92-year-old man fatally shoots adult son after enduring months of ‘extreme psychological abuse’: Defense

Authorities in California say a nonagenarian was arrested this week on suspicion of fatally shooting his son.

According to Fox News, Richard Landis Peck, 92, walked out of the San Diego home he shared with Robert Landis Peck on Wednesday evening and contacted police to confess killing the 51-year-old man.

Upon their arrival, officers reportedly discovered the younger Peck’s body inside the home.

The suspect appeared in court on Friday and pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder, according to the San Diego Tribune.

An attorney representing the elderly man cited “extreme psychological abuse” by the victim as a motivating factor in the homicide.

Robert Peck “got blind drunk every day,” Douglas Gilliland said, noting that the father and son began living together several months ago as the son was going through a divorce.

Evidence the lawyer presented to make the case of abuse included two previous calls his client made to police reporting abusive or threatening behavior.

In one case, Robert Peck was reportedly taken to a mental hospital for an evaluation. The second incident ended with police declining to interfere in what it deemed a family issue.

The son allegedly disabled his father’s phone on the day of the shooting, preventing the father from calling police or other relatives.

“I’m going to see you again later,” Robert Peck told his father, according to Gilliland. The defendant said he felt unsafe in the home allegedly retrieved the shotgun identified as the murder weapon.

A prosecutor acknowledged the case is “unusual,” but said Richard Peck “took someone else’s life and he didn’t have the right to do that.”

As of the latest reports available, he remained behind bars with bail set at $500,000.

[Featured image: video screenshot]