Key Takeaways
- A father fatally shot his son during a domestic dispute in Foley, Alabama, on July 23.
- Police believe the father acted in self-defense and in defense of other family members present.
- There will be no criminal charges pursued as all parties are cooperating and acting lawfully.
- The incident highlights that deadly force is justified when facing an imminent threat, regardless of familial ties.
- The father’s identity remains undisclosed, and the case will be reviewed by a grand jury.
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FOLEY, AL — A 60-year-old father fatally shot his 35-year-old son during a domestic dispute at a home on Ghost Horse Drive on Thursday evening, July 23, and the Foley Police Department says it believes he was acting in defense of himself and other family members who were in the home.
As reported by NBC 15, officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at the residence at approximately 5:16 p.m. and made contact with everyone involved when they arrived. One person was dead at the scene. Following an initial investigation, police confirmed the incident stemmed from a domestic dispute between family members and that the 35-year-old was shot by his 60-year-old father.
Police say that at this time they believe the father was acting in defense of himself and the other family members present. No criminal charges are being pursued at this time. Everyone involved is cooperating fully with detectives, which puts their accounts on the record from the first hours of the investigation, and police say all are believed to have acted lawfully. The department also emphasized this was an isolated incident with no ongoing threat to the community.
There is nothing to celebrate in this one. A 35-year-old man is dead, and his father has to live with having pulled the trigger. But the legal standard does not change because the threat shares your last name. Deadly force is justified only against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm, and police say they believe he was acting in defense of himself and other family members present. That is the same standard armed citizens across the country carry under every day, and it applies inside your own family just as it does against a stranger coming through the door.
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Part of a serious defensive mindset is accepting that the threat you may one day face will not always be a stranger. Nobody wants to imagine defending themselves from their own child. Police say that is exactly the position this 60-year-old man was in, with other family members present.
The father has not been publicly identified, and the police account is the only account available right now. The determination that he acted lawfully is an initial one from investigators, not a final ruling, and the case will be presented to a grand jury for review. The grand jury has the last word.
