepson tried to get away from the bedroom, but his stepdad pursued him and shot him twice in the back, police said.
The 26-year-old died at a hospital, and the stepdad was booked in Polk County jail, according to officers.
The mom's 11-year-old child was also home during the shooting, police said.
Davenport is about a 35-mile drive southwest from Orlando.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
7 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Lie led to innocent man's murder conviction, MO cops say. Now detective charged
An investigator lied in court to help secure a murder conviction of an innocent man in his wife's 2011 killing, Missouri officials said. Investigator Michael Merkel is accused of lying in court and now faces two counts of perjury in a criminal trial to secure conviction of murder, according to a criminal complaint filed on June 3. McClatchy News reached out to Merkel's attorney but did not immediately receive a response. In 2011, Russ Faria came home to find his wife, Betsy Faria, dead with approximately 55 stab wounds and a knife in her neck, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said in a probable cause statement. The husband was accused of killing his wife and was later convicted of first-degree murder in 2013, according to the law firm representing him, Rosenblum Schwartz Fry & Johnson. Faria had served two years of his life sentence when the verdict was reversed and he was acquitted of the murder charge at a second trial in 2015, according to the attorneys. During the investigation, detectives found what they believed to be a bloody paw print from the family dog on the woman's pants at the crime scene in December 2011, according to the statement. When the husband arrived at the Troy home, however, the family dog was in the backyard, deputies said. Investigators believed the person who killed Betsy Faria took the dog outside after she was stabbed, the probable cause said, and blood was cleaned up from the path between the victim and the patio door. In January 2012, investigators hoped to prove their theory by using a 'Bluestar' chemical reagent to see if blood had been cleaned up from the scene of the killing, court documents said. Photos were taken at the scene. A reaction occurs when blood interacts with the reagent, officials said in court documents. Photos were taken when the reagent was used, according to the probable cause statement. This investigation led the husband to be indicted by a grand jury, the probable cause said. During the high-profile trial, Merkel was asked what the photos showed. He replied 'absolutely nothing' and said the camera used to take the photos had malfunctioned, prosecutors said. However, the camera did not malfunction and there were approximately 130 photos taken at the crime scene, deputies said. During Faria's second trial, Merkel said his 'absolutely nothing' comment did not indicate that the photos showed nothing, but rather no chemical luminescence as a result of the chemical reagent, the probable cause said. Three of the photos did show chemical luminescence, which indicates blood is present due to the reaction with the reagent, the probable cause said. This contradicted Merkel's statement. None of those areas were marked and further tested by investigators, according to court documents. Instead, different pieces of the floor from where the chemical reaction occurred were cut out and removed from the home for testing, but there was no blood present on those pieces, prosecutors said. 'In contrast, the areas that did exhibit the most obvious signs of potential blood evidence were ignored entirely,' the probable cause statement said. Now, Betsy Faria's friend, Pamela Hupp, is accused of murdering the woman, prosecutors said in a 2021 news conference posted by KSDK. Her trial is scheduled next year, the outlet said. Merkel faces up to life in prison if convicted of perjury. Troy is about a 55-mile drive northwest from St. Louis.
Miami Herald
7 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Son gets call showing duct-taped dad before he's killed in Baltimore, feds say
A Baltimore man lured a father from California to Maryland to discuss their marijuana business, then called the father's son, showing him bound to a chair with duct tape covering his mouth before he was shot to death, federal prosecutors said. Over the FaceTime call, Ziyon Thompson filmed Miguel Soto-Diaz from inside a Baltimore row home and demanded '200 pounds of marijuana and $50,000' from his son in exchange for his father's 'safe return' on May 8, 2022, according to prosecutors. Soto-Diaz was tortured, and when his 'kidnappers' demands were not met, (he) was shot five times,' court documents say. His body was found by Baltimore firefighters, who were called to the home as it burned in a fire, according to prosecutors. Investigators with the city's fire department believe the blaze was 'intentionally set,' court filings say. Now, Thompson, 21, has been sentenced to 22 years and one month in prison over aiding and abetting the killing of Soto-Diaz, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland said in a June 3 news release. 'Murder is widely accepted as the most egregious crime,' prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo ahead of Thompson's June 3 hearing. 'Here, we have a family that lost a father, husband, and caregiver.' Thompson previously pleaded guilty to use of a firearm resulting in death during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, court records show. Federal public defenders appointed to represent him, Katherine Tang Newberger and Sasha Garcon, didn't immediately return McClatchy News' request for comment June 4. In court documents, his legal counsel argued Thompson wasn't there when Soto-Diaz was killed and that he did not want him to die. 'Nonetheless, he knows he is morally and legally responsible for a death that deprived a loving wife of her husband and a child of his father, and he tears up when discussing Mr. Soto-Diaz, his wife and child,' his public defenders wrote in a sentencing memo. The filing mentions Soto-Diaz's wife was pregnant when he was held for ransom in Baltimore. Others involved in his killing weren't identified by prosecutors. The month before Thompson was accused of luring Soto-Diaz to his death, he visited Soto-Diaz and his family at their California home in late April 2022, according to prosecutors. Thompson stayed with Soto-Diaz to see 'the family's marijuana 'farm,'' then 'agreed to sell Soto-Diaz's marijuana in Maryland,' court filings say. In charging documents, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives described Soto-Diaz as a 'marijuana trafficker.' Soto-Diaz's son regularly communicated with Thompson for his father because Soto-Diaz didn't speak English, according to prosecutors, who said his son would translate their texts and calls. After Thompson's California visit, he had an issue with 'the quality' of Soto-Diaz's marijuana and came up with a 'ruse' to have the father visit Maryland, according to court documents. Soto-Diaz went to Maryland while believing he and Thompson were going to discuss marijuana sales on May 8, 2022, when he was picked up by Thompson at a Baltimore hotel, prosecutors said. Thompson took him to the Baltimore row home, where Soto-Diaz was tied to a chair, with duct tape covering his mouth and zip-ties binding his hands and ankles, according to prosecutors. After Thompson demanded a ransom payment, he texted Soto-Diaz's son, according to prosecutors, writing: 'Pap said send the bags and money so he can be ok and he said don't call the police or he want (sic) be coming home.' An autopsy revealed Soto-Diaz died from being shot in the Baltimore row home, not the fire that burned the residence afterward, according to prosecutors. In seeking a 25-year sentence for Thompson, before he was handed a 22-year and one-month sentence, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo that Thompson agreed it was 'reasonably foreseeable that Soto-Diaz would be killed during the extortion.' Thompson's sentence is to be followed by five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Miami Herald
9 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Builder promised ‘dream pools,' but bilked customers out of $600K, AL officials say
An Alabama-based contractor promised to build beautiful pools for multiple customers, but after receiving their deposits, he never returned to finish the jobs, officials said. Now, Gregory Kirk is sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple property crimes in which he stole more than $600,000 from customers, the Alabama Attorney General's Office said in a June 3 news release. McClatchy News reached out to Pristine Pools LLC on June 6 but did not receive an immediate response. According to court records, Kirk ran pool construction businesses in Madison County under different names, WHNT reported. He filed for bankruptcy after receiving thousands of dollars for projects and then opened another similar business under a different name, without finishing previous projects, the outlet reported. 'Several consumers entrusted Kirk with large sums of money, hoping to build their dream pools. Instead, they were met with heartbreak,' Attorney General Steve Marshall said in the release. 'He betrayed their trust, deceived them, and stole their hard-earned savings.' Officials said he forged a contractor's license, used a fake building permit and fraudulently used a customer's credit card. Madison County is about a 110-mile drive northeast from Birmingham.
