He heard someone breaking in and shot the intruder. It was his son, police say
When an 81-year-old man in Fulton County, Ga., heard the sounds of someone attempting to break into his house on Tuesday, he fired a single fatal shot at the intruder through the door, police say.
But when officers arrived, they discovered the man and his wife “distraught” and “upset,” not only because their home had almost been broken into - but because the intruder the father killed had been his 56-year-old son, police told WSB-TV.
Now police are trying to determine whether Lance Fountain shot his son Troy Fountain purely out of self-defense, reported the Associated Press.
It started shortly before 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, when a rock crashed into the house from outside, police say. The son attempted “to make forced entry into the father’s home” before he was shot one time in the head and killed, Chattahoochee Hills Police Chief Stoney Mathis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Fountain’s mother and another adult sibling were also in the house, according to WSB-TV.
Mathis told news outlets the father and son had a stormy relationship and that Lance Fountain had called police about his son stealing and using drugs before, according to the Associated Press.
“He had filed a report of his son stealing some things and also previous drug history,” Mathis said, according to WSB-TV. “We're trying to determine if it was self-defense or if, indeed, everything took place the way they say it took place.”
The shooting took place in the small community of Chattahoochee Hills, a city made up of largely rural and undeveloped land nestled only miles away from the bustling Atlanta metro area.
“It's a tragedy and it's very unusual,” Chattahoochee Hills Police Sgt. Dyer told WMAZ. “Within our city, we try to keep things as peaceful as they normally are. So, any situation where a loss of a life has occurred, it is tragic for us and we respond accordingly.”
The incident comes a few months after an Alabama father accidentally shot and killed his 22-year-old son when he reportedly thought he was stealing his truck.
This story was originally published March 28, 2018 at 11:58 AM with the headline "He heard someone breaking in and shot the intruder. It was his son, police say."