Texas man accused of fatally shooting his mother and grandmother amid ‘conflict’

KILLEEN, Texas (TCD) — A 26-year-old man faces charges after allegedly fatally shooting his 75-year-old grandmother and his 53-year-old mother this month.

On Friday, Dec. 8, shortly after 1:30 p.m., the Killeen Police Department responded to the 2300 block of Basalt Drive to a report of a domestic incident. According to an affidavit obtained by KWTX-TV, Tina McGruder called 911 and said “her son had threatened to shoot her and her mother and had struck her.”

At the scene, police heard a man, Louis Simpson Jr., screaming, and he left the home. He allegedly seemed “nervous and stated he needed to leave the location.” Police subsequently took Simpson into custody.

Officers reportedly found 75-year-old Deanne McGruder and 53-year-old Tina McGruder inside the home suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Tina McGruder was having issues talking and had lost a lot of blood, but when police questioned who shot her, she reportedly said “son.”

According to police, law enforcement officials rendered aid to the two victims until paramedics arrived on scene. Both women were transported to separate hospitals in critical condition, and they died from their injuries the next day.

During an interview with police, Simpson said he “had been in conflict with his mother that day,” KWTX reports. According to the affidavit, “He also stated words of the effect that he didn’t mean to kill them, as he didn’t shoot ‘headshot.'”

After the death of his grandmother and mother, Simpson reportedly told police his mother put him in jail, which he said was “the worst mistake she could have made.”

According to KWTX, he also said he was thinking about shooting one of the responding officers but decided against it because he assumed they were armed.

The Bell County District Attorney’s Office charged Simpson with capital murder. He remains held in the Bell County Jail on $3 million bond.

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