John Jefferson
Carter J. Curtis (Bates County Sheriff’s Office).
A Missouri teenager shot and killed his father over the weekend and then told the deceased man’s wife that the killing “had to” be done, law enforcement in the Show-Me State say.
Carter J. Curtis, 18, stands accused of one count each of murder in the first degree and armed criminal action, according to a press release issued by the Bates County Sheriff’s Office.
The defendant is alleged to have killed the man who adopted him.
The incident occurred sometime after 11 p.m. on Sept. 28, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Adrian Police Department.
The sheriff’s office identified the location of the shooting as a residence on 8th Street in Adrian — a small town roughly 55 miles due south of Kansas City and part of the broader metro area.
At 11:23 p.m., Carter allegedly called 911 to report that he had shot his father. Local police estimate they were on the scene by 11:31 p.m. State troopers and/or sheriff’s deputies, however, arrived within two minutes of the emergency call, police say.
“I arrived on scene,” an officer wrote in the court document. “I met two white females in the driveway that were hysterical.”
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There was also a juvenile present outside, the officer wrote. The document is heavy with redactions but notes that someone shouted as police began to survey the scene: “He has never been violent.”
Inside, the officer described seeing the victim visible from the entryway. The older man was deceased, face down, with a clear “gunshot wound to the head,” laying down on the kitchen floor.
The presumed murder weapon was a Mossberg Patriot .308 caliber, a bolt-action rifle typically used for long-distance shooting.
“[T]here was a spent shell casing still in the chamber upon recovering the rifle,” the probable cause statement reads. “There was a magazine in the rifle that did not have additional bullets in it.”
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The defendant was later found, and arrested, one block away from the scene of the crime, according to the sheriff’s office.
In sum, Curtis was in custody exactly 10 minutes after the 911 call, according to the probable cause statement.
The victim’s wife told police she woke up to the sound of a gunshot, according to the probable cause statement. After that, she allegedly said, she walked into the hallway where Curtis simply handed the rifle over to her. Then, she said, he simply walked down the stairs.
“I already called 911 and I had to do it,” the killer allegedly told her.
Eventually, she went downstairs herself. There, she described finding her husband, “face down in the dining room by the table.”
On Sunday, formal charges were filed by the Bates County Prosecutor’s Office. On Monday, Curtis entered a not guilty plea.
The defendant is currently being detained in the Bates County Jail without bond. He is next slated to appear in court on Oct. 7.
“I want to thank everyone for their fast response to this incident,” Adrian Police Chief Chris Dillon said in a statement. “I take pride in working together to put the safety and security of this community first. At this time, we still have a lot of investigation to continue but we can assure the community there is no additional danger relating to this incident. We would like to offer our condolences to the family and friends affect by this tragic event. We have no further information at this time.”
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