A father has been charged with fatally shooting his adult son with down syndrome at a home in East Texas, an incident that authorities have described as a
“bizarre crime,”
per AP News.
Michael C. Howard, 68, an attorney from Houston, allegedly mistook his 20-year-old son, Mark Randall Howard, for an intruder when he accidentally shot him with a shotgun on Sunday evening. The incident occurred at a residence in Sabine County, located approximately 170 miles northeast of Houston.
According to the Sabine County Sheriff’s Office, Howard did not report the shooting immediately. Instead, he used a tractor backhoe to transport his son’s body about 2 miles away to a remote area on his expansive 2,500-acre property. There, he placed Mark’s body on a wood trash pile and attempted to cremate it. It was not until Monday afternoon—approximately 17 hours after the shooting—that Howard contacted the sheriff’s office to report the incident.
Deputies discovered body parts and bones in the trash pile and sent them to the Jefferson County medical examiner’s office. Michael Howard told investigators that the incident was a
“horrible accident,”
claiming he
“cremated his son in accordance with what he felt his son would have wanted.”
Mark Howard, who had Down syndrome, was high-functioning and employed. Two days before the shooting, authorities responded to a theft of a large mower and trailer made by Michael Howard. Deputy J.P. MacDonough did not say if this theft affected Howard’s view of his son as an intruder.
Howard remains in jail in Sabine County on a $20 million bond, facing charges of murder and tampering with evidence.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
