Son shoots mom in head with crossbow in fight over cat and money, AR cops say
A woman made a frantic call to police when a neighbor showed up at her home covered in blood with arrows protruding from her head, Arkansas police said.
Days prior, a 29-year-old man demanded money from his dad that he felt his parents were “keeping” from him, the father told police.
McClatchy News is not naming the suspect to protect the identity of the victim. His attorney information was not listed.
“You need to give me what is mine, or else I’m going to have to go to the next level,” the son said, according to a probable cause statement filed on May 2.
After the conversation, the husband and wife changed the garage door code of their Bentonville home, locked the doors and windows and told their son he was not welcome at their home, court documents said.
But one window was left unlocked, police said. The son broke into the home on March 24 through his old bedroom window, according to the probable cause statement.
Not knowing his son was in the home, the husband was in the bathroom when he heard his wife scream. Then, he found her with multiple arrows coming out of her head as his son was “towering menacingly,” according to police.
“Don’t worry about it, Dad, she’s dead,” the son told his father, according to court documents.
The two men got into a physical altercation and the son demanded his dad transfer $2,000 to him via Cash App, according to the probable cause. He then took his father’s phone and transferred $1,400 from Cash App to Bitcoin, police said.
He also took his mother’s phone to prevent them from calling 911, the probable cause statement said. To get help, the father lured his son into the garage with the keys to his truck and a credit card, according to court documents.
That’s when the mother, with arrows in her head, went to the neighbor for help.
Once the suspect noticed his mother was gone, he fled in his parents’ vehicle. Authorities arrived and took the mother to a hospital.
The son was arrested after a chase that ended in a crash in Missouri, authorities said.
The suspected shooter told authorities that he shot his mom twice with a crossbow, the probable cause said. He said he did so because of something she said to his cat.
“I didn’t have a reason; I just lost my cool. I woke up, and I thought that she was going after my cat for some reason,” the man said, according to the probable cause.
He was charged with attempted capital murder, aggravated residential burglary, domestic battering and interference with emergency communication, according to court documents.
The man was arrested on April 29 and is being held in jail on a $750,000 cash-only bond.
Bentonville is about a 215-mile drive northwest from Little Rock.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Son shoots mom in head with crossbow in fight over cat and money, AR cops say."
