A 19-year-old reportedly shot and killed his mother after she told him to stop smoking in the house.
Seth Settle has been accused of murdering his mother at their home in Polk County, Florida on Thursday morning.
Shortly after Settle's dad left for work, on what was otherwise a normal weekday, his partner returned to the property after dropping their daughter at school.
According to Sheriff Grady Judd, the mum opened her son's bedroom door to check for the smell of smoke.
“I’ve told you before about smoking in this house,” she said, according to the Polk County sheriff.
“Now quit smoking in the house.”
She closed the door before Settle shot her through the wood, Law and Crime reported.
Authorities were first alerted to the incident by Settle’s 24-year-old brother, who found his mother collapsed in their Lake Wales home.
At first the authorities did not suspect foul play because there wasn’t any blood found in the home or obvious injuries to the victim’s body, the New York Post reported.
By the time Settle’s father had picked up his daughter from school and returned home, he was informed that his wife had died.
Judd said the victim had been shot in the heart, stopping it immediately.
According to a local police report, Settle said he pointed a gun at his bedroom door after his mum left and it went off accidentally.
The teenager claimed he then exited the room and found his mother unresponsive, leading him to tell another person in the house to call for an ambulance before he left home by car.
The mother, whose name was not reported, was taken to a local hospital with injuries to her breast and left armpit. She died less than an hour after admission.
Settle was arrested shortly after staff at the hospital noticed the woman's injuries seemed suspicious and called the police.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office said the teenager lied to questioning officers on five separate occasions about what he did with the alleged murder weapon.
In the end, it was one of the teenager's friends who contacted the Sheriff's Office and said he had given him two guns, which were then confiscated by the police.
Sheriff Grady Judd said: "The suspect is trying to play this off as an accident, but he had a loaded gun and intentionally pointed it at the door where the victim just exited and he fired it.
"He fled the scene without rendering aid, then he arranged for a friend to dispose of the weapon.
"These are not the actions of a man who just accidentally killed someone. He knew exactly what he was doing."
Settle was charged with "2nd Degree Murder with a Weapon (FL), Tampering with Evidence (F3), Discharging a Firearm in a Residential Area (M1), and Giving False Information During an Investigation (5-counts, M1)".
