Inset: Michael Vernie Owens (Lubbock County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The residence where Owens allegedly shot and killed his adult son in Lubbock, Tex. (Google Maps).
A Texas septuagenarian is behind bars after admittedly shooting and killing his son this week, Lone Star State law enforcement says.
Michael Vernie Owens, 78, stands accused of one count of murder over the death of 37-year-old Michael Joseph Owens, according to the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office.
The underlying incident occurred on Wednesday evening at a house on 126th Street in Lubbock, according to the sheriff’s office. A report of gunfire came in around 7:20 p.m. and deputies responded following a 911 call made by the alleged killer himself.
In that emergency call, the elder Owens allegedly told dispatchers he shot and killed his own son, according to law enforcement.
Deputies arrived at the sprawling ranch style residence on the green-lawned and tree-lined suburban street to find the younger Owens with a fatal gunshot wound to the head, according to court documents obtained by Lubbock-based NBC affiliate KCBD.
After the gruesome discovery, Michael Vernie Owens approached the deputies and explained that he was the victim’s father, authorities say.
The defendant then offered a story to account for the fatal violence, investigators said. Michael Vernie Owens told the deputies his son had been taking Social Security money out of his bank account for the past several months, according to law enforcement. The defendant went on to say his son had threatened him more than once in the past and had even assaulted him on some prior occasions.
None of those purported assaults — allegedly committed by the son against the father — were reported, the sheriff’s office said.
“I’m going to kill you,” the son allegedly told the father, the defendant told the deputies. But the threatening phrase, however, became so commonplace “that it lost its value,” the defendant said.
On the day of the killing, Michael Vernie Owens went to open a new bank account and transfer his money into it so his son would no longer be able to access the funds, the man allegedly told law enforcement.
But when he returned home from the bank, his son confronted him outside of an RV parked on the property and said he found out about the trip, the defendant said. Then came the familiar threat, he added.
This time, he said, the threat came with action.
The defendant said his son whispered: “I’m going to kill you” and made a move for him, according to the court documents. That’s when the older man used his gun to shoot his son in the head.
“I think I snapped,” Michael Vernie Owens allegedly told detectives. “I either snapped or had enough.”
The defendant is being detained in the Lubbock County Detention Center on $250,000 bond, sheriff’s office records show.
