GRANITE FALLS — A Granite Falls man was booked into jail Wednesday, roughly 48 hours after his son shot him in the head.
Court records allege that the dad threatened his wife and son shortly before the gunfire and kicked to death one of the family’s dogs.
The father, 54, drove a white Chevy truck onto a grass yard a little after 4 p.m. Monday, parked near the side of the home and kicked the truck door open, according to court documents filed by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. He had reportedly lived there in the past but was forbidden by law from setting foot on the property due to a protection order on behalf of his son and wife.
His wife was in the driveway, cleaning her car, when he pulled up. As he got out of the truck, the wife reportedly saw the man’s hand move down toward his hip, and he appeared to be securing an object. The man pulled his shirt down to hide the object, the wife reported, and said, “Don’t worry, I got something for you.”
The couple argued before the man went into the house, quickly grabbed a few belongings, went back outside and began taking things from a storage shed.
The father went inside the house again. He moved toward his wife and son and said, “You’re dead. You’re all (expletive) dead,” the court documents allege.
He reportedly used his steel-toed boot to kick one of the four family dogs, a Pomeranian named Max, killing it.
The wife went outside, got in the husband’s truck and started it in an effort to get him to leave their son alone, she reported. The man walked down the steps of a deck, toward the mother. The son, 20, saw his father grab at the object on his hip. He thought it was a weapon.
The son raised a shotgun, pointed it at his father, fired a single shot and looked away. The gunfire hit the father in the head.
“Momma, I’m so sorry,” the son reportedly said after he fired. “He was going to kill us.”
Police arrived. The father was airlifted by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
The son was arrested and taken to the Granite Falls Police Department for questioning. He agreed to participate in a recorded interview, voluntarily agreed to provide a DNA sample and signed a consent form allowing investigators to take his photograph. After the interview, the son was released, pending more investigation.
The father was arrested when he was discharged from the hospital. He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of two counts of fourth-degree assault, four counts of violating a no-contact protection order, first-degree animal cruelty and first-degree burglary.
In a court hearing Friday, a defense attorney asked Everett District Court Judge Anthony Howard to release the man from jail on a promise to appear in court.
The Snohomish County deputy prosecutor asked Howard to set bail at $250,000.
Howard sided with the prosecutor.
“I see a lot of people,” Howard told the father. “I remember you. You appeared before me on May 7, and I warned you when you pled guilty to violating the court order that day, that you would see a very severe sanction if you chose to violate my orders again. You not only did that, but you nearly killed someone, at least according to this report, had she not been saved by your child.”
Ellen Dennis: 425-339-3486; edennis@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterellen
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